United Nations Protection Research Articles

The Power of Practices: UN Peacekeeping Detention in South Sudan

ABSTRACT This study of detention by United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in South Sudan shows how practices shaped the development of a new detention institution and its infrastructure. A first-of-its-kind qualitative analysis of the everyday of UN peacekeeping detention, the article examines life and work in the ‘holding facilities’ in the UN protection of civilian sites, which the officers dubbed ‘Guantánamo on the Nile’, due to ambiguities surrounding their work. The article conceptualises practice-driven institutional change and provides a granular account of the ambiguities and ethical dilemmas, which are part of the everyday of detention on the frontlines of protection and peacekeeping.

Everyday Protection: Learning from United Nations Protection of Civilians Sites

ABSTRACT ‘Protection of Civilians’ (PoC) has been a dominant focus of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions in recent decades. At the same time, ‘Protection of Civilians’ is a contested and ambiguous concept, with its practical meanings often established in the realities of implementation. The introduction to this special issue argues that ‘Protection of Civilians sites’ (established in South Sudan in 2013) are important for understanding how protection commitments and policies have worked in practice. Subsequent articles examine the everyday experiences of PoC sites, showing how this is a crucial lens for understanding PoC interventions in South Sudan and more widely.

Death and Mourning in a United Nations Protection of Civilians Site in South Sudan

ABSTRACT This article investigates the conduct of burial and funerals in a Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Juba, South Sudan. Focusing on the experiences of internally displaced people, it shows how burial and funerary practice were disordered in the PoC site. It argues that death exposed competing temporalities in the protection of civilians: between the crisis temporality of the humanitarian intervention, and the long-term concerns of the internally displaced. These circumstances were part of a complex everyday relationship between PoC residents and humanitarians, as displaced people sought to ensure future survival of their kinship networks and wider community.

Yugo Wars: A Case Study on the Peacekeeping Efforts in Bosna-Hercegovina

This article is an examination of the history of ex-Yugoslavia, more specifically the region of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its immediate neighbors. A brief history of imperialism, religious influence, and the impact of the World Wars within BiH will lead to a discussion on nationalist-separatism and Balkan independence movements. The article focuses on the drive behind, and the outcome of, the 1992 war within BiH that stemmed from BiH’s desire to be independent from Yugoslavia. The primary perspectives within the article are that of the Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. Outside actors such as Serbia, Russia, the United States, Pakistan, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Muslim terrorist organizations, the United Nations (UN), and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will also be discussed to capture the various stakes and goals of the war. This will transition into a detailed breakdown of various UN and NATO missions, as well as their impact on the citizens and factions within BiH. The missions analyzed within this article will be the Dayton Peace Accords, the United Nations Mission in BiH (UNMIBH), the Stabilization Force (SFOR), the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), Implementation Force (IFOR), and the European Union Force (EUFOR). Transparency in BiH between parties to the conflict, the success or failure of peace enforcement, and the provision of effective rehabilitation assistance by the international community will be put into question. The article’s conclusion will analyze the value of peacekeeping within BiH as well as address the lasting social/emotional impact on the BiH community.

A galaxy of norms: UN peace operations and protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict

AbstractGiven the increasing size and functions of United Nations (UN) peace operations (POs) and the fact that they often operate in contexts where natural resources are degraded, POs have repercussions on the environment. Yet, there is not much literature on their obligations regarding the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts. This article provides insights into the obligations of POs in relation to armed conflict. First, it highlights POs’ customary international environmental law obligations. Second, it delves into their environmental obligations under the UN's internal rules and the host State's laws. Third, it explores obligations that arise from their mandates. In each of these sections, the article highlights the relevance and application of these obligations in armed conflicts. The last section examines the obligations of POs to protect the natural environment under international humanitarian law.

Youth Gangs and overcoming waithood in a United Nations Protection of Civilians Site in South Sudan

ABSTRACT This article investigates contestations over the roles and legitimacy of gangs within the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Bentiu, South Sudan. Drawing on qualitative interviews, it argues that ‘gangs’ represented the medium through which everyday struggles and processes of social contestations were negotiated between youth, elders, and protection actors. Prevailing narratives of gangs as violent criminal entities structured conflict with elders and protection actors, but to their affiliates, gangs provided protection, identity, belonging, responsibility, agency, and a route to overcome the limbo of ‘waithood’ and achieve social adulthood.

Protecting Women from Violence in the United Nations Protection of Civilians Sites, South Sudan?

ABSTRACT This article explores the everyday politics of protecting women from war and atrocities, based on ethnographic work within the United Nations Protection of Civilians sites, South Sudan. It examines the heterogenous ways that peacekeepers and displaced people conceptualised and enacted women's rights and protection inside the sites. Protection and gender were variously interpreted, resisted, and transformed. But sexual and gender-based violence remained rife in these makeshift ‘safe havens’. These experiences demonstrate that international peacebuilders cannot impose gendered protection. They must engage with local authorities and activists to promote women, peace and security in warzones.

Japanese Foreign Policy towards the Republic of Croatia: Preventive Diplomacy and Post-conflict Reconstruction 1994 - 1997

This article analyses the policy of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) towards the former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in the 1990s during the Yugoslav crisis. It argues that MOFA adopted an indirect foreign policy approach since it acted through theUnited Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to help foster the peace process. The article particularly focuses on the roles played by Yasushi Akashi, the head of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata, through whom Japan provided aid during the humanitarian crisis. Japan exerted its preventive diplomacy to defuse tensions in the successor republics and to prevent thespread of the conflict to Macedonia and Albania. After the end of the conflict, Japan’s policy towards the region focused on post-conflict reconstruction and supporting the transition to prepare for theEuropean integration process.

The Status of Human Protection in International Law and Institutions: The United Nations Prevention and Protection Architecture

The Status of Human Protection in International Law and Institutions: The United Nations Prevention and Protection Architecture

Mukeshimana-Ngulinzira and Others v. Belgium and Others

On April 11, 1994, approximately two thousand men, women, and children were brutally murdered by armed Hutu extremists after a group of Belgian UN peacekeepers abandoned the school facility where they had sought refuge upon the outbreak of the Rwandan genocide. Almost a quarter of a century later, the Brussels Court of Appeal (Court) on June 8, 2018 concluded the civil proceedings lodged by a number of Rwandan survivors and relatives against the Belgian commanding officers and the Belgian state. Overturning an earlier judgment of the Brussels Court of First Instance, the Court held that the decision to retreat from the facility was imputable only to the United Nations, to the exclusion of the Belgian authorities. Accordingly, the claims against the Belgian state were unfounded. The events—which inspired the movie Shooting Dogs (2005)—bear obvious similarities to the role of the United Nations Protection Force's (UNPROFOR) Dutch battalion (Dutchbat) in the evacuation of the Potoçari camp and the ensuing genocide of seven thousand Bosnian men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica in 1995. Like the Dutch judgments in the (more well-known) Mothers of Srebrenica proceedings, the Mukeshimana appellate judgment provides a rare national court precedent that considers the imputability of the conduct of peacekeepers to troop-contributing countries. The Mukeshimana judgment, however, raises a high bar for finding such imputability.

Doing less with less? Peacekeeping retrenchment and the UN's protection of civilians agenda

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres’s Action for Peacekeeping initiative represents the latest in a series of efforts to make the UN’s peace and security architecture “fit for the future.” The Action for Peacekeeping initiative, however, has exposed two seemingly contradictory tendencies at work in contemporary peacekeeping. On the one hand, peacekeeping operations are increasingly expected to be lean, efficient, and performance-focused. On the other, expansive protection of civilians (PoC) mandates, which entail everything from predicting and pre-empting attacks against civilians to reforming state-level security institutions, are becoming increasingly central to contemporary peacekeeping. In this paper, we will suggest that as currently framed, the UN’s peacekeeping reform agenda—driven at least in part by downward budgetary pressures—will inevitably increase the gap between promise and performance with regard to PoC, with serious implications for the credibility and legitimacy of UN missions among the populations they are mandated to protect.

UN Peacekeeping and Protection from Sexual Violence

Recent years have seen an increased emphasis on both protection of civilians and the problem of sexual violence. We explore the impact of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping on the occurrence of wartime sexual violence. Acknowledging the difficulty in reducing sexual violence, we propose two conditions under which peacekeepers are more likely to be successful: when the mission has a protection mandate and when the conflict actors exercise a high level of control over their forces. We find that the ability of peacekeepers to reduce sexual violence in general is weak. Only police within protection missions reduces the risk of sexual violence by rebels. However, when the actors exercise control, the number of peacekeepers is associated with a lower risk of sexual violence by both governments and rebels. We conclude that dealing with sexual violence by weak and fragmented actors is a challenging task beyond the current capacity of UN peacekeeping.

Too Little, Too Late: The Constraining Effect of Traditional Peacekeeping Norms On the UN Protection Forces and its Consequences

During the Bosnian War (1992-1995), despite the efforts of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), thousands of lives were lost in heinous attacks on Bosnian Muslims, perpetrated mostly by Bosnian Serbs. Using a constructivist approach, this paper investigates why the United Nations (UN) failed in their mandate to protect the Bosnian people. To do so, it examines the deeply entrenched norms that have traditionally guided UN peacekeeping – namely, impartiality and non-use of force. By tracing the key events that defined the UN’s involvement in this conflict in relation to existing theoretical models of norm emergence and evolution, the paper finds that the UN’s strict adherence to these principles significantly contributed to their failure to achieve their objectives. This is evidenced by the limited capacity of the UN peacekeepers during the conflict, the swift improvement of conditions following the replacement of UNPROFOR with the NATO-led Implementation Force, and the developments within the UN that ensued in the following years. The paper concludes with potential implications of these findings and suggestions for further research.

Operation Condor and Transnational State Violence against Exiles

This article aims to provide a deeper understanding of Operation Condor and its lethal focus on exiles through an examination of new evidence that offers fresh insights into how the repressive system functioned. Operation Condor targeted persons who had escaped Latin American military coups and dictatorships in their own countries in the 1970s. Condor forces pursued these exiles—many of whom were under United Nations protection—using covert, cross-border abductions and disappearances, "renditions" to home countries, torture, and extrajudicial executions. The article analyzes the military regimes' obsession with political exiles, blending recent research on exile activities with data on Condor's targets and functioning drawn from newly declassified US, Chilean, Uruguayan, and Argentine archives; Chilean court rulings; the University of Warwick archive on solidarity with Chile; and survivor testimonies.

Rola sił pokojowych ONZ w wojnie w Bośnii Hercegowinie (1992–1995) – wybrane zagadnienia

Jednym z największych wyzwań dla społeczności międzynarodowej na początku lat dziewięćdziesiątych XX w. była kwestia rozpadu Socjalistycznej Federacyjnej Republiki Jugosławii. W czerwcu 1991 r. Słowenia i Chorwacja ogłosiły niepodległość, a federacja jugosłowiańska faktycznie upadła. W Chorwacji wybuchła krwawa wojna, a w lutym 1992 r. Rada Bezpieczeństwa ONZ przyjęła rezolucję o wysłaniu Sił Ochronnych Organizacji Narodów Zjednoczonych (UNPROFOR) do tego kraju.Wkrótce jednak pojawił się nowy problem dla Europy i Ameryki – napięcia w Bośni i Hercegowinie. Bośnia była najbardziej zróżnicowaną etnicznie republiką w Jugosławii. W marcu 1992 r. kwatera główna UNPROFOR powstała w stolicy Bośni – Sarajewie, które zostało wybrane jako neutralna lokalizacja. Jednak w kwietniu 1992 r. napięcie w tym państwie przerodziło się w konflikt zbrojny. Zadaniem „błękitnych hełmów” była np. ochrona portu lotniczego w Sarajewie, konwojów z pomocą humanitarną oraz sześciu „stref bezpieczeństwa”, w tym Srebrenicy i Sarajewa. Podczas wojny w Bośni UNPROFOR poniósł wiele porażek, takich jak upadek Srebrenicy i użycie żołnierzy jako zakładników do ochrony Serbów przed atakami NATO z powietrza. Ostatecznie, dzięki aktywnej roli amerykańskiej dyplomacji oraz sukcesom koalicji chorwacko-muzułmańskiej, okazało się możliwe zmuszenie wszystkie stron konfliktu do wynegocjowania zakończenia wojny w listopadzie 1995 r.

Denmark and UN peacekeeping: glorious past, dim future

ABSTRACTDenmark became a staunch supporter of UN peacekeeping during the cold war because it simultaneously served its interests and values and this winning combination meant that it relatively quickly became internalized as part of Denmark’s foreign policy identity. Denmark turned its back on UN peacekeeping when NATO took over from the UN in Bosnia in 1995. Since then Denmark has prioritized NATO- and US-led operations. The Danish shift was driven by the interest in supporting the Western great powers as well as an altruistic desire to improve United Nations Protection Force’s (UNPROFOR) dismal humanitarian record in Bosnia. This belief was also generated by the positive lessons learned from Denmark’s pioneering use of tanks in UNPROFOR. This tank deployment and subsequent participation in NATO and US-led missions created a new warrior identity. This identity and the Danish interest in maintaining a close relationship to NATO’s great powers make a major Danish return to UN peacekeeping unlikely.

Not suitable for children: the politicisation of conflict-affected children in post-2001 Afghanistan

The 2001 conflict in Afghanistan has attracted a great deal of international controversy. The impact of the conflict on Afghanistan's children has been no exception. The research conducted by the United Nations and child protection organisations on the experiences of Afghan children throughout the conflict paints a bleak picture. Accounts of children being directly targeted, accidently killed, abducted, actively fighting in armed groups, denied humanitarian assistance or simply struggling to be healthy, happy, educated and secure amid this conflict are a reminder that conflict devastates children's lives. However, while this research demonstrates that children are often war's innocent victims, the ways in which this research is narrated, particularly by belligerent parties to the conflict, are far from innocent. This article examines the political manipulation of research on Afghan children affected by armed conflict. It argues that Afghan children and their experiences have become a powerful moral symbol that is used by belligerents to advance political, military and strategic agendas.

Metal Concentration in Plant Tissues of Jatropha curcas L Grown in Crude Oil Contaminated Soil

This study evaluated the heavy metal concentration in plant tissues of Jatropha curcas grown in crude oil contaminated soil in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria, in 2010. The soil treatments included 0.0, 2.0 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0% w/w oil contamination. The results showed a significant buildup of heavy metals including iron, zinc, cadmium, copper, manganese, lead, chromium, and nickel in contaminated soils when compared to the uncontaminated subplots (p ≤ .05). The amounts of metals observed in this study are below tolerable limits according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Federal Environmental Protection Agency of Nigeria. A gradual accumulation and biomagnifications of these nonbiodegradable elements in plants can lead to dangerous or lethal levels with inherent health risks for humans and other organisms.

Sampling challenges in a study examining refugee resettlement

BackgroundAs almost half of all refugees currently under United Nations protection are from Afghanistan or Iraq and significant numbers have already been resettled outside the region of origin, it is likely that future research will examine their resettlement needs. A number of methodological challenges confront researchers working with culturally and linguistically diverse groups; however, few detailed articles are available to inform other studies. The aim of this paper is to outline challenges with sampling and recruitment of socially invisible refugee groups, describing the method adopted for a mixed methods exploratory study assessing mental health, subjective wellbeing and resettlement perspectives of Afghan and Kurdish refugees living in New Zealand and Australia. Sampling strategies used in previous studies with similar refugee groups were considered before determining the approach to recruitmentMethodsA snowball approach was adopted for the study, with multiple entry points into the communities being used to choose as wide a range of people as possible to provide further contacts and reduce selection bias. Census data was used to assess the representativeness of the sample.ResultsA sample of 193 former refugee participants was recruited in Christchurch (n = 98) and Perth (n = 95), 47% were of Afghan and 53% Kurdish ethnicity. A good gender balance (males 52%, females 48%) was achieved overall, mainly as a result of the sampling method used. Differences in the demographic composition of groups in each location were observed, especially in relation to the length of time spent in a refugee situation and time since arrival, reflecting variations in national humanitarian quota intakes. Although some measures were problematic, Census data comparison to assess reasonable representativeness of the study sample was generally reassuring.ConclusionsSnowball sampling, with multiple initiation points to reduce selection bias, was necessary to locate and identify participants, provide reassurance and break down barriers. Personal contact was critical for both recruitment and data quality, and highlighted the importance of interviewer cultural sensitivity. Cross-national comparative studies, particularly relating to refugee resettlement within different policy environments, also need to take into consideration the differing pre-migration experiences and time since arrival of refugee groups, as these can add additional layers of complexity to study design and interpretation.

Selecting instruments for assessing psychological wellbeing in Afghan and Kurdish refugee groups.

BackgroundAfghan and Iraqi refugees comprise nearly half of all those currently under United Nations protection. As many of them will eventually be resettled in countries outside the region of origin, their long term health and settlement concerns are of relevance to host societies, and will be a likely focus for future research. Since Australia and New Zealand have both accepted refugees for many years and have dedicated, but different settlement and immigration policies, a study comparing the resettlement of two different refugee groups in these countries was undertaken. The purpose of this article is to describe the instrument selection for this study assessing mental health and psychological well being with Afghan and Kurdish former refugees, in particular to address linguistic considerations and translated instrument availability. A summary of instruments previously used with refugee and migrant groups from the Middle East region is presented to assist other researchers, before describing the three instruments ultimately selected for the quantitative component of our study.FindingsThe Kessler-10 Psychological Distress Scale (K10), General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (GPSE), and Personal Well-Being Index (PWI) all showed good reliability (Cronbach's alphas of 0.86, 0.89 and 0.83 respectively for combined language versions) and ease of use even for pre-literate participants, with the sample of 193 refugees, although some concepts in the GPSE proved problematic for a small number of respondents. Farsi was the language of choice for the majority of Afghan participants, while most of the Kurds chose to complete English versions in addition to Farsi. No one used Arabic or Turkish translations. Participants settled less than ten years were more likely to complete questionnaires in Farsi. Descriptive summary statistics are presented for each instrument with results split by gender, refugee group and language version completed.ConclusionThis paper discusses instrument selection for Farsi and Arabic speaking refugee participants from the Middle East and Afghanistan, concluding that the Kessler-10, GPSE scale and PWI were suitable for use with these groups. Suitable language translations are freely available. Our experience with these instruments may help inform other studies with these vulnerable groups.