The role of the United Nations in the post-Cold War Environment

Learning Objective

An overview of UN intervention during the Cold War – Background and Context

Impact of the end of the Cold War

The position of the UN by 2004

Origins

• The Hague Convention 1899

• The League of Nations 1919

• The United Nations 1945

In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to set up instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. Main European countries

Nuremberg trialsRobert Jackson’s opening remarks were mostly legalistic and technical in tone. He quoted heavily from the agreements established at the Hague conventions in 1899 and 1907 and explained how Nazi Germany’s conduct during and before World War II, under Hitler’s leadership, were in violation of international agreements

Hague Conventions 1899

The League of Nations 1919

The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization put together in similar circumstances during the first World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security”. 27 countries. (not the US)

The United Nations 1945• The Charter consists of a preamble

and a series of articles grouped into chapters.

• The preamble consists of two principal parts. The first part containing a general call for the maintenance of peace and international security and respect for human rights. The second part of the preamble is a declaration in a contractual style that the governments of the peoples of the United Nations have agreed to the Charter. Originally 51 countries signed the charter.

Controversial?

• Often seen as a western concept.• Essential tool for peacekeeping.• Weak and powerless.• Too pro US.• Too factional.• Unable to prevent atrocities against HR.

The articles

#1 To maintain international peace and security, to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.

#27 Each member of the Security Council shall have one vote.

Power of a resolution: statement of action or intent

Use of the Veto in the Security Council 1946-2001

Up to 1988

• The Cold War limited the effectiveness of the UN as a peacekeeping organisation.

• There were only 12 UN interventions between 1948-1978

• The Cold War paralysed UN intervention. Peacekeeping operations could only take place with agreement / consent of all parties.

1988 - 2004• 88-90 Afghanistan and Pakistan (Observer)• 88-91 Iran – Iraq (observer)• 91-05 El Salvador (observer)• 91-05 Angola (verification)• 91- Iraq – Kuwait (observer)• 92-93 Somalia (combat operational)• 93-96 Rwanda (assistance)• 93-97 Liberia (Mission)• 93- Bosnia (mission)• 96-97 Haiti (humanitarian support)• 99-02 East Timor (mission)• 99- Sierra Leone (mission)• 20-12 Ethiopia, East Timor, Afghanistan

The UN and the end of the Cold War

1988 Gorbachev announced a new relationship with the UN. He was committed to changing the Soviet Union and the UN may have offered the USSR a way out of Afghanistan

Post Cold War cooperation followed between the USSR, US and the UN.

The break up of the USSR and of Yugoslavia created nearly 20 new states. The New World Order was further complicated by al-Qaeda

The Gulf War 1991

• Iraq invaded Kuwait• Resolution 678

empowered the UN to use force to remove Iraq from Kuwait

• 28 coalition countries

Gulf War issues

• Dominated by the US for their interests• Saudi Arabia and Kuwait funded war• UN seen as a tool of the US• US offered financial incentives to Russia and

China to not use their veto.• More controversially this was seen as the start

of a more interventionist policy rather than peacekeeping role.

Cambodia 1992 - 93

Entered the conflict in a traditional role of peacekeeping with the aim of disarming the factions and helping to organise elections.

The Un were unable to disarm the factions but did organise the elections and withdrew announcing a success.

Remained unstableSuperpowers lacked the will to control their client states

Somalia 1992 - 1995

• After the Cold War Somalia disintegrated into factional chaos led by local warlords. About 1/3 of the population were suffering from starvation. UN and NGO aid agencies struggle to help.

Operation Restore Hope

A US force of 27,000 succeeded in providing humanitarian aid but the chaos continued.

Anti US feeling. Black Hawk Down1994 Clinton withdrew US

forces, Somalia. Peacekeeping was not

possible and nor was intervention

Rwanda 1993 - 1996800,000 murdered

2 million displaced 2 million became refugees

Kofi Annann ‘we do acknowledge that the world failed Rwanda at that time of evil’

UN response: Rwanda

• Indecisive and inadequate.• No significant international pressure, esp the US.• Despite the presence of some Belgian soldiers and

later French peacekeepers. Not enough.• Some limited humanitarian aid provided by the US.• Despite presence of UN troops they were not

equipped or mandated to intervene. Despite appeals from the UN Force commander for a more proactive role to stem the slaughter of civilians.

• 1975 Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.

• 1982 the UN with Portugal and Indonesia began a process of talks to resolve the status of the territory.

• 1998 after extensive talks and violence it agreed that following an election the UN would provide ‘government’ for the people of East Timor. 2002 the independent state was declared.

East Timor, 1992 -2002

The official UN evaluation

On 30 August 1999, the people of East Timor voted by means of a direct, secret and universal ballot to begin a process leading towards independence. UNTAET was established on 25 October 1999 to administer the Territory, exercise legislative and executive authority during the transition period and support capacity-building for self-government. East Timor became an independent country on 20 May 2002. Also that day, UNTAET was succeeded by the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) established by Security Council resolution 1410 of 17 May 2002 to provide assistance to core administrative structures critical to the viability and political stability of East Timor.

East Timor, 1992 -2002

Sierra Leone, 1999 - present

Civil war began in 1991A UN observer mission arrived in 1998 but

withdrew as fighting intensifiedReturned in 1999 with a larger more proactive

military force that took forceful action to keep the peace.

In conclusionThe UN was created on the principle of collective

security, states working together to maintain international peace. However, the reality during the Cold War was that the UN was effective in its role only when the Superpowers cooperated.

After the Cold War as Haass explained in his ‘The Reluctant Sheriff,’ the world went from regulated international relations to unregulated. Further to this has been the national self interest of most states. An alternative viewpoint is the advance of globalisation in terms of a more integrated international community.

Examination style question

• ‘Rather than making the role of the UN easier, the end of the Cold War simply deepened its problems.’ Assess the validity of this view.