Will Canada Be a UN Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?Peacekeeper Again?

Dr. Walter Dorn

Canadian Forces College11 February 2010

UN

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Canadian Peacekeeping Tradition

1957

1988 1992

20001995

1994

20012003 2007

1993

1996

Cdn Fatalities Plaque

“We Remember”Gift of Command and Staff Course 25

Dorn

Canadian Association of Veterans in UN Peacekeeping (CAVUNP)

Nobel Speech 1957

“We made at least a beginning then. If, on that foundation, we do not build something more permanent and stronger, we will once again have ignored realities, rejected opportunities and betrayed out trust.”

– Lester B. Pearson

Nobel Prize acceptance speech

Oslo, Dec. 11, 1957

Ineffective UN Peacekeeping

peacekeeping is

“so flawed that it must be abandoned altogether.”

“the Secretariat should stop running peacekeeping operations, and blue-beret forces should stop going where armed resistance can be expected.”

“A Bungling U.N. Undermines Itself”by Michael Ignatieff, NY Times, 15 May 2000http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/15/opinion/a-bungling-un-undermines-itself.html

“A Bungling U.N. Undermines Itself”by Michael Ignatieff, NY Times, 15 May 2000http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/15/opinion/a-bungling-un-undermines-itself.html

Difficult Missions, 1993-95

SomaliaSomalia

RwandaRwanda

BosniaBosnia

Peacekeeping: First 50 Years

Eastern Congo: Robust Peacekeeping (MONUC)

Mi-25 Combat Helicopters

Peacekeeping defined …the deployment of international military and civilian personnel

to a conflict area, with the consent of the major parties to the conflict, acting impartially in order to:

– stop or contain hostilities or– supervise the carrying out

of a peace agreement– Build a sustainable peace.

Minimum use of force for self-defence and defence of mission.

UN

Source: modified from UN WebsiteSource: modified from UN Website

Peace Support Operation (NATO doctrine)

Peace Support Operation (NATO doctrine)

ViolencePotentialViolencePotential

Source: adapted from PSTC, EO 401.02

Increasing Force

PeaceMakingPeaceMaking

s

c

PeaceEnforcement

PeaceEnforcementPeace

KeepingPeace

KeepingHumanitarianAssistance

HumanitarianAssistance

UNHCR

UNHCR

PeaceBuildingPeace

Building

Canada and the Evolution of Peacekeeping

Four Types/Generations

1 – Observer

2 – Interposition

3 – Multidimensional

4 – Transitional administration

Expanding functions

UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP)

Paul Martin, Sr.Min. Ext. AffairsPaul Martin, Sr.Min. Ext. Affairs

MultidimensionalPeacekeeping

Political Humanitarian

Economic JudicialReconstructionSocial

Military Police

Civil-Military Coordination

East Timor: UNTAET

… UNMISET

UN

Photo, 27 S

ep. 2002UN membership

Electoral Officer, 1999

• Voter education

• Catholic Church compound in Suai

• Home of over 1,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced People)

Peacekeeping Today

Uniformed UN Peacekeepers(Military and Police, 1991–2009)

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Nu

mb

er o

f p

erso

nn

el

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Nu

mb

er o

f p

erso

nn

elCanadian Uniformed Personnel in UN PKO

(Total Military and Police)

Canada's Rank Among UN Contributors(by contribution of uniformed personnel to

UN peacekeeping)

1

6

11

16

21

26

31

36

41

46

51

56

61

66

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Police: 101

Military: 57

Canadian Uniformed Personnel in UN PKO

75% drop75% drop

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

2000

-Jan

2000

-May

2000

-Sep

2001

-Jan

2001

-May

2001

-Sep

2002

-Jan

2002

-May

2002

-Sep

2003

-Jan

2003

-May

2003

-Sep

2004

-Jan

2004

-May

2004

-Sep

2005

-Jan

2005

-May

2005

-Sep

2006

-Jan

2006

-May

2006

-Sep

t

2007

-Jan

2007

-May

2007

-Sep

t

Per

so

nn

el

Military Police

UNMEE

MINUSTAH

UNDOF

Canadian ContributionsCurrently: • 55 soldiers • 115 civilian police• 250 civilians

• 56th rank in UN (Mil+CivPol)

• Cold War Cdn Contrib: 10%

• Current: 0.01% (factor of 100)Closeout of Op Danaca,UNDOF (Golan Heights, 25 March 2006)

(Figures for 31 December 2009)(Figures for 31 December 2009)

Canadians View Peacekeeping as …

January 2008

URL: www.igloo.org/canadasworld/learnmor/quizzesa/pollresuURL: www.igloo.org/canadasworld/learnmor/quizzesa/pollresu

UN Mission in Haiti

• 5 Cdn soldiers• 90 Cdn Police• 5 Cdn soldiers• 90 Cdn Police

Op Hestia-2,000 CF personnel- DART- HMCS Athabaskan- HMCS Halifax

Op Hestia-2,000 CF personnel- DART- HMCS Athabaskan- HMCS Halifax

What Canada has to Offer Peacekeeping

Canadian Forces• Bilingual, multicultural

armed force• Well trained and educated• Experienced• Respectful of locals, not

heavy handed• Friendly, congenial military

personnel• Wide range of expertise, in

areas desperately needed by UN– C2, intelligence, logistics,

communications

What Canada has to Offer Peacekeeping

Canadian Nation• Less “baggage” (not colonial

power)• Peaceful national example (pen

not sword)• Proponent of the rule of law and

peace – Pearson’s proposal for the first

peacekeeping force– Ottawa convention on APM,

human security, R2P• Not selfish national interest• Identified with peacekeeping

UN View

“I regret that Canada has so little involvement with peacekeeping. “It would send a very strong and powerful signal if Canada showed it was going back into peacekeeping. In the credibility of peacekeeping, it would not go unnoticed, because of the historical role of Canada in the creation of peacekeeping, and because of what Canada represents today.”

— Jean-Marie Guéhenno, UN Under-Secretary-General for

Peacekeeping

Source: Interview with L.McQuaig, 21 April 2006, quoted in McQuaig, Holding the Bully’s Coat: Canada and the US Empire, Doubleday, Toronto, 2007.Source: Interview with L.McQuaig, 21 April 2006, quoted in McQuaig, Holding the Bully’s Coat: Canada and the US Empire, Doubleday, Toronto, 2007.

What Peacekeeping has to offer Canada

• Component of national identity– Doing good– Not selfish, self-centred nation– Population identifies with

peacekeeping

• Meet both bilateralist and internationalist tendencies

• Role for Canadian Forces post-Afghanistan

• Role for Canada on world stage– Seat on SC

• Reimbursement (partial) of expenses • The world’s peace is our peace.• The world’s peace is our peace.

Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?

• Political– Domestic (Conservatives, Liberal, NDP, Bloc)– International

• Military– Post-Afghanistan– Leadership

• Economic– Less costly

• Social– Cdn people

• Problems/Criticisms – Dealt with: Pkg myth, Ineffective, Afghan mission– People are smarter than the strategists

Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?

Dr. Walter Dorn

Ottawa Outfront11 February 2010

UN

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