Avoiding the Scourge of War: The Challenges of United Nations Peacekeeping

The old and the new. At top, U.N. peacekeepers at a Swedish camp in the Sinai peninsula in 1957; at bottom, soldiers patrol the boundary between Eritrea and Ethiopia after two years of fighting in 2000.

Source: Source: top, U.N. Photo; bottom, Dawit Rezene

A triumph of modern, or second-generation, U.N. peacekeeping: Members of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM) arrive at the rally in Juba in July 2011 as South Sudan prepares for its independence.

Source: U.N. Photo/Paul Banks

South Sudanese church and civil society leaders meet with the head of the U.N. Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) in July 2011

Second-generation peacekeeping is characterized by tight bureaucratic organization among various U.N. agencies and the heads of local communities.

Source: U.N. Photo/Tim McKulka

A close-up of stands with United Nations promotional items in Brobo, Côte d'Ivoire, during "UNOCI Days", a three-day sensitization and information campaign for a peaceful electoral environment held in June 2010.

Such efforts are typical of second-generation peacekeeping.

Source: U.N. Photo/Basile Zoma

Unrest and violence in spite of a peacekeeping presence: Following disputed November elections in Côte d'Ivoire, many were injured during marches in support of an opposition leader. Here they arrive at U.N. headquarters to receive medical treatment.

Source: U.N. Photo/Basile Zoma

Frustrating efforts at peacekeeping in Somalia have prompted the United Nations to reassess its strategies in the post-Cold War era. Belgian and U.S. members of a peacekeeping contingent patrol Kismayo in April 1993.

Source: U.N. Photo/Milton Grant

Drought and famine have compounded violence in Somalia and devastated the population. Parents wait with their malnourished and dehydrated children in a corridor at a hospital in Mogadishu in August 2011.

Source: U.N. Photo/Stuart Price

The United Nations flag is lowered at a check post on the Gaza-Tel Aviv road as peacekeepers withdraw on May 19, 1967, after Egypt rescinded its invitation. A few days later, the Six Day War broke out.

Source: U.N. Photo

Norwegian troops with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslavia make their way up “Sniper Alley” in Sarajevo in November 1995.

Source: Paal Sørensen

In 1992, a Canadian UNPROFOR soldier visits with two young Croatian boys, one of whom holds a toy gun.

Source: U.N. Photo/S. Whitehouse

This body exhumed at Srebrenica in 2000 appears to be a victim blindfolded and bound before he was killed.

The "Srebrenica massacre" by Bosnian Serbs is a grim reminder of some of the historical limitations and challenges of U.N. peacekeeping.

Comments: Photograph provided courtesy of the ICTY, 2000

These postage stamps issued by the United Nations reflect its long-term commitment to peacekeeping.

The iconic blue helmet worn by United Nations peacekeeping personnel in front of a U.N. flag.

Source: U.N. Photo/Saw Lwin

Hervé Ladsous was recently appointed the new head of United Nations peacekeeping.

Source: United Nations

Women stand by a monument to victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during a memorial ceremony in Potocari, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in July 2007.

Source: Photo by Adam Jones adamjones.freeservers.com

An aircraft rusts at Cyprus' Nicosia International Airport, abandoned in 1974 when fighting erupted between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. A U.N. peacekeeping force has been deployed there since 1964.

Source: U.N. Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Australian peacekeepers patrol in East Timor in 2002.

Source: Geoffrey C. Gunn

Canadian and Panamanian peacekeepers inspect a radio while stationed in the Sinai in 1974.

Source: U.N. Photo/Y. Tagata

Zambian members of the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) patrol in an armored personnel carrier in May 2011. The successful liberation of South Sudan is a triumph of second-generation peacekeeping.

Source: U.N. Photo/Stuart Price

Lester B. Pearson, a Canadian civil servant who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing UNEF in response to the Suez Canal crisis.

Source: Toronto Star

German soldiers in an armored personnel carrier observe the dedication of a well they helped dig in Somalia in 1993 as part of peacekeeping efforts there.

Source: Jeffrey T. Brady

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Avoiding the Scourge of War: The Challenges of United Nations Peacekeeping

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