United Nations Peacekeeping   Term Paper ID:27407 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses the financial & leadership problems with U.N. peacekeeping missions. Focuses on the Somali mission & details some of the fraud, waste, abuse, & incompetence that plague that mission.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses the financial & leadership problems with U.N. peacekeeping missions. Focuses on the Somali mission & details some of the fraud, waste, abuse, & incompetence that plague that mission. Paper Introduction: The United Nations has a peacekeeping role that requires considerable expenditure of funds, and there are a number of areas in the world requiring this peacekeeping function today. The UN is thus faced with the need to perform this function on several fronts at a time when the organization is also facing a budget crisis. One of the world hot-spots to which the UN is currently giving attention is Somalia, and peacekeeping in that part of the world has been made more difficult both by the budget crisis and by corruption in that country which has lessened the ability of the UN to accomplish its task. The general problem in the United Nations today has been cited by the United States in demanding reforms and in holding back certain payments and funding because such reforms have not been forthcoming. The peacekeeping function languished for years in th Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. (1995, May 17). (1993, January 1). (1995, October 27). There are other debtor nations in the organization as well,and many of these simply cannot pay their bills. Quick Response Force were outside UNcontrol and yet had a decisive influence on the whole operation (Meisler,1994). In 1994,there was a robbery of $3.9 million in cash from a UN-protected compound inSomalia, money that was not recovered. In 1995, a report to the General Assemblyby the newly-created Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) statedthat overpayments and bogus claims by the UN operation in Somalia (UNOSOM)alone cost about a million dollars. The general problem in the United Nations today has been cited by theUnited States in demanding reforms and in holding back certain payments andfunding because such reforms have not been forthcoming. Some private charities had overhead as low as twopercent. This also contributed to subsequent reluctance on thepart of member states to become involved in other operations (Hale, 1995).The Somalia operation produced a good deal of sensitivity for its waste aswell. (1995, October 24). An audit of the fuel distributioncontract for UNOSOM showed that $369, was paid to a contractor forservices that were never rendered; in addition, an excessive number ofdelivery trips resulted in additional overpayment of $54 , . This has become more difficult to do as thepeacekeeping arrears add up to more (Press Service English News Wire,1996). (1996, December19). The overhead was as high as 6 percent, which means only 4 percent was spent on humanitarian assistanceto starving Somalis. The largest debt to adeveloping nation was $67.5 million owed to Pakistan, followed by $58million to India, $38 million to Bangladesh, $32.6 million to Malaysia, and$24.9 million to Egypt. A world of troubles clouds UN's 5 thbirthday bash. Holmes, K. Questions were raisedabout the leadership of the UN, and the United States used its leverage andthe fact that it owed so much money to challenge the leadership ofSecretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was forced to step aside atthe end of his term in 1996 (Meisler, 1995). He proposed a standingarmy including force contributions from 2 member states, each providing2, troops on 48-hour notice. Peacekeeperscan only use their weapons in self-defense. At the end of 1996, memberstates owed $1.7 billion in dues for peacekeeping alone. The UN reserves jobs by geography, and this tends to guaranteethe hiring of a large number of incompetents, thieves, or simply lazypersons (Jensen, 1995). Hale, E. The term peacekeeping applies when the UN sends lightly armedsoldiers from neutral countries into an area, usually to preserve a cease-fire and to provide a buffer zone between warring combatants. Somalia is one of the areas where the UN has sent a peacekeeping forcein recent years, and this effort has been cited for the drain it has meantfor the budget and for the fraud that has been part of the operation.UNOSOM was set up in April 1992. The peacekeepingfunction languished for years in the Cold War because the organization wasshackled by the different factions involved in that international tension,but since the end of the Cold War, peacekeeping has become the fastestgrowing function for the UN. In 1993 it ledto the deaths of 18 U.S. Meisler, S. Press Service English News Wire. At the same time, many of these operations havebecome a drain on the organization and have cost far more than they shouldbecause of fraud, mismanagement, theft, and similar problems, all of whichcan be traced back to poor management and leadership. The robbery was described as an"inside job" and was one of the largest in peacekeeping history (Deen,1995). Gannett News Service. Los Angeles Times. Peacekeeping. One of the reasons why mismanagement has beencharged is that the leadership of the UN has from time to time borrowedmoney from the peacekeeping budget to fund shortfalls in the regular budgetof the organization. Peacekeeping also involvesmonitoring elections and ensuring that warring factions adhere toagreements on demobilization (Holmes, 1993). Rangers, contributing to the retreat of the UNpeacekeeping force. United Nations: UN peace missions markedby fraud and waste. The UN at war and peace. The UN was blamed by many for the fiasco in Somalia eventhough the U.S. The UN is thus faced with theneed to perform this function on several fronts at a time when theorganization is also facing a budget crisis. Inter Press Service English News Wire. Jensen, H. Meisler, S. Peacekeeping: UN's fastest growing, mostexpensive business. The idea of broadening the role of the United Nations in conflictresolution was favored by Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The United States is currently $1.4 billion in arrears in its paymentsto the United Nations, contributing to the fiscal catastrophe faced by theorganization. The budget crisis facing the United Nations has affected more than itspeacekeeping function, but the budget shortfall has been particularlydamaging to peacekeeping operations because such operations are increasingin importance today. The AtlantaConstitution. The United Nations: Peacekeeping in jeopardy warns UN. Rangers and the U.S. The UN agency set up to investigate the issue faulted the way theoperation was designed and the goals set for it as unrealistic. The UN in itsturn owed some $99 million to 8 countries that had provided personnel andmilitary equipment for peacekeeping operations in 1996, and this debt hadincreased from $6 million over a three-year period. One of the world hot-spots towhich the UN is currently giving attention is Somalia, and peacekeeping inthat part of the world has been made more difficult both by the budgetcrisis and by corruption in that country which has lessened the ability ofthe UN to accomplish its task. Some states hadwarned that they would no longer participate in peacekeeping operationsunless they were paid what they were owed. The peacekeeping budget expanded from $455million in 199 to nearly $4 billion in 1995 (Hale, 1995). (1994, May 21). The Somalia operation caused other concerns as well. Los Angeles Times. References Deen, T. Journal ofInternational Affairs. To pay for this program, he suggested aninternational sales tax on weapons and international air travel to provide$5 million for emergency humanitarian purposes and a $1 billion peaceendowment. In the first 4 years of its existence, theUN undertook only 13 peacekeeping missions; from 1988 to 1995, the UNundertook 23 such missions. Thecommission also stated that the leadership was politically naive, largelyignorant of Somali culture and politics, and inexperienced in peacekeepingoperations. In turn, this hasled to resistance on the part of the U.S. The United Nations has a peacekeeping role that requires considerableexpenditure of funds, and there are a number of areas in the worldrequiring this peacekeeping function today. New world disorder. (1995, October 21). During the peacekeeping operation in Somalia, UN agencies werespending some $1 million per day on air-conditioned villas in Mogadishu andon elaborate support structures in Nairobi. and other states for paying theirdues to the organization, and peacekeeping operations have been threatenedby the fact member states are not being paid for their participation. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.