The limitations of the United Nations' peace keeping operation mechanism : the case of UNIFIL

Abstract

The concept of Collective security was created to oversee that human rights and global peace are maintained in this ongoing struggled for power. As an organization, the United Nations was created to manage collective security in order to prevent global conflict. The notion of peace keeping was created as one of the counter solutions to any threat to global peace. Peace keeping operations constitute a compromise between peaceful settlement and joint imposition. Knowing the theoretical context and framework of the United Nations' Chapter Six and Chapter Seven is a must for a better knowledge of the dynamics of the peacekeeping operations. The thesis will, therefore, firstly examine the different procedures that the United Nations undertakes from within its charter for peace settlements. Subsequently, study big role the Security Council played while managing conflicts. Simultaneously, there is a need to look at some cases where these types of settlements were undertaken. Afterwards, an in-depth exploration of the differences between peacekeeping mandates and peace enforcement will be presented, showing how they were both confused and misused. Taking the UNIFIL as a case study, a comparison of its different mandates, between a two period time 1978-2006 and 2006 till present, is needed to screen the differences in practice whereas its higher objective is still the same.An in depth investigation will be made subjecting the military, political and logistical aspects of its mandate to a detailed review. This comparison is supposed to support the perspective of the peace keeping weaknesses in general when dealing with conflicts and reaching international peace and security. The importance of the role of the United Nations as the world's "policeman" is being pressure and sometimes marginalized making the United Nations weak and unreliable. This situation leads to worldwide demands for a reformulation of the Peace Keeping's basic tenets.