Canada & UN Peacekeeping: Canada & UN Peacekeeping: Absent With or Without Leave?Absent With or Without Leave?

Dr. Walter Dorn

Canadian Forces College10 January 2008

UN

Photo

“Concern for man himself and his fate

should be the chief interest of all

technical endeavors.

Never forget this in the midst of your

diagrams and equations.”

- Albert Einstein

Canadian Peacekeeping Tradition

1957

1988 1992

20001995

1994

20012003 2007

1993

1996

Kitsilano Recreation Centre

Cdn Fatalities Plaque

“We Remember”Gift of CSC 25

Dorn

Canadian Association of Veterans in UN Peacekeeping (CAVUNP)

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.

Source: modified from UN Website

UN

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

Evolution of Peacekeeping: Historical & Functional

Four Types/Generations

1 – Observer

2 – Interposition

3 – Multidimensional

4 – Transitional administration

Expanding functions

OBSERVER MISSIONSU

N

“The Soldier-Diplomat”

BGen. Angle

HammarskjÖld &

MGen. Burns

“Internationalization” (UN-NY)

Secretariat

General AssemblySecurity Council

INTERPOSITIONAL FORCES

- Separate combatants - Uses Peacekeeping Forces in

pre-formed units (battalions)

- Armed for self-defence

“Fathers of peacekeeping” or (more accurately)

“Founders of peacekeeping forces”

UN

UN

The Canadians are Coming!

Gardam

, The C

anadian Peacekeeper (1992)

First contingent of Canadian troops to reach Egypt (Abu Suweir airport near Ismailia), 24 Nov 1956

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 1957

Lester B. Pearson, Nobel Prize acceptance, Oslo, Dec. 11, 1957

“To Canada's Lester Bowles Pearson was given primarily for his role in trying to end the Suez conflict and to solve the Middle East question through the United Nations.”

- Norwegian Nobel Committee Web site

UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP)

UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (2000-)

ASMARA

ADDIS ABABA

Liaison officers

Military observers

The PeacekeepingForce R

.Rom

ses

THIRD TYPE/GENERATION:

MULTIDIMENSIONALOPERATIONS

CHANGING CONFLICT / CHANGING PEACEKEEPING

Cold War Post Cold War

Conflict Type Interstate, interalliance Intrastate, internalOrigins Power bloc rivalry Ethnic/tribal/religious animosities, secessionism

Main Threats Armed attack/invasion Civil war, human rights violations (includinggenocide, torture), terrorism

Goals Conflict management:ceasefire and withdrawalagreements

Conflict resolution: Comprehensive(multidimensional) peace agreements. Conflictprevention

Means Deterence, negotiation,classical peacekeeping

Cooperation, mediation, modern peace-keeping

PeacekeepingLocations

State boundaries Throughout a nation or region

Peacekeepers Soldiers (non-P5) Soldiers, civilian police, civilian monitors(elections, human rights); incl. P5

MULTIDIMENSIONALPEACEKEEPING

Political Humanitarian

Economic JudicialReconstructionSocial

Military Police

CIMIC

Difficult Missions, 1993-95

Force Commanders

BGen Robin Gagnon FC, UNTMIH

1997

Gen Maurice BarilFC, MNF (Eastern Zaire)

1996 None since

Eastern Congo: Robust Peacekeeping (MONUC)

Mi-25 Combat Helicopters

Uniformed UN Peacekeepers(Military and Police, 1991–2007)

FOURTH TYPE/GENERATION:

TRANSITIONAL

ADMINISTRATION

A BIG STEP …

• Governing a territory during a transitional period

• Goal: turn over power to a peaceful, stable country power governed by a local, democratically-elected leadership

• The “comprehensive approach”

East Timor: UNTAET

… UNMISET

UN

Photo, 27 S

ep. 2002UN membership

Canadian Uniformed Personnel in UN PKO(Total Military and Police), 1990-2007

Police: 101

Military: 56

(Oct 31, 2007)

Canadian Military and Police in UN PKOs (2000-2007)

“Canada Pulls Out of Peacekeeping” (UNDOF)

www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060324/golan_heights_060323/20060324/

Canadian Contributions

Currently: • 57 soldiers • 107 civilian police• 250 civilians

• 56th rank in UN (Mil+CivPol)

• Cold War: 10% vs current 0.01% (factor of 100)

Closeout of Op Danaca,UNDOF (Golan Heights, 25 March 2006)

Again thinking about Canada’s military, how many Canadians do you think are currently serving as peacekeepers overseas? Is it…?

21%

43%

20%

5%

11%

Around 500 Around 5,000 Around 10,000 Around 50,000 Don't know

Navigator-Dominion Institute Poll, taken August 2002, www.navltd.com

Public Opinion: Canadian soldiers serving as peacekeepers

Canadians View Canada

“Canada is an essential contributor

to peacekeeping”

Agree: 87%

Disagree: 13%

“World Sees Canada as Tolerant, Generous Nation”November 12, 2006 (Angus Reid Global Monitor: Polls & Research)

Cdn Uniformed Personnel (Percentage of UN, 1990-2007)

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

UN peacekeeping, 1991–2007)

Darfur: Responsibility to Protect

www.mosaicinstitute.ca/file/POLLARA_Report_on_Darfur_Crisis_%28May_07%29.pdf

Cdn uniformed personnel with UNAMID: 1 police; CF in support of AU: 11 officers

PM Martin Extracts a Promise

“I made four demands of Hillier before I agreed to the [Afghanistan] mission.

– “I want in but I want out”– “Peacemaking and reconstruction”

– Darfur “all the troops I need”– Haiti “if that blows up again”

… none constrained by Afghanistan “or I wouldn’t agree to the mission.”

– Paul Martin, quoted in Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang, Unexpected War, p.191

Explaining the disconnect

• Afghanistan

• The Military – CDS Hillier– 3BW– Concentration– Value of peacekeeping– NATO

• The Critics

The Critics

A “Peacekeeping Myth”?– CF “only” peacekeepers– CF doesn’t need arms as peacekeepers– Canada acting with purely “altruistic” motives– Canada automatically participates– UN useless

“There is little or no point in committing Canada to UN operations until or that deficiency is rectified, should that ever occur.”

- Sean Maloney, Cdn Military Journal, Spring 2007

Granatstein: "Who Killed the Canadian Military?"

• “The Pearsonian peacekeeping myth …

continues today to hurt the military

(peaceful intervention leads to the faulty

deduction that there is no need to acquire

arms for the military).

• “Mike Pearson killed the military.”(2004)

“Cold War by Other Means” (Maloney)

The Canadian peacekeeping myth now swung into full operation and the real reasons for Canadian involvement with UN peacekeeping, that is, power projection on behalf of NATO interests, was forgotten or at least deeply submerged in the halls of the Pearson building. There was now a significantly greater willingness to reactivity submit to UN requests for Canadian involvement: Isn't that what Canada just did? We've always done it, haven't we? After all, we invented peacekeeping, didn't we?

Helpful Fixer or Hired Gun: Why Canada Goes Overseas. Sean M. Maloney, IRPP conference,"Challenges to Governance:Military Interventions Abroad and Consensus at Home“, Montreal, Nov 2000.

9/11 Changed Everything“Walter Dorn remains convinced that there is no life after or outside of the United Nations (UN). Holding such a view was once considered a sine qua non of respectability within the Canadian academic community. Given the events of 9/11, even the die-hard Canadian liberal left has moved on to a more reasoned and responsible position regarding Canada’s place in the world. Dorn has not. He is trapped well within the mystique of the blue beret, a mythological throwback to simpler times.”

- Prof. James Finan & Major Michael Boire, RMC

Canadian Military Journal

• “Great Canadian Peacekeeping Myth”– ideology of “Canadian Exceptionalism”: Canada is

different from the US in terms of “moral superiority” (Maloney); Anti-Americanism

– Canada motivated to keep the peace primarily by altruism and moral virtue: “false and misleading” (E. Wagner)

– “Canadian peacekeeping myth promulgated by observers such as Dorn and Newman is false”

Ignatieff Rejects “peacekeeping paradigm”

– In failed and failing states, “there is no peace to keep,” making peacekeeping “so flawed that it must be abandoned altogether.”

– Recommends UN Secretariat should “stop running peacekeeping operations”

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

From the Left

• Canada's Peacekeeping MythBy Richard Sanders

The belief that Canada is a major force for global peace forms the basis of a powerful myth that is integral to our culture.  This myth shapes the image that we have constructed of ourselves and moulds the way that others see us.  Like all myths, it has very little basis in reality. 

Ways to Improve Peacekeeping(Canada)

• Greater awareness of success

• Rapid & Proactive

• Funding and resources– Intelligence

• Developed/Developing world partnership

• SHIRBIRG

• Technology

TECHNOLOGYTO THE RESCUE?

Monitoring and Surveillance Technologies

Tools of the Trade? (independent commissioned report)

TRADITIONAL TOOLS

• The Human Eye ... sometimes aided by binoculars

OBSERVATION TOWER

PROBLEMS OF UNAIDED MONITORING

Limited capabilities ...

– over large areas

– at night

– for underground detection

– in remote/difficult terrain

– information recording, analyzing, sharing and

storage

Tools of the Trade

Conclusions

1. No technological fix … but technology can be of

immense value in monitoring, preventing and

mitigating conflict.

2. Technical monitoring can increase the safety and

security of peacekeepers as well as the

effectiveness of the mission.

BENEFITS OF MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES

• Increases range and accuracy of observation

• Permits continuous monitoring

• Increases effectiveness (including cost-effectiveness in some cases)

• Decreases intrusiveness

• Increases safety

• Provides recordings

Satellite imagery

Aerial surveillance

• UAVs in EUFOR in DRC

Night Vision

www.imaging1.com

Radars

Ground

Aerial

Underground

MULTISENSOR SYSTEMS

• Reconnaissance Vehicles

• Coyote with – GSR– low light TV– IR sensors– laser range finder– Extendible mast

• Mobile

Special Committee on Peacekeeping

March 2007

UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

UN Special Committee“45. The Special Committee welcomes the study launched by the

Secretariat on the use of advanced monitoring and surveillance technologies to tangibly improve operational capabilities, achieve results in the field and promote the safety and security of peacekeeping personnel. Recognizing the urgent need for Peacekeeping Operations to standardize the use of advanced technology, particularly in missions operating in dangerous environments or mandated with challenging tasks, the Special Committee requests the Secretariat to develop appropriate modalities for the use of advanced monitoring and surveillance technologies with due attention to legal, operational, technical and financial considerations as well as the consent of the countries concerned with regards to their application in the field.”

Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping, 23 May 2007

Monitoring technologies not yet “tools of the trade,” but they can

and should be.

Canada can lead.

“BUILD ON THAT FOUNDATION”

“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

“Canadians are still the best peacekeepers on this earth at all levels: senior appointments, staff, and the basic soldier.”

-Col. Mike Hanrahan, Military Adviser at the Canadian Mission to the United Nations, CFC, 15 November 2004

EXTRA SLIDES

Other Organizations

NATO

UN

Source: Richard Gowan and Ian Johnstone, “New Challenges for Peacekeeping: Protection, Peacebuilding and the War on Terror”, International Peace Academy, March 2007

Figure 7. Gross National Income (GNI) Share and PK Rate 2006 for the Top 10 Contributors.

30.2

12.5

4.7

5.0

4.7

3.8

2.2

2.2

5.8

1.7

26.7

19.5

8.7

7.4

7.3

4.9

2.8

2.5

2.5

0.4

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

USA

J apan

Germany

United Kingdom

France

Italy

Canada

Spain

China

Mexico

Per centage

GNI Share PK Assess 2006

(56% higher)

(26% higher)

(11.6% lower)

© W.Dorn, 2006

PKO Payments from Top 10 Contributors in 2005 (US$ million)

1,108

793

393

338

272

213

144

104

71

63

700

USA

J apan

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

China

Canada

Spain

Netherlands

Others

USA

J apan

Germany

UK

France

Italy

Canada

Spain

Others

China

Neth.

W.Dorn, 2006

Standby High Readiness Brigade for UN Peacekeeping

                               

ww

w.shirbrig.dk

Canadian civilians deployed

Number two in UN PKOs 287 Cdn civilians

About 2,000 “relating” to peace operations 1,200-1,500 public servants in “hardship” posts (embassies, consulates,

CIDA field offices) over 500 employed by international organizations and NGOs

Tasks: Managing missions Administering war zones Negotiating with warlords Delivering humanitarian assistance Organizing elections Monitoring human rights Helping to secure safety of vulnerable populations Advising fledgling governments

Source: UN; PPC 2007

Rank Country # of Int’l Staff

%

1 US 328 6

2 Canada 287 63 Kenya 212 4

4 UK 201 4

5 France 185 4

6 Philippines 182 4

7 India 140 3

8 Ghana 124 2

9 Ethiopia 111 2

poll of Jul-Aug 2007, www.angus-reid.com/uppdf/Iraq_Global.pdf

Canada: 58% support, 26% oppose