SECURITY COUNCIL
POSITION PAPER
COUNTRY/ORGANIZATION: REPUBLIC OF CHAD
DELEGATE'S NAME: BALSUBRAMANIAN SUNDARAM
UNIVERSITY/SCHOOL: SRI SANKARA
The history of Peacekeeping dates back to sixty years ago starting with the crisis
which tore apart the state of Congo. But, through deliberation and diplomacy it was
solved in a ‘phyriccal’ manner. The question draws upon us. Do all peacekeeping
operations have subsequent structural changes? Do all peacekeeping missions
require an extravagant military force to combat threats? Put-together on terms of
generality, do all peacekeeping missions follow the same formula? Those are just few
aspects of the wide variety of questions the concept of peacekeeping poses upon us.
Over the past decade, the number of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions
around the world has significantly increased, and so has the number of
peacekeepers. They increase in size, budget and importance along with the canvass
of viability. The idea of peacekeeping is said to be the process of creating conditions
that in-turn create long-lasting peace. The idea is as complicated as it seems with
many aspects to it. 9 out of 17 peacekeeping missions is located in the African
continent and the problems faced by it vary from various social and economic
aspects. We believe that the main threat posed to the UN Peacekeeping Missions are
by the non-state activist groups such as the Boko Haram.
These are the loopholes in the principles and structure of the UNPKF which prove to
be of great importance for Chad:
I) Impartiality: What is the difference between an UN Peacekeeping Operation and
an arbitrator? None. But, the legitimacy of the institution along with its transparency
is what makes it impartial. We, the republic of Chad, believe that this transparency
does not exist on an extensive level in the United Nations and this what demarcates
the line between partiality and impartiality.
II) Consent of Both Parties: Republic of Chad believes that the problem here lies
within a particular time-frame. The time before and after a state allows a
peacekeeping operation. Due to international pressure, a country may agree first for
a peacekeeping operation but later exhibits a ‘proxy’ behavior to limit the freedom of
the UNPKO (i.e. Mobilization, Security and Infrastructure) and in-directly withdraw its
consent.
III) Non-use of Force: We have conjectured that this particular rationale of the UNPKF
mandate is extremely contradictory. The United Nations Security Council allows the
UNPKF to use ‘any and all means necessary’ to combat a threat while the UNPKF
follows a policy of non-use of force until necessary. This brings confusion among the
UNPKF on a structural level, which needs to be corrected.
2
IV) Ad-Hoc Structure: The resource pool of the UNPKF follows ad-hoc structure of
reliability which reduces its ease of functionality. If the soldiers of any particular
country is withdrawn the United Nations will face a shortage. This structure should
be reformed through an independent resource pool giving the United Nations
Peacekeeping Forces the flexibility it needs.
V) Socio-Economic Aspects: The UNPKF faces much scrutiny under the International
Community for breaching various human rights of the people of its host. If this
continues to happen, the credibility of the United Nations will reduce, leading a
downfall in all the other aspects discussed above. On an economic aspect, the
organization which was assigned to conduct thorough checks to the UNPKF. But, the
frequency of audits of the UNPKF conducted by the Advisory and Budgetary
Committee of the United Nations is less and the most recent being published in 2012.
The Republic of Chad has taken many steps to protect the security of peacekeeping
programs. Considering the fact that, we are surrounded by them. We believe that any
threat to the UNPKO in Sudan or Mali is a threat to our national security. Boko
Haram, a non-state activist group, has tried to attack such peacekeeping operations
and cause mayhem across the African continent. We are leading a multi-national
force against the non-state activist Boko Haram supported by French intelligence and
the help of the African Union. Chad will continue to take any and all actions necessary
to protect the peacekeeping programs. We do have suggestions to the problems
currently being faced by the UNPKF. The following solutions are to be put to debate:
1) Compulsory implementation of DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and ReIntegration) after every peacekeeping program
2) Establishment of the UN Peacekeeping Forces mandate making the transition from
a doctrine to an officiated document.
3) Adopting the UNPKF an independent resource pool to increase its flexibility in
terms of structure
4) Addition of these mechanisms (to be included):
i) Addition of simplified complaint registration of abuse at UNPKO office
ii) Inclusion of mandatory pre-deployment training on the requisites of the three
basic principles of the UNPKF
These are the suggestions, we the Republic of Chad, propose and thus conclude.
3