Case Studies of UN Peacekeeping Operations in Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste: A Good Match between Bangladeshi Peacekeepers and Japan's Aid

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

After the end of World War II, the primary role for establishing the UN was for to protect civilians and their human rights. UN Peacekeeping operations have been effective for reducing violence in conflict areas and successful peace agreements have been made during the last few decades. The UN has no standing forces to operate the missions in the conflict region so it depends on its Member States for the military and civilian personnel which are the most important and basic elements of peacekeeping operations. The UN also depends on those Member States to fund the peacekeeping operations. In this sense, uniformed personnel and funds are regarded as the basic elements for a mission.
UN peacekeeping operations operate with combined forces from the participation of different countries around the globe and it can be more effective by peacekeeping with peacebuilding efforts. In terms of international peace and security one Member State of the United Nations Bangladesh, is contributing in the UN PKO by providing military and civilian personnel. This contribution not only help to restore the peace and security in the conflict areas but also creates a good image on the international stage where Bangladesh is one of the top contributors of uniformed personnel for the UN peacekeeping operations. On the other hand Japan, one of world leading economies with highly developed technologies, is contributing to the peacekeeping operations by providing financial aid to the UN peacekeeping budget and other various types of peacebuilding activities for lasting peace. Japan is the second highest contributor in the terms of financial contributions to the UN PKO budget. This paper tries to present some important key discoveries which make the growing demand of Bangladeshi uniformed personnel in the UN PKO and the various types of Japan’s humanitarian assistances in the post conflict.
This paper tries to find out the strength of the combined capabilities of Bangladeshi peacekeepers with Japan’s financial aid to restore the peace in war torn countries. It will try to find out the capacity of those two countries contributions in order to give some ideas for future successful UN missions. In this regard, this paper will examine the UN peacekeeping operations in Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone throughout the Bangladesh and Japan’s contributions to those peacekeeping operations and peacebuilding activities, it will highlight those two countries successful peacekeeping operations as well as peacebuilding activities and how they can enhance UN missions for reducing violence in the conflict region of current missions and in future missions.
The case studies of the UN peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste are the successful operations where Bangladesh and Japan made significant contributions for restoring peace in the area of peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Bangladesh sent a large number of skilled peacekeepers to Sierra Leone and also sent its All Armed forces to the Timor-Leste missions. Japan contributed a large percent of financial aid to the PKO budget in Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste including a wide range of financial aid in the peacebuilding areas for sustainable peace and development of those two war torn countries.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate two different capabilities of the UN Member States for an effective mission with a combination of peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities. Skilled and highly disciplined peacekeepers from Bangladesh and Japan’s financial aid including the wide ranging activities of Japan’s peacebuilding can make a mission easier to find some solutions for restoring peace and rapid completions. In a very dynamic situation humanitarian aid can be more important than only observing the cease-fire, so peacebuilding efforts should get the priority over peacemaking or peace enforcement. This paper also tries to emphasize the humanitarian assistances for sustainable development in devastated countries.
Even though peacekeepers are the main element of a mission where Bangladesh is capable of sending a large number of professional peacekeepers, without a proper logistical support and financial efforts, a mission cannot be an effective for sustainable peace .That’s why this paper aims to find the successful cases where the good capabilities of Bangladesh and Japan can make combined sources for an effective mission. The argument of peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts that the growing demand of Bangladeshi uniformed personnel in the peacekeeping missions and Japan’s creditability of humanitarian assistances including the framework of consolidation of peace in the international field which meet this need and fruitful source of adjustment for the multi-dimensional peacekeeping mission in the modern era for keeping and building the peace in the area of conflicts. This paper does not seek to give a proper solution for a successful mission. Rather it seeks to show how, through the cooperation of Bangladesh and Japan, using the case studies of Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone, a successful mission can be realized.
This paper is based on the hypothesis that a difficult and complicated mission can be completed successfully when skilled, professional and disciplined peacekeepers are deployed with an adequate aid to prevent the conflict from the Member States to maintain a stable environment in the conflict region which lead the international peace and security under the UN system. A number of professional, disciplined and well-trained peacekeepers that are deployed in a mission with an adequate aid can be one of the factors for the success of a mission that attempts to achieve a durable peace in the aftermath of a conflict. More specifically this thesis aims at finding the UN PKO cases where the combination of the two capabilities could be an enabler for a faster and more effective completion of the UN peacekeeping operations through peacekeeping with peacebuilding.





Keywords: UN peacekeeping operation, Peacebuilding, Japan, Bangladeshi peacekeepers, Nation-building, National Reconciliation, Consolidation of Peace, UN Security Council, Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs), Humanitarian Aid

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. Introduction: Peacekeeping with Peacebuilding 1
• 1. Research Purpose 1
• 2. Research Scope 9
• Ⅱ. United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Retrospect 14
• 1. Genesis and History 14
• 2. Current Status 25
• 3. Assessing Achievements 28
• Ⅲ. The Contributions of Bangladesh and Japan to the UN PKO 38
• 1. Bangladesh 38
• 2. Japan 52
• Ⅳ. Progress of the UN PKO in Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone 64
• 1. Background 70
• 2. The United Nations Intervention in Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone 76
• Ⅴ. Combining Capabilities of Bangladesh and Japan 85
• 1. The Contributions of Bangladeshi Uniformed Personnel to the UN Peacekeeping Operations in Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone 92
• 2. Japans Financial Assessments to Peacebuilding Efforts in Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone 99
• 3. Assessing the Effects of Combined Capabilities 112
• Ⅵ. Conclusion: A Key to the Success of UN Peacekeeping Operations 123
• References 131