UN Peacekeeping in Africa: A Critical Examination and Recommendations for Improvement

101 Pages·2017·2.79 MB·English

by  Kwame Akonor (auth.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN CRIMINOLOGY
Kwame Akonor
UN Peacekeeping
in Africa
A Critical
Examination and
Recommendations
for Improvement
123
SpringerBriefs in Criminology
More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/10159
Kwame Akonor
UN Peacekeeping in Africa
A Critical Examination
and Recommendations for Improvement
Kwame Akonor
Seton Hall University
South Orange , NJ , USA
ISSN 2192-8533 ISSN 2192-8541 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs in Criminology
ISBN 978-3-319-39160-1 ISBN 978-3-319-39162-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-39162-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016954645
© The Author(s) 2017
T his work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
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To my family, and to Monique,
Efua Asantewaa, and Kwesi Ansah Yeboah
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the Series Editor, George Andreopoulos (professor of political
science and founding director of the Center for International Human Rights, John
Jay College of Criminal Justice), who got me interested in this research and gave me
invaluable guidance and support during the entire authoring process. The
Criminology and Criminal Justice team at Springer also deserve mention for their
patience and useful suggestions on completing this book.
M y research benefi tted from very useful comments and direction provided by
Barbara Crossette, former New York Times reporter; Celhia de Lavarene, founder
of Special Traffi cking Operations Program (STOP); Elizabeth F. Defeis, professor
at Seton Hall University School of Law; and Thomas G. Weiss, director emeritus of
the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, presidential professor of politi-
cal science at The Graduate Center, CUNY (The City University of New York).
I gratefully acknowledge Dr. Adekeye Adebajo, executive director of the Centre for
Confl ict Resolution (CCR) in Cape Town, South Africa, for his invitation and to all the
other participants at the CCR conference on “Towards a New Pax Africana: Making,
Keeping, and Building Peace in Post-Cold War Africa” on August 28–30, 2013. Much
of my thinking on this important subject was further refi ned during the conference.
T hanks are also due to Benjamin F. Alexander, professor at New York City
College of Technology, CUNY, who assisted with research documents and editorial
work. Timothy Hoffman, graduate assistant at Seton Hall University, and Dana
Dakin, founding president of Ghana-based Womens Trust and US-based Dakin
Partners, LLC, deserve credit for their dedication to this project.
Of course, all responsibility for the content of the material rests with the author.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction and Justification for Research ........................................... 1
Justifi cation and Focal Issues ...................................................................... 3
The Theoretical Framework and Signifi cance of Study.............................. 3
Diffi culties with Policing the Peacekeepers ............................................ 5
Method of Data Analysis and Region/Case Selection ................................ 9
References ................................................................................................... 9
2 UN Peace Operations in Africa: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow ...... 13
Introduction ................................................................................................. 13
The UN in Africa ........................................................................................ 14
Post-Cold War Shift .................................................................................... 18
The Libyan Crisis : A Test of the AU’s Peace
and Security Architecture ............................................................................ 22
Timeline to the Crisis .............................................................................. 24
Dissecting the Africa UN Vote ................................................................ 24
Looking Forward: 70 Years of the UN and 15 Years
of the AU’s Peace and Security Architecture .............................................. 28
Africa and UN ............................................................................................. 29
Operationalizing Pax Africana .................................................................... 30
Political Will ........................................................................................... 31
Enhancing Capacities .............................................................................. 32
References ................................................................................................... 32
3 The Dark Side of UN Peacekeeping: Abuses and Violations
in Africa ..................................................................................................... 35
Congo .......................................................................................................... 36
Background ............................................................................................. 36
Abuses ..................................................................................................... 38
Darfur .......................................................................................................... 39
Background ............................................................................................. 39
Abuses ..................................................................................................... 40
ix
x Contents
Sierra Leone ................................................................................................ 40
Background ............................................................................................. 40
Abuses ..................................................................................................... 43
Somalia ....................................................................................................... 48
Background ............................................................................................. 48
Abuses ..................................................................................................... 50
Conclusion .................................................................................................. 51
Liberia ..................................................................................................... 52
Haiti ......................................................................................................... 53
References ................................................................................................... 54
4 Responses to Peacekeeping Misconduct .................................................. 59
Overall Number of SEA Occurrences ......................................................... 59
Criminal Accountability: Immunity Versus Impunity ................................. 60
The UN .................................................................................................... 60
Concerns and Reforms Since 2003 ......................................................... 60
The TCCs ................................................................................................ 62
Persistent Challenges .................................................................................. 64
Going Forward: What Next? ....................................................................... 65
Conclusion .................................................................................................. 67
References ................................................................................................... 69
5 Analysis and Implications of the Monograph to Broader Issues .......... 73
Tackling the Problem of Enforcement and Accountability ......................... 73
Command Responsibility and Accountable Leadership ......................... 73
New and Novel Avenues for Prosecution ............................................... 75
Tackling the Problem with the Operational and Psychological
Environment ................................................................................................ 76
The Operational Environment ................................................................. 77
The Psychological Environment ............................................................. 78
Tackling Problems Related to War and Poverty ......................................... 79
African Agency on Human Rights and Peacekeeping ................................ 81
References ................................................................................................... 82
Appendix: Fact Sheet on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse ........................... 85
Measures Currently in Place ....................................................................... 85
New Measures: A Systemic Challenge That Demands
a Systemic Response ................................................................................... 87
Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................... 89
Index ................................................................................................................. 93
About the Author
Kwame Akonor i s an Associate Professor at Seton Hall University (New Jersey,
USA), where he teaches International Relations, Human Rights, and African
Political Economy. He directs the University’s Africana Center and is also director
of the African Development Institute, a New York-based think tank. He is president
emeritus of the New York State Africana Studies Association. In addition to other
publications, he is the author of two books: A frica and IMF Conditionality (2006)
and African Economic Institutions (2009), both published by Routledge.
xi
Chapter 1
Introduction and Justifi cation for Research
The work of the United Nations (UN) peacekeepers, often referred to as Blue Berets
or Blue H elmets, is generally comprised of civilian, police, and military personnel
from countries who contribute voluntarily to help assist war countries torn by con-
fl ict create conditions for lasting peace. Overall, the work of the UN peacekeepers
is portrayed positively. There is, thus, a large body of sources (in scholarly, journal-
istic, as well as documentary accounts) of how the UN blue helmets and peacekeep-
ing personnel function at their best. By and large, peacekeeping operations are
perceived to be one of selfl ess troops from other countries who volunteer their time
and even risk their life to bring normalcy to civilians in confl ict-torn countries. Alice
Gadler’s record of cases where UN peacekeepers are even sometimes the v ictims of
violent crimes and, when subsequently, protection is needed for them should be well
noted (Gadler 2 010 ).
B ut what about those occurrences where the UN peacekeepers are n ot at their best?
What happens when they are not trying to do the right thing within the structural cir-
cumstances they are given; when rather than helping to establish the rule of law in the
host countries, the peacekeepers rather become perpetrators of crime? Indeed there
have been instances, though, not widespread, where the UN enforcers of peace have
committed and/or have been accused of crimes, including sexual exploitation and
abuse (SEA), child and arms traffi cking, corruption, and other illegal activities (de
Lavarène Célhia 2 006; Plaut 2 008; Hogg 2 011; Charbonneau 2 013 ). The landmark
1996 study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), T he Impact of Armed
Confl ict on Children , which reported that “in 6 out of 12 country studies, the arrival
of peacekeeping troops has been associated with a rapid rise in child prostitution” was
one of the fi rst of several UN-commissioned high-level reports on the problem
(Machel 1 996) . And despite the UN’s “ zero-tolerance” policy adopted in 2003, aimed
at deterring and punishing SEA cases involving UN personnel, the practice continues
unabated. The UN’s rules regarding SEA are depicted graphically in Table 1 .1 .
Recent cases of alleged criminal misconduct have been documented by the
United Nations Organization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo
(MONUC). In 2005, for instance, the UN Offi ce of Internal Oversight Services
© The Author(s) 2017 1
K. Akonor, UN Peacekeeping in Africa, SpringerBriefs in Criminology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-39162-5_1