The Role and Challenges of the United Nations Security Council in Promoting Global Peace

Abstract

As it is well known, the UN was formed after the Second World War primarily, among other reasons to maintain international peace and security. The founders of the UN had not foreseen the possibility of engaging in Peace Keeping Operations (PKOs) thus, PKO was not mentioned in the original UN Charter. The purpose of the study was to investigate the role and challenges of the United Nations Security Council and its peace keeping operation system in dealing with the challenges to international peace and security, and in conflict management among global states. The study employed a non-empirical analysis of data that has been previously collected and used in order to address the question of the role and challenges of the United Nations in promoting global peace. From the findings,it is evident that although the UN after World War II was expected to perform its role as indicated in the Charter, it faced Numerous challenges. Efforts of the Secretary Generals, SC and the GA resolutions, even comprehensive reports such as An Agenda for Peace, which aimed to adopt the UN's mechanism to the changing circumstances,did little to remove the obstacles. The study further revealed that the conflicts in Haiti and Cambodia illustrate features of new peacekeeping operations, which are peace building and election monitoring and that the UN confronts enormous challenges in adjusting to newly perceived relations, power and influence. However, the UN is responding as effectively as possible to current conflicts and humanitarian crises. The study concludes that the UN peacekeeping operations in war-torn countries contributed to the stabilization of peace. The study also concludes that the way forward in overcoming the challenges is to adequately train their troops earmarked for UN PKOs. Conflict Management Commissions could also be set up in all regions of the world with experts who understand the problems of the region as members, to investigate any local dispute and sensitivities of the parties in their respective regions and make recommendations to the UNSC on ways and means of resolving such conflicts. Furthermore, it is hoped that its findings could stimulate further research in the field of UNSC mandate and operations globally. The study would also contribute to existing body of knowledge in the field of peacekeeping.