Successes of the Un

How successful was the UN/UNO in its peace keeping role between 1945 and 1990?

Peacekeeping is a central element to international conflict response, and as stated in the UN Fact Sheet, “UN peacekeeping provides essential security and support to millions of people as well as fragile institutions emerging from a conflict”.

The UN has undertaken more than 60 field mission around the world since 1945, and results have differed in the degree of success in creating a peaceful environment.

One could state that the UN has had mixed success, but it certainly has been more successful than the League of Nations, its predecessor, in maintaining peace when it did not cross the interest of one of the great powers that had the power to ignore or even defy the United Nations.

The best way to assess the varying degree of success is to look at the major disputes in which the UN has been involved since 1945.

In 1946 the UN helped to establish independence from the Holland in the Dutch East Indies, forming Indonesia. However, no agreement was made for the future of West New Guinea, a territory claimed by both countries. In 1961 fighting broke out and after members of the UN appealed for a solution, it was agreed that the territory should be given to Indonesia. The UN Temporary Executive Authority assumed administrative responsibility of the area, ensuring law and order. Events in Indonesia are an example for how the UN dealt with decolonization in a successful way. Even though the UN did not itself make a decision about West Irian’s future, it indeed played an essential role to cease the fighting and start negotiation. To recreate a peaceful environment in the area it also made sure the country could adapt well to Indonesia’s government by controlling the area for some time after the conflict had ended.

One very important peace mission the UN has been engaged in until the present day is the Middle East. The UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) launched its mission as...