MAINTAINING INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY

• • The central mission of the United Nations
  • This is accomplished through the deployment of peacekeepers, and creating conditions that allow peace to hold and flourish.
  • The United Nations SC has the primary responsibility for international peace and security, pursuant to chapter 24 of the Charter. 
  • This is through taking enforcement measures like economic sanctions or international military action through peacekeeping.
• PEACEKEEPING

  • Proven to be one of the most effective tools available top the UN to assist countries to navigate the path from conflict to peace. 
  • Not only do peacekeeping operations seek to maintain peace and security, but also facilitate political processes, protect civilians and support constitutional processes and uphold the rule of law.
• MONUSCO. 

  • MONUSCO took over from an earlier UN peacekeeping operation – the United Nations Organization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).
  • The new mission has been authorised to use all necessary means to carry out its mandate relating of protection for civilians, humanitarian personnel and human rights defenders under imminent threat of physical violence and to support the Government of the DRC in its stabilisation and peace consolidation efforts.
• • The MONUSCO mission delivers other critical services in the region like demining, community-based early warning systems, judicial capacity building, community conflict resolution, and collaborative mechanisms for civilian protection. 
  • Successive governments have failed to provide such services for decades. 
  • Local communities perceive the military, police, and intelligence forces as part of the problem—eliciting pervasive fear and distrust
• • The role of MONUSCO has also been critical in monitoring, reporting, collecting, and sharing information related to human rights violations to support international criminal justice and the fight against impunity, including the International Criminal Court’s prosecution of Thomas Lubanga, Germain Katanga, Bosco Ntaganda, and others.
  • These achievements were done despite a number of strategic constraints, including the diminishing degree of cooperation of the host state and the role of neighbouring states fueling instability
• FUNDAMENTALLY


  • MONUSCO has helped keep the DRC unified. As a senior African diplomat from the African Center has noted, without the UN mission, the DRC would likely not exist as an integrated state today.
  • It, furthermore, helped prevent the recurrence of a major conflict along the lines of the First and Second Congo wars.
• LIMITATIONS TO MONSCUO

  • October 2023: 8 UN Peacekeepers in the Congo were suspended and detained following reports of serious misconduct, such as sexual abuse and exploitation. 
  • 2020: 36 deaths of civilians in eastern DRC as protesters turn on UN peacekeepers. 
  • UN itself called “unspeakable and irresponsible”.