Canada and United Nations Peace Operations

AuthorM.A. Rudderham
Published date01 June 2008
Date01 June 2008
DOI10.1177/002070200806300210
Subject MatterOver the Transom
M.A. Rudderham
Canada and
United Nations
peace operations
Challenges, opportunities, and Canada’s response
| International Journal | Spring 2008 | 359 |
Canadians take pride in the peacekeeping legacy of their country. Looking
back over the history of United Nations (UN) peace operations, episodes that
loom large include Lester B. Pearson’s role in the creation of the first peace-
keeping force, the rapid deployment of Canadian troops to Cyprus, the battles
of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Medak Pocket in Croatia, and the
actions of Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire as force commander in
Rwanda. Until 1989, Canada had participated in every UN mission. In total,
Canada contributed more than 10 percent of total UN military personnel de-
ployed since 1947.1
M.A. Rudderhamis director of communications at the American University of Afghanistan.
1 A. Walter Dorn, “Canadian peacekeeping: Proud tradition, strong future?”
Canadian
Foreign Policy
12, no. 2 (2005): 8.
| M.A. Rudderham |
| 360 | International Journal | Spring 2008 |
The perception of Canada as a leader in UN-led peace operations suffers
when juxtaposed against Canada’s current troop contributions.2In October
2007, there were 173 individuals—mostly police—deployed to UN-led peace
operations. The number of Canadian forces (CF) personnel deployed to UN-
led peace operations, at 58, was at its lowest point since the creation of the
first peacekeeping force in 1956. Moreover, Canada had no military or police
officers located in the department of peacekeeping operations (DPKO) in
New York and no military commanders, police commissioners, or special
representatives of the UN secretary general were Canadian.3These numbers
seem to paint a bleak picture of Canada’s commitment to UN-led peace op-
erations, particularly when contrasted with the 2774 soldiers Canada con-
tributed to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations in
Afghanistan during the same time period.4While most NATO operations
are UN-mandated, they are not synonymous with UN-led operations. Con-
tributing to one organization’s operations to the exclusion of another’s can
have serious political consequences.
It is extremely important for Canada to reenergize its commitment to
UN-led peace operations. In light of the recent emphasis on NATO-led op-
erations—particularly since NATO began engaging in “out-of-area” opera-
tions, such as its mission in Afghanistan and its technical support to the
African Union (AU) in Darfur—questions have been posed about whether
Canada should distance itself from UN-led peace operations, which have
come under fire for being too politicized. This view is short sighted. It was
fewer than 15 years ago when Canada pulled its forces out of Germany fol-
lowing its reunification and the signature of the conventional forces in Eu-
rope treaty, that it was accused of neglecting the alliance in favour of the UN
(which was heavily engaged in the UN mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
2 The term “peace operations” has not yet achieved universal acceptance. In this dis-
cussion, the term refers to all operations mandated by the UN security council, en-
compassing operations that take part in all parts of the conflict spectrum (e.g.,
peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and peacebuilding operations), in-
cluding political missions (e.g., UNAMA) and transitional administration missions
(e.g. UNMIK).
3 At the time of writing the highest position held by a Canadian in a UN-led peace op-
eration was deputy special representative of the secretary general in the UN assistance
mission to Afghanistan, held by Ambassador Christopher Alexander.
4 Figures provided by the permanent mission of Canada to the UN, October 2007.

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