Post-conflict peace-building: a challenge for the United Nations

Abstract

The multidisciplinary peace-keeping and post-conflict peace-building (PCPB); operations of today have imposed on the United Nations a multifaceted and complex role, comprising both verification and good offices functions in a wide variety of areas. This has put tremendous pressure on the human and financial resources of the Organization. As a result, many flaws in the United Nations system have been brought to light, such as the inadequate coordination that exists between the different bodies of the Organization and its inability to address problems associated with peace and development in a rigorous, integrated, transparent, coherent and consistent way. The political and economic realities of today require what the Secretary-General has referred to as an "integrated approach to human security". Under such an approach, humanitarian, political, military and socio-economic problems should be addressed by the various institutions jointly rather than separately, in order to avoid potential clashes of competence and waste of resources. An integrated approach to human security, which is important as a general rule, is imperative in PCPB situations and may be the only feasible way to address the sources of conflict, thus avoiding a recurrence of major crises or violence in the future. The need for the United Nations to become more immersed in the multidisciplinary aspects of PCPB requires major rethinking and an analytical and operational redefinition of relationships and comparative advantages.