The prestige of the Blue Helmets must be restored to strengthen the UN

2 min

Chinese soldiers from a blue helmet force on parade just before leaving their country for Lebanon to take part in an operation — Chinese Blue Helmets soldiers on parade just before marching to Lebanon to take part in an operation. Wong Campion / Reuters

This week the United Nations Assembly reached a last-minute agreement to maintain all the Blue Helmets peacekeeping operations deployed around the world. Until the last moment the agreement was in jeopardy because rich countries were reluctant to make the corresponding financial contributions, and in this sense Joe Biden's victory was key.

The problem is that the Blue Helmets institution is tainted by numerous scandals (sexual abuse, corruption...) and actions in which genocides were not avoided, such as in Rwanda in 1994, or in Srebrenica, in the Balkan War. The image of the Dutch Blue Helmets letting the troops of the Serbian general Ratko Mladic pass through and abandoning the civilian population is still a deep wound in the heart of Europe.

Since then these forces have not acted in the major conflicts that have taken place in the world. They have not done so in Syria, Yemen or Burma, where there are geo-strategic interests at stake for the great powers or powerful armies threatening the use of force. The idea of a multinational force to prevent conflicts before they break out or to pacify them when they have reached an entrenched situation has not worked. In reality, the Blue Helmets are an example of the little capacity the UN has to act in the margin of the powers present in the Security Council, which have the right to veto any decision of the organism.

The United Nations must be able to count on a minimum military deterrent force that can really help to keep the peace

Currently, the Blue Helmets only act in Third World areas such as Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they are also made up of contingents from underdeveloped countries, which are the ones that provide troops while the rich countries prefer to provide money and material resources. Furthermore, the process for setting up each mission is too long - at least half a year - which is not operative if we really want to avoid a massacre or genocide.

The conclusion is that the UN, in the framework of the refounding it needs, should be able to have a deterrent force ready to act quickly and effectively. Military units that would warn dictators of the risk of punishing their population or generals of staging coups d'état. Right now the idea is utopian, since no superpower will accept troops outside its control acting on behalf of the international community.

In the meantime, however, the very idea of multilateralism should be reinforced, that the international community should also be a community of values where there are basic rules to be respected in all conflicts. From here the Blue Helmets could recover their lost prestige and reclaim their role as those who maintain peace in the world.