Illegal Trafficking of natural resources by the UN peacekeepers in the Eastern Part of the DR Congo

It is argued that UN Operations in Congo have failed in their mission of protecting civilians, especially women. This essay will discuss this argument with respect to MONUC. The essay will be broken into three parts: part one will provide background on Congo and its crisis, part two will give an overview of MONUC, and part three will demonstrate why MONUC has failed in protecting civilians and in particular, women.

A38 Journal of International Law, 2013

More than six decades since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, mankind has experienced an alarming number of armed conflicts affecting almost every continent. During this time, the four Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have provided legal protection to people not or no longer participating directly in hostilities (the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, persons deprived of their liberty for reasons related to an armed conflict and civilians). Even so, there have been numerous violations of these treaties, resulting in suffering and death which could have been avoided if International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was better respected. For more than two decades, the African Great Lakes Region has been characterized by intense political violence which has resulted in various violations of serious international crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. This article will focus on the third armed conflict (2004-2009) under the leadership of General Nkunda and Colonel Mutebusi’s rebellions. Besides, it the legal reasoning of the violations of international humanitarian law during the third conflict in the DRC and then presentes the necessity to prosecute the perpetrators.

Jurnal Politica Dinamika Masalah Politik Dalam Negeri dan Hubungan Internasional

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country with the longest rebel conflict of the 21st century. This article analyzes the causes of the UN’s difficulties in finding a solution to the crisis of rebel groups which threaten security in the DRC, particularly in its eastern part. Most of the existing work on the subject under study state that the failure of peacekeeping missions in the DRC are due to various factors such as mandate, strength, complexity of violence, etc. However, existing studies have not analyzed the work of MONUSCO as a regime and why this regime is not effective. In approaching the theory of the international regime, this article uses the internal and external factors of the regime to analyze the causes of this ineffective peacekeeping mission in the DRC. Research applies qualitative research methods with data from primary and secondary data obtained from official MONUSCO documents, books, journals, and online news. This article shows that the rebel crisi...

Discuss the context and background to the establishment of the United Nations Organisations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) /United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), paying attention to how the complexity of the conflict in the DRC has influenced changes in the MONUC/MONUSCO mandates, objectives and operational strategies. In your analysis, [provide your overall reflection on the relevance of MONUC/MONUSCO in bringing peace to the DRC.

2010

A RAPID RESPONSE ASSESSMENT 4 5 This report, based on evidence submitted to the UN Security Council, field investigations, interviews and scientific data indicates that the gorillas in the Greater Congo Basin are at even greater risk than expected less than a decade ago.

Is peacekeeping intervention? This is the central theme which runs throughout this thesis. Since its conception in the mid-1950s, peacekeeping has significantly evolved from traditional, passive, monitoring and observing operations to robust, multi-dimensional stabilisation operations. This raises questions as to whether this is simply a natural evolution of peacekeeping or whether it marks an expansion of the concept of peacekeeping beyond its boundaries, pushing it into the realm of peace enforcement or intervention. Put simply, has peacekeeping evolved too far? Focusing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), this thesis seeks to understand the relationship between United Nations peacekeeping and the principle of non-intervention. It therefore explores the boundaries between the two, by examining peacekeeping’s legal and normative frameworks, questioning whether, at times, peacekeeping becomes a form of intervention. Uniquely applying a Third World Approaches to Internatio...

2011

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a vast country in the Great Lakes region of Africa torn apart by repeated armed conflicts. As from September 1998, the conflict in the country attracted attention of the international community with the number of deaths estimated at around 3.3 million people. The 1998 armed conflict was the most complex in Africa, due to an intricate cluster of international and external factors, with up to nine states militarily involved inside the Congolese territory. These are grouped into two opposing sides, composed on the one side by the Kinshasa government with its Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean allies and on the other side a divided set of rebel groups composed of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD) and the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC) with their allies from Rwanda and Uganda. The United Nations (UN) Security Council is engaged in supporting international peace and security according to Chapters VI, VII and VIII ...

African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 2011

Only recently, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) celebrated fifty years since the territory gained independence from Belgium. But the truth be told, Congo is not yet free. In more ways than are easily fathomable, the country continues to be buffeted by various reincarnations of greed and chaos-some externally driven, others internally motivated. This paper begins with a historical contextualisation of the conflicts in the DRC, before proceeding to take stock of the organisation's balance sheet thus far as it grapples with imminent peacekeeping, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction challenges in the country. Successes achieved by the United Nations Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) (now MONUSCO, the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC) are then pitted against setbacks in this regard. Finally, a prognosis of the UN's future role in the territory is built