VOA慢速英语2015 联合国维和部队的报告建议作出改变

AS IT IS 2015-03-04 UN Peacekeeping Report Advises Changes 联合国维和部队的报告建议作出改变

Peacekeeping operations are often criticized. In September 2014, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked a group to study all of the UN peacekeeping and political missions.

Jair van der Lign is head of peace operations research at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.  His organization held meetings in Addis Ababa earlier this month to discuss African peacekeeping problems and ways to solve them. He wrote a report based on such meetings to give the panel more information.

New problems

There are new problems for peacekeeping. One is that criminals and jihadists can easily cross some borders. These are borders that do not have strong security in place.

Another problem has to do with equipment. Mr. van der Lign says bombs killed many peacekeepers in Mali. The bombs are left in the road or carried by people. To be safe, the peacekeepers need vehicles with strong sides that resist bombs.

“If you start to look at all the incidents, you will find most of the fatalities¹ are the result of the IEDs that kill people because the vehicles they were traveling in were not IED-proof. So just making sure that particularly Chadian soldiers travel in Mali with the required armored personnel carriers would already save a lot of lives.”

The use of force

The study found that people in countries where peacekeeping forces are working want them to use force to protect civilians². But the commanders may not always order their troops to use force. They do not want to put their troops in danger.

The report says although the troops have orders, or a mandate³, to protect civilians, the politicians in the home country of the UN troops can also give orders to the commanders.

“That’s why you see in some operations that the operations remain passive not necessarily because the mandate is passive, no quite often the mandate of an operation is very robust⁴ and says you should intervene and you should protect civilians. [It’s] not because the force commander of the peace operation does not want to do it, but because the troop contributor, in the end, decides that they think it is too dangerous to protect civilians... in practice, there is a second line of command…and that’s their own capitals. That is a problem the UN is aware of and trying to find solutions.” 

Clear orders

Mr. Van der Lijn says the UN must be clear about the orders they give to peacekeeping troops. The troops might not have a mandate, or order to protect all civilians. Or, they may not have everything they need to protect all of the civilians in an area. When people expect protection, and the troops cannot provide it, the people get angry. This has happened in Mali, South Sudan, and the Eastern Congo.

Cooperation versus⁵ sovereignty

Some who talked with the researchers said the weak borders mean that UN operations should take place in several countries at one time. This creates a question of sovereignty, or the right of a country to control what happens in its borders.

Mr. Van der Lijn thinks most countries will not agree to peacekeeping operations that cross national borders, because they do not want to give up their sovereignty. But, he says the UN should make plans for peace operations based on cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union and sub-regional organizations.

Paying for peacekeeping

The study found that there are also worries about the cost of peacekeeping. The countries that pay for it are mostly Western, industrialized countries. The countries that provide the troops are middle- and low-income states. They often complain about each other.

Mr. Van der Lijn says over the last year payments to low-income countries providing soldiers has increased. This has helped the relationship, but it would also be good if those giving troops contributed money, and those giving money also sent troops. This exchange might help them understand each other better.

There are 16 peace operations with 120,000 UN personnel around the world. Nine of them, with about 81,000 personnel members, are in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Words in This Story

peacekeeping - n. the preserving of peace; especially international enforcement and supervision⁶ of an agreement to stop fighting

IED - n. an improvised⁷ explosive device (a simple bomb made and used by unofficial or unauthorized forces)

mandate - n. an official order to do something

sovereignty - n. a country's independent authority and the right to govern itself

1 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

5 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

6 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

7 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。