Australia and The United Nations
Peacekeeping
The commitment of Australian forces to UN peacekeeping operations increases our potential influence on a range of issues of concern to Australia that are before the international community and reflects our willingness to support the UN in its wider responses to security problems around the world. Australian participation in UN peacekeeping operations will continue to be decided on a case-by-case basis. We would expect such operations to have specific objectives, a good probability of success, adequate resources to achieve the objective and a limited duration and scope.
In recent years, peacekeeping missions have become increasingly complex and multi-dimensional. Australia’s substantial experience in such operations has demonstrated that the rule of law is an essential foundation for durable peace. It is a fundamental underpinning of good governance. An effective domestic justice system enables individuals and communities to draw a line after conflict—to heal past wounds and to ensure that they do not become the basis for future conflict.
During the last few years, as traditional peacekeeping operations have given way to multi-dimensional operations, the operational role of peacekeepers has changed and they have acquired broader responsibilities. Peacekeepers can now be expected to investigate human rights violations, train local police officers in order to rebuild or create the local police force, verify elections, help to rejuvenate or devise a local justice system and undertake a range of humanitarian tasks.
Australia has played an active role in leading regional responses to conflict in our own region, in East Timor, Bougainville, Fiji and Solomon Islands. The actions in the Pacific demonstrate the wisdom of the UN Charter’s drafters in encouraging, in Chapter VIII, “the development of pacific settlement of local disputes through…regional arrangements or by…regional agencies”. Australia stands willing to work with the UN and other Member States to apply the lessons learned from such regional responses in assisting regions to manage their conflicts.