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Challenges Facing Un Security Council

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Challenges facing the UN Security Council

Objective
The U.N security council of the United Nations has the primary responsibility under the United Nations Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security Preston, (2006). Under the Charter, all Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. While other parts of the United Nations make recommendations to various States, the Council has the power to make decisions that Member States are obliged to obey. This gives the Security Council a very important and powerful position in the United Nations and in the world.
Some of the challenges to effective peacekeeping are considered largely conceptual. In the past, peacekeepers were merely expected to separate hostile forces and observe cease-fires or truces President's Homeland Security Advisory Council, (2008). According to Luck, (2006), for the operation to be successful, it is essential that the parties to the conflict offer their collaboration and support. However, in recent conflicts, involving ethnic-based disputes, internal political struggle or the collapse of state institutions, the UN Security Council has been acting without the clear consent of the parties to the conflict Moravcsik, (1998. The result is that the environment for peacekeeping is no longer benign. Peacekeepers increasingly work in a climate of continuing armed conflict, sometimes in places where there are poorly defined borders or cease-fire lines and no guarantees of respect for their safety or role. Greenwood, (1993) argues that this new and complex environment, together with the ambitious objectives of the United Nations Security Council and ever-growing pressure on scarce resources, has made it more imperative than ever to think clearly about when and how the UN should become involved in peacekeeping operations.
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