Brazil prepares as global demand grows

Brazilian troops are the principal components of the United Nations Stabilization Mission currently in its fifth year in Haiti. Spurred by a growing world-wide demand for peacekeeping operations, Brazil’s Marine Corps, the Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais, CFN, concluded its first year of peacekeeping training at the recently inaugurated CFN School of PeaceKeeping Operations. The event was marked by an open seminar examining the Brazilian experience in peacekeeping in Haiti where participants stressed the increasingly sophisticated challenges ahead.

Giancarlo Summa, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, stressed the exploding importance of peace operations, noting that over the last 20 years, 45 peacekeeping operations were launched since 1990. “There is constant pressure for creating new peacekeeping missions, the trend is for these missions to become instruments of international politics for complex and difficult situations.”

According to Summa, there are today 17 peacekeeping missions in the world involving approximately 110 thousand people, of which over 100 thousand are members of military forces, “this means of course, that you have exponential growth in the budget for peacekeeping missions, a tiny budget in 1988 of 300 million dollars has jumped to over 7 billion dollars currently”.

Summa pointed out that along with the increasing demand placed on the United Nations for peacekeeping operations, the complexity of the operations around the world mean missions are more challenging and that members must be highly specialized and better trained.

Peacekeeping is complex, but forces must have “no secrets”

“The United Nations is very happy with the quality and professionalism of the Brazilian participation in peacekeeping missions, in Haiti with the MINUSTAH but also in other missions; the UN is also appreciative of Brazil’s work not only in training peacekeeping troops but also of developing a Peacekeeping doctrine. The Brazilian involvement in peacekeeping is clearly going to increase.” Giancarlo Summa also pointed out that the upcoming New Horizon review of peace operations will take into account Brazilian experiences in peacekeeping, especially in Haiti, as it sets the doctrine of peacekeeping in the 21st century.

Colonel Pedro A. Pessoa, head of the Brazilian Army’s Cioppaz, the Peacekeeping Operations Training Center, stressed the joint nature of peacekeeping missions, and the fact that knowledge and training must be shared and developed in partnerships. “In Peacekeeping operations, unlike in war, there is great value in working with partners, especially when they work well, produce information and understand how the UN works. There must be no secrets among the various forces” Col. Pessoa stressed. He also highlighted the little discussed importance of having good intelligence in peacekeeping missions.

Peacekeeping missions however, as noted by Giancarlo Summa also become increasingly intertwined with peace building. This brings a number of partners on the scene, among them there is a growing need for police officers. There are over 13 thousand police officers involved in 13 peacekeeping missions around the world, and the Brazilian contribution is still small.

Growing demand for police officers in peace operations

“There are currently 4 Brazilian police officers in Haiti, 3 in Sudan and 6 in East Timor,” said Federal District Military Police officer, Lieutenant Sérgio Carrera, adding that “we have begun offering training for police officers in peacekeeping missions but one of the biggest obstacles is that our officers must be English speakers.” The MP in the Federal District has launched The United Nations Police Observer Training Course, in partnership with the Brazilian Army and the Canadian Embassy.

Lieutenant Carrera pointed out there is a project that would transfer control over the military and civil police participation in Peace Operations from the Ministry of Defense and pass it to the control of the Ministry of Justice’s National Public Security Office.

“In order to reach his goals, a police officer’s weapons are negotiation, silent diplomacy, competency, and patience, not automatic machine guns.”

Canada’s Pearson Peacekeeping Center, Michael Snell, spoke of the need for a common lexicon and terminology on peacekeeping operations, and the interest in contributing to Latin American Capacity Building projects. He noted the upcoming 3 day seminar in Buenos Aires on Complex Peace Operations in the 21st Century.

Haiti is safer now than the Dominican Republic or Jamaica

Brazil is the main contributor of troops to the United Nations Stabilization Mission, MINUSTAH, in Haiti, that has been hailed for successfully in boosting levels of security in the Nation. The MINUSTAH, has been lead by a Brazilian Force Commander since 2004, and the mission has been renewed by the UN and the Haitian authorities every year since.  Brazil’s involvement in the MINUSTAH is also groundbreaking because it is the first time Brazil’s military forces are engaged in peacekeeping under chapter 7, that allows for possible use of force in carrying out the mission’s mandate.

“I have been going to Haiti since 1995, and I have been living there for the past 20 months and not once have I worn a helmet or a bullet proof jacket. Haiti is today safer than the Dominican Republic, and safer than Jamaica,” said Brazilian Ambassador to Haiti, Igor Kipman.  After reiterating that the MINUSTAH is not a force of occupation, that is present in the nation by invitation of the Haitian authorities, the Brazilian Ambassador to Haiti, was pointed:

 “We know that Haitians, from the President to regular citizens, would all like the MINUSTAH to leave, as would any people with foreign forces in their land. There are even those in Brazil who would have us leave. But the fact is that although Haiti is now safer than many areas in Latin America, we have not reached a point where it can leave without the risk of losing the progress so far”. Kipman went on to state that the last time a mission left Haiti, the situation reverted to insecurity and eventually events led to forces being invited back in 2004.

The goal: Haitian National Police trained and 14 thousand strong by 2011

The ambassador pointed out that there are always challenges to maintenance of the peace, these go from natural disasters such as the recent storms and mud slides that destroyed a school in Haiti and left so many hungry, to the two rounds of elections to be held in 2010 with the swearing in of the new president in 2011.

“The key issue is whether there are going to be new jobs being generated, whether there will be new sources of income,” said Kipman. “Many have promised investments but the promises do not always come through. Special UN Envoy to Haiti, former president of the United States Bill Clinton brought a group of 150 foreign businessmen to look at possibilities of investment in Haiti.  United Nations missions in Peacekeeping Peace building continuum establishes along with a budget for the armed stabilization forces, a peace building budget to be composed of donations from United Nations members.

Ambassador Kipman added that since Haiti has no standing army, it is up to the National Police of Haiti to take over the task of providing security, not only for civilian life, but also secure the nation’s borders. “The goal is to have the PNH, the National Police of Haiti train and equip new officers and be 14 thousand strong by 2011. It is not an ideal number, but it is one it is hoped will be sufficient, a contingent that takes into consideration the fact these officers must earn a salary to be paid for by the government.” Police officers in training are currently waiting for delayed salaries.  Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico have all contributed to training police officers in Haiti.

Haiti still largely unknown in the region, 40% of its citizens undocumented

Historian Monica Hirst from Argentina’s Universidad Torquato di Tella, stressed the fact that the Peacekeeping mission in Haiti has an important role of acting as, in her words, ‘a laboratory’ for regional cooperation in the Americas, more especially of South America’s ABCU countries, that is Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. “I see the peace operations as an extension of a regional agenda of military cooperation, based on shared democratic affinities. Venezuela and Cuba, don’t send troops, but do offer support in other areas, such as health.

“We must however, also have in mind that there is nevertheless a profound lack of knowledge of Haiti, and it is mutual, Haiti knows very little about the rest of Latin America and the countries that contributed to the MINUSTAH”. Hirst said that Haiti is coming out of 200 years in isolation in the Americas. And that a mission to stabilize the nation will only have limited success while an effort is not made to know the country better. “It is necessary to learn about Haiti, and it would help to begin with the impact of the slave revolution on its relations with nations in the region.”

OEA Representative in Haiti, Ricardo Seitenfus noted that for peace building not only are safe and monitored elections key to the Haitian future, but that this gap in knowledge must be filled. The OEA is currently carrying out a project documenting Haitians, only 40% of Haitians have civil registration documentation. “We need more information, we need to know the real dimensions of the problems faced by locals, to persist in allowing grey areas to exist is to postpone solutions”, said Seitenfus. He also cautioned that “the issue in Haiti is not an issue of finding financial support – the issue here is that Haitians themselves must take hold of the development process.”

Read Further:

About the New Horizon, Review to set UN peacekeeping doctrine for the 21st century