| The role of peacekeeping in world conflicts has become marginalized in recent months, since the U.S. decided to unilaterally invade Iraq.
And massacres in Rwanda, the Congo and the former Yugoslavia have undermined peoples confidence in United Nations peacekeeping missions in general.
However Don Ethell, Canada’s most decorated peacekeeper, says the recent photos obtained by U.S. media showing American soldiers humiliating and torturing Iraqi prisoners indicate that peacekeepers are sorely needed in the world.
"It’s turned into an unmitigated disaster," says Ethell of Iraq. "If you’re a country with a high moral standard you can’t let that go on… It’s really a black eye for the U.S."
Ethell, who spent 38 years in the Canadian army and went on 14 different peacekeeping tours around the world, says the U.S. needs to hand Iraq over to a United Nations-led peacekeeping force in order to provide the country with stability. Otherwise, he says, "we’re in for a long protracted backlash from the rest of the world."
Ethell will speak about his experiences as a peacekeeper on May 15 at the Museum of the Regiments at the opening of an exhibit on Canadian peacekeepers.
Ethell acknowledges that the United Nations has failed in some situations, such as the Rwandan genocide, when it failed to prevent the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis despite pleas from its own peacekeepers for help.
"(Peacekeeping) has lost its impact because we haven’t been able to prevent wars as we have in the past," says Ethell.
However, he says there are many successful peacekeeping operations around the world that most people don’t know about because they don’t receive any media coverage, including operations in Cyprus, the Golan Heights, East Timor and Bosnia.
Some peacekeeping operations aren’t successful because peacekeepers aren’t given an adequate mandate for the situation they find themselves in, he says.
"The mandate gets watered down to support the lowest common denominator," he says.
Ethell thinks the United Nations must be reformed so that some countries aren’t disproportionately represented while others are left out of the decision-making process.
Ethell remains optimistic that peacekeeping can bring about positive change in the world.
"If the interest and the political and diplomatic will is there, we can accomplish anything," he says.
Unfortunately, he says, often that interest and will don’t exist, such as conflicts in Africa.
"A lot of countries and people in the world couldn’t give a damn about what happens in Africa," he says.
Noel Ratch, senior curator at the Museum of the Regiments, says the museum felt it was important to profile peacekeepers because they often don’t get any attention from the media or the public for their efforts around the world.
"They eat K-rations and watch people killing each other and they’re trying their best," says Ratch. "We are not appreciating it at all. They feel underappreciated, underfunded and undervalued… the media doesn’t really pay attention to peacekeepers until they’re in body bags."
The Museum of the Regiment’s exhibit will look at Canadians involved in peacekeeping from 1948 up to present-day missions in Bosnia and Afghanistan. The bloodiest peacekeeping mission for Canadians was in Korea between 1953 and 1955 when Canadians were enforcing the ceasefire between North and South Korea. Forty-five soldiers were killed in two years. A total of 119 Canadian peacekeepers have died since 1948.
In order to put together the exhibit, Ratch interviewed dozens of Canadian peacekeepers involved in various missions around the world and he says the exhibit doesn’t shy away from sensitive subjects, such as the torture and murder of a Somali teenager by members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment in 1993. However, there are also many stories of courage and heroism on the part of peacekeepers.
"I let it be driven by the words of the peacekeepers," says Ratch. "It’s them that have lived it." |
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