United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Quiz

Answer: Israeli/Palestinian

The United Nations Truce Supervision Operation (UNTSO) was established to ensure the keeping of the truce after the Israeli war of independence. The truce was effectively broken in the Sinai War (1956), the 6-Day War (1967), the Yom Kippur War (1973) and the Lebanon Wars (1978 and 1982), and is constantly being threatened by terror attacks from Palestinian side and ensuing retaliation from Israeli side.

The effective evacuation of Israeli settlements from the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank in 2005 was a seminal step in the peace progress that has started with the Oslo agreements of 1993 and 1995.

Answer: 1978

UNIFIL is the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. It was established in 1978 to ensure the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, and was still operative over 43 years later (2021).

Answer: Africa

Of 15 ongoing missions, 7 were in Africa in 2005. Three others were in the Middle East, three in Europe, one in the Americas (Haiti) and one in Asia (Kashmir). The African countries concerned are Western Sahara, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Liberia, Sudan, Burundi and Cote d'Ivoire.

Answer: Bosnia

UN have been still active in the Kosovo, which is an autonomous province of Serbia, with UNMIK. The mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has been ongoing since 1974, when Turkey invaded the island and it was split into a Turkish and a Greek half. In Georgia, United Nations have authorized an observer force (UNOMIG) in 1993 to control the ceasefire between the Georgian government and Abkhaz authorities.

Answer: True

Between 1948 and 1989, only 16 UN peacekeeping missions were mandated. Since 1991, 43 new missions have been undertaken. In many intra-state conflicts, UN forces have played the role of an interim authority. Examples are East Timor and Kosovo. Also, UN troops increasingly carry heavy weapons ('robust peacekeeping') to effectively deter aggression against them and prevent UN casualties.

Answer: United Nations Emergency Force (Palestine, 1956-1967)

Since 1993 UN peacekeeping missions have worked together with regional organizations to bring peace to crisis regions. The co-operation is not dominated by the UN however. Other peacekeepers have their own agendas, e.g. NATO in Afghanistan, where UN only has a political support mission.

Answer: The UN Security Council

Only the Security Council can authorize such missions, with a simple majority vote of at least 9 pro-votes (and no Veto of one of the permanent members).

Answer: India

India lost 115 peacekeepers in UN operations, 39 alone in the United Nations mission in the Congo (ONUC, 1960-1964). The total number of fatalities sustained by UN troops between 1948 and the beginning of 2006 was 2,242. Most fatalities occurred in UNIFIL (Lebanon, 257), followed by ONUC with 250.

Answer: around USD 40 billion

In comparison, the same nations spent over USD 1,000 billion on arms purchases in the year 2004 alone.

Answer: Blue Helmets

Thank you for playing! All information quoted from www.un.org!