The United Nations Charter stipulates that to assist in maintaining peace and security around the world, all Member States of the UN should make available to the Security Council necessary armed forces and facilities (PSS 2006, par. 1). Since 1948, more than 130 nations have contributed military and police personnel to peace operations (Ibid.). And also, more than 60 nations have not contributed with troops to UN peace operations. But what is happening to the rest of the countries which do not provide troops? Why is it that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) does not receive troop contributions from them? What are the reasons behind this phenomenon? That is why the first five words of this research title are: Fitting on the “Blue Helmet.”
Despite the large and growing number of contributors, most “Blue Helmets” continue to be provided by a core group of developing countries (Ibid.). The 10 main troop-contributors to UN peacekeeping operations as of April 30, 2006, were Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Nepal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Uruguay and South Africa, providing together more than 67 per cent of all UN military and police personnel (Ibid.). They participate for many reasons and knowing why has helped to create a better understanding between the UN, DPKO, and the contributor countries. But what about the rest of the countries that not send troops? Do we know why they do not send troops? Until today, no research has been conducted to analyse the causes. And it is needed, because this will increase the understanding between the non-contributor countries and the international peace operations community.
In order to obtain and understand the reasons for not contributing troops, a data collection effort was necessary. The initial variables of the data collection process were obtained from previous research about the motivations of contributor countries. And finally, the rest of the variables were obtained directly from non-contributor countries (NCCs) bibliographical references. NCCs are organized in seven groups. Each group has specific characteristics about the countries, and specific behaviors towards UN peace operations. Many questions are answered, for example: Will UN/UN peacekeeping policy reform encourage them to participate? Is being a democratic country a requirement to be interested in participating in UN peace operations? Is lacking defence forces an obstacle for not contributing? Why do some countries prefer other non-UN missions (such as NATO-led ones) above UN missions? And many other questions.
The researcher would like to recommend two ways to access this research: 1) If you want to have a quick look about the main characteristics of the groups (and knowing which countries are in), you can go directly to the Group Analysis section; 2) If you are interested in a specific country, you can obtain deep and rich knowledge about why it does not contribute just by going to its section in the research(located at the bottom of the main page). I would recommend reading the Group Analysis as well (the one corresponding to that country), because it will provide a wider perspective of the realities regarding similar countries.
From our efforts to understand all the members of the international community,
I hope that in 20 years from now, we all could hear:
“Let’s fit on the Blue Helmet!”
