The Un Military Staff Committee

The UN Military Staff Committee is a misunderstood organ, and never really worked as it was initially envisaged. This book charts its historic development as a means to explain the continuous debate about the reactivation of the Military Staff Committee and, more generally, the unsatisfied need for the Security Council to have a military advisory body so that it does not only depend on the Secretariat to make its decisions on military and security affairs. The author takes a clear stand for the establishment of a military committee with real weight in the decision-making process of the Security Council related to peace operations. The Security Council remains the only international body making decisions in peace and security, authorizing military deployment without advice from a collective body of military experts and advisers. Recreating such a body is the missing part of all UN reform structures undertaken in past years. As the number of UN troops deployed increases, this book will be an important read for all students and scholars of international organisations, security studies and international relations.

The above contrasting views exemplify the dichotomy of opinions concerning the creation of a United Nations (UN) standing military force to deter and, when required, combat international aggression under the terms of Article 43 of the UN Charter. The prime vehicle for coordination of this on-call military force, created under Article 47, was to be the Military Staff Committee (MSC) of the UN Security Council. Put to sleep while still in its infancy as a relic of the early days of the Cold War, the MSC is now in its fourth decade of dormancy following its premature demise. Recent signs, however, indicate that the end of the Cold War may have created an opportunity in which an expanded role for the MSC, or something similar in function, may now be possible.

This study examines the deficiencies within the current UN organization for military command and control and their adverse effects on guidance and planning support for commanders conducting peace operations. The thesis proposes structural changes designed to make the system more effective. Specifically, empowering the Military Staff Committee to realize its responsibilities outlined in the UN Charter; while relieving the Secretariat and the Secretary General from performing duties which they are neither designed for, nor capable of. The study begins with a description of the current UN system for conducting peace operations. It examines the history and Charter of the UN in terms of the international political realities at the end of World War II, contrasted against the political realities facing the world in a post-cold war era. Peace operations are commonly multinational efforts. This study considers the collective joint/combined experience of the Permanent Members of the Security Council and suggests that the United Nations could conduct peace operations more effectively if the structure was changed to be consistent with the UN Charter.

Considers S. Con. Res. 47 and numerous other resolutions to reaffirm congressional support of U.N. peacekeeping activities urging added training and facilities for peacekeeping forces.

Considers S. Con. Res. 47 and numerous other resolutions to reaffirm congressional support of U.N. peacekeeping activities urging added training and facilities for peacekeeping forces.