The role of the United Nations peacekeeping missions in international conflict resolutions: The cases of UNFICYP, UNIIMOG and UNSMIS

The principal duty of the UN is to ensure and protect international peace. In accordance with this duty, in cases where international peace is threatened, it intervenes in the problem adopting various methods. UN peacekeeping missions have an important place among the conflict resolution methods of the UN. Peacekeeping missions assigned by the UN Security Council are multilateral forces deployed between conflicting parties. However, their activities and level of efficacy for the resolution of the problem vary in each conflict. The objective of this study is to investigate the role of UN peacekeeping missions in the resolution of international conflicts. In the study, the role of UN peacekeeping forces in the resolution of international conflicts are examined within the framework of three case studies. Comparing the cases of UNFICYP, UNIIMOG and UNSMIS, it is explored in what situations UN peacekeeping missions are more effective. The study concludes that the most important factor that affects the success of a peacekeeping mission is the support of the international community and the conflicting parties. Indeed, UNIIMOG was created as a result of the common desire of the international community and the conflicting parties for peace, thus became more successful compared to the other two cases.