Page 310

REVISTA IEEE 11

310 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 11 / 2018 • To protect the personnel and facilities of the United Nations. • To support humanitarian and Human Rights protection activities. • To assist in the reform of national security, including the formation of the national police and the formation of a new and re-structured Army. This mission was conceived as a multidimensional peace operation, as declared by the Secretary General of the United Nations before the establishment of the mission: «The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) would be a multidimensional operation composed of political, military, police, criminal justice, civil affairs, human rights, gender, child protection, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, public information and support components, as well as an electoral component in due course. The Mission would include a mechanism for the coordination of its activities with those of the humanitarian and development community»24. In the case of Liberia, the multidimensional nature of this peace operation has required, and requires, the participation of a great number of agencies of the United Nations System with differing mandates to implement, together with the civil component of UNMIL, actions associated with fields such as democratic governability, the rule of law, promotion of Human Rights, woman and child protection, and training programs for demobilized soldiers. Within the field of security, one of the principal activities which UNMIL has been carrying out is to provide specialized training to the Liberian National Police (LNP) and to the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN). It must be mentioned that the BIN includes the essential task of the management and control of the borders of a region where conflict has historically had a strong trans-border component. For example, «On 24 December 1989, a small band of Libyan-trained rebels led by Charles G. Taylor invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast»25, and «in 1991, the Liberian civil war spilled into Sierra Leone when Foday Sankoh led a mixed group of Liberians and Sierra Leoneans into Kailahun in eastern Sierra Leone»26. Initially, it was composed of 15,000 United Nations military troops, including a maximum of 250 military observers and 160 officials and up to 1,115 civil police officers, together with the necessary civil component27. With the passing of time, the United Nations Security Council, through a series of Resolutions, has set about progressively reducing the military and police presence of UNMIL. Some of the 24  United Nations Mission in Liberia, «Support for the implementation of the Peace Process», United Nations Mission in Liberia, undated, available at: http://www.un.org/un/peacekeeping/ missions/unmil. Viewed: 04.04.2016. 25  Global Security, «Liberia – First Civil War – 1989 – 1996», Global Security, 2011, available at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/liberia-1989.html. Viewed: 23.05.2016. 26  Global Security, «Liberia – First Civil War- 1989-1996», Global Security, 2011, available at: http:// www.globalsecurity.org/miliitary/world/war/liberia-1989.html. Viewed: 23.05.2016. 27  United Nations Security Council, «Security Council Resolution 1509 (2003)», Refworld, 2003, p. 3, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f8d3045d4.html. Viewed: 06.04.2016. http://revista.ieee.es

REVISTA IEEE 11
To see the actual publication please follow the link above