The United Nation’s Operations in the Former Yugoslavia: Shortcomings in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

The United Nations made many critical errors during the Yugoslav crisis of the early 1990s. Early inaction was the first critical error made by the UN during the crisis. This error was followed by six other major errors which combined to essentially destroy any chance of success that the UN might have had in the Yugoslav secessionist wars. The UN also allowed the European Community to take charge of the crisis in the initial phases of the conflict. This was a mistake which caused further delay in UN operations in the Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. As a result of these errors, the conflict in the former Yugoslavia was protracted much longer than it might have been had the UN been better prepared to face the challenge. This paper will examine the critical errors made by the UN during the Bosnian and Croatian crises and will propose possible solutions to this particular peacekeeping dilemma and ways that the UN can learn from their mistakes to benefit future peacekeeping missions