UN Intervention Dynamics:
Bystanders Amidst Conflict in the DRC and in the Broader Normative Framework
Teuntje Wenting (2818359)
Faculty of Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
R_Perp.byst: Atrocity Actors; Perpetrators, Bystanders and Victims
March 18, 2024
Word count: 1996
, Introduction
The days turn into weeks. The cost of an Ituri brigade, tens of millions dollars a year.
- Paul Cowan, ‘The Peacekeepers’ (48:18), 2005.
This quote, extracted from the documentary ‘The Peacekeepers’ (Cowan, 2005),
illustrates the expensive and protracted process in which the United Nations (UN) operated
during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since the mid-1990s, the
DRC has faced widespread violence involving numerous factions within the country and
armies of nine different countries (Stearns, 2022). Following the Lusaka Ceasefire
Agreement in 1999, the UN launched an observer mission, which would evolve into one of
the most robust and highly militarized UN missions in the world (Russo, 2021).
‘The Peacekeepers’, directed by Paul Cowan offers a narrative of UN employees. The
documentary highlights the challenges the UN peacekeepers face, while simultaneously
illustrating those working at the headquarters of the UN struggling to respond adequately to
the violence in the DRC. At the heart of the documentary lies an examination of the role of
the UN in peacekeeping efforts. While the UN plays a vital role in facilitating peace
negotiations and deploying peacekeeping missions, it also critiques instances where the UN is
accused of bystander behavior amidst escalating violence and humanitarian crises (Cowan,
2005).
Understanding the decisions of those working at the UN as bystanders requires
examining the decision-making process and broader trends in UN intervention norms. First,
by using the theory on bystanders proposed by Latané & Darley (1969), the decisions of
those working at the UN as bystanders to the war in the DRC are analyzed on a case-level.
However, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying factors guiding UN
Bystanders Amidst Conflict in the DRC and in the Broader Normative Framework
Teuntje Wenting (2818359)
Faculty of Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
R_Perp.byst: Atrocity Actors; Perpetrators, Bystanders and Victims
March 18, 2024
Word count: 1996
, Introduction
The days turn into weeks. The cost of an Ituri brigade, tens of millions dollars a year.
- Paul Cowan, ‘The Peacekeepers’ (48:18), 2005.
This quote, extracted from the documentary ‘The Peacekeepers’ (Cowan, 2005),
illustrates the expensive and protracted process in which the United Nations (UN) operated
during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since the mid-1990s, the
DRC has faced widespread violence involving numerous factions within the country and
armies of nine different countries (Stearns, 2022). Following the Lusaka Ceasefire
Agreement in 1999, the UN launched an observer mission, which would evolve into one of
the most robust and highly militarized UN missions in the world (Russo, 2021).
‘The Peacekeepers’, directed by Paul Cowan offers a narrative of UN employees. The
documentary highlights the challenges the UN peacekeepers face, while simultaneously
illustrating those working at the headquarters of the UN struggling to respond adequately to
the violence in the DRC. At the heart of the documentary lies an examination of the role of
the UN in peacekeeping efforts. While the UN plays a vital role in facilitating peace
negotiations and deploying peacekeeping missions, it also critiques instances where the UN is
accused of bystander behavior amidst escalating violence and humanitarian crises (Cowan,
2005).
Understanding the decisions of those working at the UN as bystanders requires
examining the decision-making process and broader trends in UN intervention norms. First,
by using the theory on bystanders proposed by Latané & Darley (1969), the decisions of
those working at the UN as bystanders to the war in the DRC are analyzed on a case-level.
However, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying factors guiding UN
