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The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC)
ar, سلطة الأمم المتحدة الانتقالية في كمبوديا, italics=off
zh, , italics=off
french: Autorité provisoire des Nations unies au Cambodge
russian: Организация Объединенных Наций Временный орган в Камбодже, italics=off
es, Autoridad Provisional de las Naciones Unidas en Camboya was a
United Nations peacekeeping Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role held by the Department of Peace Operations as an "instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace". It is distinguished ...
operation in
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...
in 1992–93 formed following the
1991 Paris Peace Accords The Paris Peace Agreements ( km, សន្ធិសញ្ញាសន្តិភាពទីក្រុងប៉ារីស ឆ្នាំ១៩៩១; french: Accords de paix de Paris), formally titled Comprehensive Cambodian Peace Agreeme ...
. This was the first occasion in which the UN directly assumed responsibility for the administration of an outright independent state (the UN did the administration of the former Dutch territory of
Netherlands New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdo ...
between 1962–1963 prior), rather than simply monitoring or supervising the area. The UN transitional authority organised and ran
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
s, had its own radio station and jail, and was responsible for promoting and safeguarding
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
at the national level.


History

UNTAC was established in February 1992 under United Nations Security Council Resolution 745 in agreement with the State of Cambodia, the ''de facto'' government of the country at that time, to implement the Paris Peace Accords of October 1991. UNTAC was the product of intense diplomatic activity over many years. Headed by Chief of Mission
Yasushi Akashi Yasushi Akashi (明石 康 ''Akashi Yasushi'', born January 19, 1931 in Hinai, Akita Prefecture) is a senior Japanese diplomat and United Nations administrator. Overview Akashi graduated with Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of T ...
(Japan), Force Commander Lieutenant-General
John Sanderson Lieutenant General John Murray Sanderson, (born 4 November 1940) is a retired senior Australian Army officer and vice-regal representative. He served as Force Commander of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia from 1992 to 1993 ...
(Australia), and Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Klaas Roos (Netherlands), UNTAC involved approximately 15,900 military, 3,400 civilian police, 2,000 civilians and 450 UN Volunteers, as well as locally recruited staff and interpreters. During the electoral period, more than 50,000 Cambodians served as electoral staff and some 900 international polling station officers were seconded from Governments. The whole operation cost over $1.6 billion (equivalent to $2.5 billion in 2017), mostly in salaries for expatriates.


Goals

UNTAC's aim was to restore peace and civil government in a country ruined by decades of
civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...
and Cold War machinations, to hold free and fair elections leading to a new constitution and to "kick-start" the rehabilitation of the country. It was to exercise 'supervision' or 'supervision or control' over all aspects of government, including foreign affairs, national defence, finance, public security and information, and to supervise, monitor and verify the withdrawal and non-return of foreign military forces. Its mission was also to canton, disarm and demobilise Cambodia's fighting factions, confiscate caches of weapons and military supplies, promote and protect human rights, oversee military security and maintain law and order, repatriate and resettle refugees and displaced persons, assist in mine clearance and the establishment of training programmes in mine clearance and mine awareness, rehabilitate essential infrastructure and assist in
economic reconstruction Economic reconstruction is a process for creating a proactive vision of economic change. The most basic idea is that problems in the economy, such as deindustrialization, environmental decay, outsourcing, industrial incompetence, poverty and ad ...
and development. Another important goal was the trial of senior Khmer Rouge leaders. The process that was initiated during the UNTAC led on 4 October 2004, to the ratification of an agreement with the United Nations by the Cambodian National Assembly on the establishment of a tribunal to try senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. Donor countries pledged the $43 million international share of the three-year tribunal budget, while the Cambodian government's share of the budget was $13.3 million. The first trials of senior Khmer Rouge leaders took place only in 2007, when many of them were already dead or in ill-health.


Disarmament

Despite UNTAC's boasting of its effectiveness and being feted by the international community as a success, UNTAC failed to disarm the
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...
, while effectively disarming the SOC's local militias. This bias allowed the Khmer Rouge to make territorial gains and gave rise to political violence. The State of Cambodia's military leaders were furious, claiming that UNTAC was extremely exacting with the disarmament of the CPAF, but too lenient and ineffective when it came to disarm the Khmer Rouge.


1993 elections

Over 4 million Cambodians (about 90% of eligible voters) participated in the May 1993 elections, although the
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...
or
Party of Democratic Kampuchea The Party of Democratic Kampuchea was a political party in Cambodia, formed as a continuation of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in December 1981. In the mid-1980s, it publicly claimed that its ideology was "a new form of democratic socialism",Al ...
(PDK), whose forces were never actually disarmed or demobilised, barred some people from participating. Prince Ranariddh's
FUNCINPEC The National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia,; french: Front uni national pour un Cambodge indépendant, neutre, pacifique et coopératif commonly referred to as FUNCINPEC,, ; is a royalist politic ...
Party was the top vote recipient with a 45.5% vote, followed by
Hun Sen Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and o ...
's
Cambodian People's Party The Cambodian People's Party (CPP), UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ; is a Cambodian political party which has ruled Cambodia since 1979. Founded in 1951, it was originally known as the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP)., UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ; ...
and the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party, respectively. FUNCINPEC then entered into a coalition with the other parties that had participated in the election. The parties represented in the 120-member assembly proceeded to draft and approve a new constitution, which was promulgated 24 September 1993. It established a multiparty liberal democracy in the framework of a constitutional monarchy, with the former Prince Sihanouk elevated to King. Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen became First and Second Prime Ministers, respectively, in the Royal Cambodian Government (RGC). The constitution provides for a wide range of internationally recognised human rights.


Participating countries

The 46 participating countries providing military observers, police, or troops were: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *''Cambodia''. Lonely Planet


Criticism

Norodom Sihanouk Norodom Sihanouk (; km, នរោត្តម សីហនុ, ; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a Cambodian statesman, Sangkum and FUNCINPEC politician, film director, and composer who led Cambodia in various capacities throughout his ...
had reservations about the UNTAC operation. The massive presence of foreign troops led to the abuse of some Cambodian women, boosting
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
and possibly driving a spike in the prevalence of
HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
by introducing the virus from other affected countries. The number of sex workers in the State of Cambodia rose from about 6,000 in 1991, to over 20,000 after the arrival of UNTAC personnel in 1992. By 1995 there were between 50,000 and 90,000 Cambodians affected by AIDS according to a
WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...
estimate.


Statistics

* Duration: March 1992 – September 1993 * Strength: Approximately 22,000 military and civilian personnel * Fatalities: 78 (4 military observers, 41 other military personnel, 14 civilian police, 5 international civilian staff and 14 local staff). * Expenditures:
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1.62 billion (UNAMIC and UNTAC combined)


See also

* UN protectorate


Further reading

* Strangio, Sebastian. 2014. ''Hun Sen’s Cambodia''. Yale University Press.


Notes


References


External links

* Records o
the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) (1992-1993)
at the United Nations Archives
Untac.com: UNTAC website
{{Authority control Former countries in Cambodian history 745 1990s in Cambodia States and territories established in 1992 States and territories disestablished in 1993 1992 establishments in Cambodia 1993 disestablishments in Cambodia 20th century in Cambodia Cambodia and the United Nations