The Voices Of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) And The Effectiveness Of The Peacekeeping Forces In Darfur

Internal Displaced Persons bear the greatest burden of suffering in the context of armed conflicts. The international community recognizes its “responsibility to protect,” visible though its peacekeeping missions. However, the criteria for success of these missions’ focuses on quantitative measure, rather than the subjective experience of those they seek to protect. My research explores the narratives of security that are told in IDP camps by IDPs themselves in Darfur, in an effort to gain a deep understanding of their perspective on role and the function of the peacekeeping forces. Using Actantial Model, I explore IDP’s narratives of security toward the development of a new method for the evaluation of peacekeeping missions, one that arises from, and is anchored in, the narratives of those who are served by those missions. This study highlighted the continuous debate among the UN member states regarding the responsibility to protect civilians and state sovereignty, and shifted this debate to the knowledge of a deliberate strategy of protection. These IDPs’ stories stand as truths to be used as a basis for understanding and interpreting their voices as reality, meaning treating and defining them as significant in evaluating the context of peacekeeping. However, all of the discourse in the IDPs’ perceptions supported the ineffectiveness of the peacekeeping forces. This study recommended creating mechanisms for rapid response enabled by adequate financial and logistical support, establishing an adequate reporting system, fostering international cooperation and maintaining neutrality, in addition to developing a clear mandate and workable systems for evaluating the effectiveness of peacekeeping forces from the perspective of the intended beneficiaries.