CHAPTER ONE RESEARCH DESIGN     Background to the Study

The Ghana Police Service (GPS) has been participating in peacekeeping operations on the sub-regional, regional and international levels since the 1960s.1 This is in fulfillment of Ghana’s commitment to its foreign policy objectives of promoting respect for international laws, treaty obligations, and settlement of international disputes by peaceful means.2 It is also for adherence to the principles enshrined in the charters of the organizations of which Ghana is a member state.3 Ghana is a member of the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Commonwealth, and the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group4. Ghana, is also bound by the treaty obligations as well as the various protocols, decisions and resolutions concluded by these organizations with respect to peacekeeping and security maintenance in the international frontiers.5

Ghana’s participation in peacekeeping operations, particularly, that of the United Nations, is driven by a deep-rooted commitment to help maintain international peace and security as enshrined in the UN Charter.6 More importantly, this commitment is underpinned by domestic legal principles and values that are set out in Ghana’s Republican Constitution of 1992.7 Explicitly, Article 40 states that Ghana should:

(c) promote respect for international laws, treaty obligations and the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means; and (d) adhere to the principles enshrined in or as the case may be, the aims and ideals of: (i) the Charter of the United Nations; (ii) the Charter of African Union; (iii) the Commonwealth; (iv) the Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States; and (v) any other International Organizations of which Ghana is a member.8

Politically, Ghana’s engagement in peacekeeping offers the country an opportunity to exert influence in world affairs and enhance its image and prestige in the international community.9 This suggests that Ghana has the obligation and the legal mandate to participate in activities spearheaded by these organizations including international peacekeeping operations.10 The activities include but are not limited to good neighborliness, the promotion and protection of Ghana’s interests for a just and equitable international economic system and social order, leading roles in negotiation and mediation efforts in sub-regional conflicts; sheltering refugees from conflict-ridden countries in the sub-region; and the maintenance of friendly relations with neighbouring countries.11

Ghana, for instance, is currently one of the African countries with large numbers of Police in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). A total of 394 Police personnel were deployed in 2016 which is in line with Ghana’s commitment to maintenance of international peace and security.12 The United Nations Information Centre, Accra also noted that Ghana is ranked 8th on the list of 122 countries contributing Police and other personnel to UN peacekeeping operations with a record of 236 Police personnel serving on nine UN peacekeeping operation Missions out of the 17 Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)-led peace operations as at April 2014. 13

Aubyn and Aning reiterate that Ghana has been one of the top ten contributors to peacekeeping Missions for more than five (5) decades since Ghana’s first participation in the UN peacekeeping operation in the Congo (ONUC).14 Over 80,000 Ghanaian security personnel, including the Police have served in various capacities in more than 30 UN Missions as at 30 September 2015, with a total number of 353 Police personnel.15 As at June, 2017, the Ghana Police Service had contributed 394 Police personnel to UN peacekeeping

operations.16 Aboagye specifies some of the peacekeeping Missions that the Ghana Police Service (GPS) has contributed to which are of varying degree of complexity. These include the United Nations Yemen Observation Mission (UNYOM) – from July, 1963 to September, 1964; the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) – from 1978 to date and the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) peacekeeping interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s.17 More recently, the Ghana Police Service contributed to the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA)18 and the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS).19

The impetus for the Ghana Police Service to contribute to international peacekeeping operations such as the UN operations in the realization of Ghana’s foreign policy objectives is articulated in Article 40 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic, which is the supreme law of Ghana. This law stipulates the fundamental principles that guide the formulation and the conduct of foreign policy.20 It is in the light of this that the study sought to assess GPS’ participation in international peacekeeping operations as a modern tool for foreign policy pursuit within the context of achievements and challenges therein.

1. 1. This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research work
2. 2. As a source for additional understanding of the subject.
3. 3. As a source for ideas for your own research work (if properly referenced).
4. 4. For PROPER paraphrasing (see your university definition of plagiarism and acceptable paraphrase)
5. 5. Direct citing (if referenced properly)
Thank you so much for your respect to the authors copyright.