BRICS: A New Actor in Global Security

In its infancy, BRICS was preoccupied with economic issues, but today the group is also eager to handle global political problems including maintaining global security without the use of force. The BRICS countries support the preservation of the central role for the United Nations and its Security Council in safeguarding peace on the basis of the UN Charter and universally recognized norms of international law.

In its infancy, BRICS was preoccupied with economic issues, but today the group is also eager to handle global political problems including maintaining global security without the use of force.

The BRICS countries support the preservation of the central role for the United Nations and its Security Council in safeguarding peace on the basis of the UN Charter and universally recognized norms of international law. Their peacemaking activities range from nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to political resolution of international and domestic conflicts through the cornerstone strategy of adherence to the principles of sovereignty and noninterference in other states’ internal affairs.

BRICS Countries on Peace and Security

In 2005, the UN General Assembly adopted its Responsibility to Protect resolution envisaging the international community’s right to intervene in states’ domestic affairs in extremis. The document enjoyed a cool response from the BRIC countries, which still remember their colonial and semi-colonial past, and are reluctant to act as an aggressor for fear of falling victim to attack. Although the BRICS’ fundamental documents recognize the validity of external interference in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, and mass violation of human rights, the focus has been on the need for UN Security Council sanction.

The BRICS official papers confirm its members’ resolution to work jointly to tackle security issues. The Declaration made at the summit in Sanya, China, of April 14, 2011 states that the signees “are deeply concerned with the turbulence in the Middle East, the North African and West African regions and sincerely wish that the countries affected achieve peace, stability, prosperity and progress and enjoy their due standing and dignity in the world according to legitimate aspirations of their peoples” and “…share the principle that the use of force should be avoided”.

The three initial summits centered on coordinating economic policies, whereas the fourth meeting, on March 28-29, 2012 in Delhi, was devoted to the theme "BRICS Partnership for Global Stability, Security and Prosperity" dealing with the Iranian nuclear program, Afghanistan and Syria. The final Declaration recognized the extreme importance of preserving stability, peace and security in the Middle East and North Africa.

At the same time, aligned stances on political issues have yet to be achieved. According to Indian scholar Jagannath Panda, “coordinating policy at BRICS level will not be easy, given that the BRICS members’ political interests clash at various levels”. For example, Russia and China abstained from voting on UN SC Resolution 1970 on armed interference in the Libyan conflict, while Brazil supported it, changing its mind only after the events in Libya graphically demonstrated that use of force involved heavy civilian casualties. During the March 17, 2011 vote on Resolution 1973, which opened the way for NATO to bomb Libya, Brazil, India, Russia and China abstained, while South Africa supported it.

The BRICS states also differed in their votes on Syria: Russia and China vetoed the resolution intended to depose President Bashar Assad, while South Africa and India abstained.

With time, the BRICS states’ actions are coming into alignment, as can be seen from their fifth summit of March 26-27, 2013 in Durban, South Africa, which saw them confirm their rejection of any further militarization of the Syrian conflict. The resultant eThekwini Declaration said that “a Syrian-led political process leading to a transition can be achieved only through broad national dialogue that meets the legitimate aspirations of all sections of Syrian society and respect for Syrian independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty”. The Declaration also expressed “deep concern with instability stretching from North Africa, in particular the Sahel, and the Gulf of Guinea” and appealed to the UN Security Council to bolster cooperation with the African Union and its Peace and Security Council for conflict resolution in Africa.

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Dilma Rousseff, Pranab Mukherjee,
Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Jacob Zuma

Consolidation among the BRICS states on peace and security was even more evident at the G20 summit on September 5-6, 2013 in St. Petersburg, as at the preceding meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and the other leaders came out unanimously against a new war in the Middle East. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was “categorically against any kind of military action.” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff also took a tough stance, while South African President Jacob Zuma expressed concern that “small states feel increasingly vulnerable and insecure in the modern world. It seems that stronger and more powerful countries may use force against them at their discretion.” To this end, Vladimir Putin noted that “force against a sovereign state may be used only in self-defense, whereas Syria is not known to have attacked the United States. Secondly, it may occur only on decision of the UN Security Council”.

On the UN platform, the BRICS states are proposing initiatives intended to improve the efficiency of peacemaking efforts. As a Security Council permanent member, Russia is doing a lot to coordinate strategies for the resolution of conflicts through prevailing political and diplomatic methods, and was quite active during the adoption of programs for international assistance to Africa within the G8. Of particular significance was Putin's initiative on Syria, which made the September 14 Geneva agreement to offer hope for a political settlement in that country possible.

Following UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s initiative of proclaiming 2012 the year of preventive diplomacy, Brazil suggested the concept of "responsibility while protecting", which is designed to augment the "responsibility to protect" model on the basis of prevailing preventive diplomacy. Brasilia also set out the "friends of mediation" initiative, positing that the use of force must be realized via legal and proportionate actions limited by the goals set out by the UN Security Council. In his speech at the Security Council on September 22, 2011, Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota stressed that the prevailing global trend rests on enforcement, the expansion of sanctions and hasty military intervention, whereas it is preventive diplomacy and peacekeeping operations that must become the key tools.

BRICS Countries in Peacemaking

During the past decade, Western countries have been curtailing their participation in the UN peacekeeping/peacemaking operations, with the consequent niche being filled by the rising states, including the BRICS, which tend to take the lead in these activities.

About 70 percent of all UN peacemakers come from Africa, and 40 percent are servicemen [1], while Africa currently hosts seven peacekeeping operations. In 2013, the Security Council authorized action in Mali, involving up to 12,640 Blue Helmets (11,200 military and 1,440 police).

Although secondary in sponsoring the peacemaking process, BRICS states by far outpace Western countries in terms of personnel strength within UN contingents (see Table 1).

India indisputably outnumbers its BRICS partners and is followed by Brazil, with South Africa and China trailing behind. Russia is the unquestionable underachiever, with the numbers of its military and police in the UN missions on a clear downward spiral.

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Indian peacekeepers in Liberia

In fact, India is the third largest global provider of contingents for peacemaking. As of December 31, 2011, most came from Pakistan (8 285) and Bangladesh (7 941). From 2004 to 2012, the number of Indian Blue Helmets in UN operations grew from 2 928 to 7 864, while in total Delhi has supplied the UN with over 100,000 service people, military observers and police, and lost over 110, mostly in Africa.

In 2007, two Indian battalions and a helicopter squadron plus police and military observers accounted for a third of the almost 10,000-strong UN force in Sudan (UNMIS). In 2006, the operation was headed by Lt-General Jasbir Singh Lidder, previously chief of staff of the UN deployment in Mozambique (1; 2).

India and South Africa are in the global top ten in terms of the number of policewomen serving with UN peacekeeping forces, with three Indian all-female police units serving in Liberia. UN Special Advisor on Gender Joanna Foster has highly praised the role of Indian policewomen as through their very presence encouraging local women to report crime.

According to Louise Fréchette, UN Deputy Secretary-General 1998-2006, the input made by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has become one of the few factors restraining the trend toward the regionalization of peacekeeping when contingents from industrialized states shrink and those the developing world increase in number.

In recent years, peacekeeping has become a key component in Brazil's foreign policy. Monica Herz of the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro writes: “Brazil's elite thinks peacekeeping is part of the price you have to pay to be among the nations who make the rules.”. In 2011, UN peacekeeping operations were staffed by 2,239 Brazilian military experts and police, 2,185 of them in Haiti, and 51 in other missions including Western Sahara (MINURSO), Liberia (UNMIL), and Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI).

Although the West remains the key peacekeeping donor area, China was the sixth largest financier in 2011-2012. Whereas in late 2008 Beijing's contribution accounted for two percent of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ budget, by 2013 its share had grown to 3.93 percent. In late 2011, China provided the UN with 1,936 peacekeepers, 75 percent of them deployed in Africa, and 36 percent in Sudan and South Sudan. In 2013, China for the first time offered its servicemen to the UN mission in Mali. Chinese volunteers are also present in trouble spots acting under Peace Corps’ auspices, and in 2007 the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara was headed by Major General Jingmin Zhao.

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Chinese peacekeepers in Port-au-Prince

South Africa also has a niche in handling African security, since its very model for political transition from apartheid to democracy offers an example of successful conflict management. South Africa is the continent's key participant in UN and African Union peacekeeping missions, having provided over 100 nationals. Notably, Africans seem more willing to receive peacekeepers from fellow-Africans rather than from non-African states. South Africa faces problems such as inadequate military infrastructure and the outflow of skilled personnel, but the South African Army’s Vision 2020 Programme provides for the establishment of a highly professional, properly equipped and trained force.

Russia's Input in International Peacekeeping

Russia is a world leader in terms of the number of UN military observers, while it is only 61st among the providers of military and police personnel for UN missions, and, as has been mentioned, is lagging behind other BRICS states. In 2002, there were 361 Russians in total serving in UN peacekeeping missions. According Dmitry Titov, UN Assistant Secretary-General, today this number is down to 106, with Russians present in just seven out of 16 UN operations. Moscow is also poorly represented in the command staff, with its contribution to the total peacekeeping budget for 2010/2011 standing at a mere two percent. In 2013-2015, this figure is expected to rise to 2.4 percent.

At the same time, Russia dominates the UN peacekeeping market, as the sole supplier of heavy-lift cargo planes and helicopters. In 2011, Russia undertook to provide the UN with the four Mi-8 (MTV) military utility helicopters, an engineer company and a third-level field hospital it requested. Russia is the world’s second largest contributor of helicopters to UN peacekeeping activities (http://www.ng.ru/dipkurer/2011-09-19/9_churkin.html). In December 2011, the Russian Defense Ministry was reportedly preparing to provide UN peacekeepers with hospitals set up at special-purpose medical units.

According to Ban Ki-moon, Russia plays a special role in the resolution of acute conflicts, while Director for International Organizations and Conferences Goncalves Sengo of Mozambique said that his country highly valued Russia's contribution in African peacemaking, including its G8 activities to boost Africa’s anti-crisis potential.

Recently, BRICS has also undertaken counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, as in 2009, China for the first time in history sent 13 naval ships to patrol the Somali coast and saved 23 vessels form 16 seizure attempts. Indian ships also participate in counter-piracy activities on a regular basis, while Russia is a member of the Contact Group on Piracy and allocates its ships for patrolling the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Peacekeepers' Training

The BRICS states are devoting increasingly more attention to training peacekeepers. China runs several facilities to train civilian policemen for peacekeeping operations; while in 2010 Beijing launched a joint Chinese-African research program and hosted a conference on peace and development in Africa organized by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Academy of Social Sciences. In January 2011, China’s Foundation for Peace and Development was officially registered as a civil society organization [2].

India holds international workshops on the theory and practice of peacekeeping, has opened the Center for United Nations Peacekeeping in Delhi, and provides government-sponsored military training for Africans.

In 2005, Brazil launched its own Training Center for Peacekeeping Operations, which has trained over 15,000 troops.

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Georgy Toloraya:
BRICS: an attempt to agree on a long-term strategy

Russian UN military observers are coached by the Army Training Center at the Armed Forces Combined Arms Academy in Naro-Fominsk, Moscow Region. The Russian Advanced Training Center at the Internal Affairs Ministry in Domodedovo, Moscow Region, quarterly produces 50-60 operational staff for UN missions. Recognized by the UN, in 2008 the Center received international certification. From 2006, the Center also trained over 200 peacekeepers from African states. Moscow annually allocates over 800 grants for training African peacekeepers and other specialists in Russia.

Will BRICS Make the World Safer?

Due to the collapse of the USSR and the resultant rise of the U.S.A., EU and NATO in international affairs, these latter countries and institutions have virtually taken control over UN peacekeeping operations, de facto violating international law and ignoring others’ interests. This trend peaked during the NATO operation in Libya, with a possible U.S. repeat in Syria looming on the horizon despite international protests.

The 2011, Russian Foreign Ministry paper "On Russia's Position at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly" says: "The recent events in crisis regions confirm the need for the Security Council to produce clear-cut mandates that preclude their expanded interpretation. Russia objects to providing the UN peacekeeping practice with any elements in absence of prior approval by the majority of member states."

In order to prevent erosion of basic peacemaking principles established with the foundation of the United Nations, countries rejecting actions that bypass the UN Charter and inflict damage on civilians, should unite in a consolidated bloc, which seems a promising scenario within the BRICS group.

The scale of destructive consequences resulting from poorly developed and inadequately coordinated actions on the international arena, combined with the growing responsibility of the BRICS states, prompts the accelerated transformation of the group into a full-fledged and dynamic mechanism for coordination on key international issues. Although each BRICS country contributes commensurately to the solution of global security problems, it seems essential to bolster multilateral cooperation within the group and step up joint efforts to support the basic principles of international law. It is only through consolidated action that the coalition seems able to act as a potent international player respected by those who regard force as the only means for handling crises. BRICS should not substitute the United Nations and its Security Council, but rather cooperate with them, thereby raising the efficiency of the global organization in peace and security.

1. Report of the African Union. United Nations Panel on Modalities for Support to AU Peacekeeping Operations. United Nations A/63/666-S/2008/813. Point 21. 24 December 2008. N.Y.

2. Brief Introduction of China Foundation for Peace and Development. Contemporary World. BRICKS Think-Tank Symposium. Peking, 2011.