ABSTRACT
UN peacekeeping operations monitor ceasefires, implement peace agreements and protect civilians. UN troops generally carry small arms only and may use them only when they are already being fired on. Peacekeeping operations have been mounted with increasing frequency. Before 1990, the UN had mounted 15 peace operations. It mounted the same number in the next four years and the number keeps rising. But military personnel in UN operations are less than 1 percent of worldwide armed forces.
