ABSTRACT
The United Nations (UN) has been deploying peacekeeping missions since 1948, soon after its founding in the wake of World War II. Over the decades, a total of 69 missions have been conducted in 42 countries around the world. The missions deployed from 1948-1989, during the Cold War era, mostly consisted of unarmed observers with mandates limited to monitoring ceasefires and investigating claims of violations, following interstate wars. At any given point since 1945, the number of UN missions has always exceeded the number of non-UN missions. The UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) was deployed in March 1964, after the outbreak of violence in December 1963 and the failed attempts to solve the constitutional crisis and restore peace. The UN has maintained several observer missions in the region, but did not renew a Sinai peacekeeping mission after the mandate of the UN Emergency Force II expired in July 1979.
