ABSTRACT
The United Nations was founded on October 24, 1945, with the ratification of the United Nations charter by the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. United Nations intervention in the promotion of international peace is known as peacekeeping. The power to authorize United Nations peacekeeping missions resides with the United Nations Security Council. Peacekeeping missions can take the form of military intervention, creating a military buffer between warring factions, post-conflict democratization, police development, and capacity building. United Nations Police (UNPOL) missions began as monitoring missions where UNPOL officers were tasked with monitoring and reporting on the activities of local police. The mandates for police mission components are quite succinct and should be viewed as strategic statements, outlining the goals of the mission in broad strokes. The composition of each UNPOL mission, both in the structure of the UNPOL organization and the national composition of the organization, differ from mission to mission.
