United Nations Border Relief Operation - Historical Legacy

Historical Legacy

UNBRO staff provided humanitarian aid under difficult and dangerous conditions in what was frequently an active war zone. In early 1983, Director Winston Prattley described the situation for donors in New York:

"The Khmer civilian administration and leadership...has rapidly given way to military or paramilitary leadership, whose visible and active presence has transformed most major settlements into armed camps. Weapons and military equipment are in plain evidence and are brandished amongst the UNBRO and voluntary agency personnel as they attempt to provide relief assistance. As a consequence, the control and direction of food distribution and provision of medical services has become less efficient, more precarious and often dangerous. UNBRO officials have been abused and held at gun-point. During the offensive, UNBRO and voluntary agency personnel have been subject to grave personal risk as a consequence of artillery bombardment and other military action..."

Critics concluded that UNBRO served a purpose beyond humanitarianism -- namely as a vehicle to deliver support to anti-Vietnamese factions operating out of the refugee camps located in UNBRO's area of operations, thereby complicating Vietnam's efforts to play a decisive role in Cambodia's internal politics. UNBRO was also extensively criticized for failing to provide adequate protection for refugee camp residents from theft and violence. Furthermore, a portion of the food and monetary aid, totaling US$3–4 million at the height of the operation, was administered by local Thai military and civilian authorities. Scant outside monitoring of these resources led critics to question if it was not in fact used to "buy" unhindered access to the border and the cooperation of the Thais.

Most United Nations member states and nongovernmental agencies still consider UNBRO to have been a model UN operation that efficiently and cost-effectively provided essential support to more than 350,000 Cambodian civilians and played a major role in saving the lives of thousands living under the harsh control of the Khmer Rouge or who were subject to shelling by Vietnamese forces.

Between 1994 and 2001, UNBRO sent 252 cartons of records to the off-site storage center used by UN organizations in Bangkok. On three occasions, in 1998, 1999, and 2001, the Deputy Director of UNBRO authorized the destruction of these records.