scholarly journals Due Diligence and UN Support for African Union Security Forces

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-61
Author(s):  
Róisín Burke
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Peace Operation ◽  
And Control

Complicity by UN military peacekeepers in sexual abuse and sexual exploitation (‘SEA’) has been in the lime light in academic, practice and policy circles for many years now. Recent scandals involving sexual violence and abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic and failures to respond are proving the catalyst for major reforms being discussed and implemented currently at UN level. There are numerous legal complexities, difficulties and flaws with the legal framework, policies and systems presently in place. Less considered are the parallel regulatory frameworks operative, or not operative, in the context of peacekeeping done beyond the remit of the United Nations or by those not deployed under its command and control. The fact remains that SEA is also prevalent across these peace operations but very little focus has been placed on these by academics or practitioners alike. Increasingly the UN is likely to rely on regional bodies in conducting peace operations falling outside its SEA regulatory framework. This may leave local populations vulnerable to unregulated or poorly regulated acts of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers. This paper seeks to address a gap in the literature in examining this regulatory space, focusing on the African Union’s (‘AU’s’) policy and regulatory frameworks governing its personnel deployed to peace operation environments in so far as they appear to exist. In doing so, it will reflect on the relationship this has to the UN’s Human Rights Due Diligence Policy on United Nations Support to Non-United Nations Security Forces, and the increasing reliance on AU regional peace operations, and re-hatting of forces.

The History and Nature of Sexual Misconduct in Peace Operations

2020 ◽  
pp. 20-54
Author(s):  
Jasmine-Kim Westendorf
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Transactional Sex ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
History Of ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter traces the history of sexual exploitation and abuse in peace operations globally, including the various forms it takes (only some of which are criminal) and the range of international interveners who perpetrate it. Sexual exploitation and abuse first emerged as an issue in peace operations during the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in 1993, when the number of prostitutes in the country grew from six thousand before the United Nations arrived to more than twenty-five thousand in 1993. The data available on sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by interveners suggests that the range of misconduct is diverse, encompassing opportunistic sexual abuse, transactional sex, networked sexual exploitation, and extremely violent or sadistic attacks. The chapter presents an account of how and why these behaviors occur in peace operations by investigating the local, international, normative, systemic, and structural factors that give rise to them. It also addresses the connections between sexual misconduct by interveners, conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated during wars, and the sexual harassment and abuse that is perpetrated by interveners against their colleagues in peace operations.

scholarly journals Cooperating with evil? Accountability in peace operations and the evolution of the United Nations Human Rights Due Diligence Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela Hirschmann
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Host State ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Peace Operation ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

International organizations (IOs) usually cooperate with national actors in order to implement global decisions and policies. This cooperation has become problematic as implementing partners have increasingly been accused of serious human rights violations. This article analyzes how implementing partners from the host state of a United Nations (UN) peace operation are held accountable. I argue that the complexity of contemporary peacekeeping limits the availability of traditional accountability mechanisms. I develop a conceptual model to demonstrate how, instead, different accountability forms interact and complement each other. I illustrate this interplay of accountability with a case study on the emergence of the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP). The accountability framework enacted by the Joint Human Rights Unit, the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court in the context of the UN peace operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo threatened the legitimacy of UN peacekeeping. As a consequence, the UN adopted the HRDDP as a new, UN-based accountability mechanism to hold implementing partners from the host state of peace operations accountable.

Legitimacy in Crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-133
Author(s):  
Jasmine-Kim Westendorf
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
International Community ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Institutional Level ◽  
Political Implications

This chapter focuses on the macro- and institutional-level impacts of sexual exploitation and abuse. It shows that sexual misconduct in individual missions has far-reaching impacts that reduce international capacities to engage effectively in peace operations and diminish the perceived legitimacy of the international community engaged in peacekeeping and peacebuilding, thereby undermining the international community's capacity to pursue the broader aspirational goals that animate peacekeeping. Sexual misconduct also seeds conflict between different organizational or peacekeeping units as a result of perceived misbehaviors and undermines the morale of peacekeepers and humanitarians. This can result in reduced financial and other support for peace operations and related work and provide fodder for anti-intervention campaigners. Tracking the international responses to the 2015 peacekeeper sexual abuse scandal in the Central African Republic and the 2018 Oxfam sexual exploitation scandal in Haiti, the chapter also explores the global political implications of such scandals.

Partnerships in Military Interventions and the Canadian Public

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 773-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore McLauchlin
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
Peace Operation ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations

AbstractDo Canadians’ preferences for Canada's role in the world depend on who Canada acts with and not just what Canada does? This question is particularly important in the context of overseas military intervention, which Canada never undertakes on its own. This paper presents a survey experiment measuring how support for a hypothetical peace operation changes with the leader of the mission. Missions led by the United Nations and by Canada's European allies receive more support than American-led missions do, especially among respondents who also favour peace operations for substantive reasons. The finding suggests that the UN and the European connection are alternative ways for a mission to benefit from a preference for multilateralism. While the results confirm some tension between American-led missions and internationalism, European partnerships may offer a way of reconciling an interest in alliances with the internationalist Canadian public.

Peace operations by proxy: implications for humanitarian action of UN peacekeeping partnerships with non-UN security forces

2013 ◽  
Vol 95 (891-892) ◽  
pp. 539-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémie Labbé ◽  
Arthur Boutellis
Keyword(s):  
Use Of Force ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Peace Enforcement ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

AbstractMandates of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions increasingly include stabilisation and peace enforcement components, which imply a proactive use of force often carried out by national, regional or multinational non-UN partners, operating either in support of or with the support of the UN, acting as ‘proxies’. This article analyses the legal, policy and perception/security implications of different types of ‘peace operations by proxy’ and the additional challenges that such operations create for humanitarian action. It suggests some mitigating measures, including opportunities offered by the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, for a more coherent approach to the protection of civilians, but also acknowledges some of the limitations to an independent UN-led humanitarian action.

United Nations peace operations as international practices: Revisiting the UN mission’s armed raids against gangs in Haiti

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (03) ◽  
pp. 364-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lou Pingeot
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Military Police ◽  
Peace Operation ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Police Forces

AbstractThis article develops an International Practice Theory (IPT) approach to United Nations peace operations through the study of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). MINUSTAH saw the introduction of new practices within the context of a UN peace operation, namely the use of joint military-police forces to conduct offensive action against armed groups that were labelled as ‘gangs’. While more objectivist problem-solving approaches would argue that the UN mission was simply adapting to the situation on the ground, an IPT lens reveals that there was considerable struggle to integrate these new practices within the repertoire of peacekeeping. The article argues for the benefits of applying an IPT lens to peace operations while proposing to develop theoretical and methodological approaches that have been less prominent in IPT. Theoretically, it posits that IPT can better articulate practice and discourse by paying more attention to what actors say about what they do.

scholarly journals ‘All Necessary Means’ to Protect Civilians

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-62
Author(s):  
Hanna Bourgeois
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Lower Limit ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Upper Limit ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Cascade Structure ◽  
And Control

Abstract In this article, I aim to explore the interpretation and implementation of United Nations (UN) Security Council mandates authorising the protection of civilians (PoC) and, in particular, the meaning of an authorisation to use ‘all necessary means’ to protect civilians. Over the past two decades, the UN Security Council has repeatedly provided UN (mandated) peace operations with an explicit mandate to protect civilians. In doing so, it has typically authorised the use of ‘all necessary means’ to achieve the aforementioned objective. This PoC language has been subject to varying interpretations and implementations in practice and is therefore often considered ambiguous. The conclusion reached in this article is that PoC language is indeed vague, but that this is not necessarily problematic. It might even be unavoidable in light of the cascade structure in which the PoC mandate is placed and whereby the PoC mandate is interpreted and implemented at the various levels of authority, command, and control. What is problematic is that there is uncertainty and discussion about the limits to the use of force in the implementation of PoC mandates. After all, the formula to use ‘all necessary means’ cannot be regarded as a ‘blank cheque’ to use any amount of force. Therefore, I identify the upper limit to what UN (mandated) peace operations may lawfully do to protect civilians when being provided with a mandate to use ‘all necessary means’. I also detect an emerging lower limit for what UN (mandated) peace operations must lawfully do to protect civilians when being provided with such a PoC mandate.

Privileges and Immunities of United Nations Police

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 375-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce ‘Ossie’ Oswald ◽  
Adrian Bates
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Host State ◽  
The Law

This paper examines the law concerning the privileges and immunities of international police serving in UN peace operations. It describes the legal framework concerning privileges and immunities in UN peace operations and focuses on the key legal privileges and immunities that UN police are granted. More specifically the paper describes the immunity of UN police from criminal and civil jurisdiction of the host State.

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