Responsibility of the United Nations for the Activities of Private Military and Security Companies in Peacekeeping Operations: In Need of a New International Instrument

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-187
Author(s):  
Jessica Pressler
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
World Organization ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Security Companies

This chapter deals with the rising deployment of private military and security companies (pmscs) in peacekeeping operations of the United Nations and the demand for an increased willingness on part of the international organisation to take on responsibility for potential wrongdoings by its contracted personnel. It aims to demonstrate that the un is vested with a legal obligation to ensure that the conduct of private contractors under its command complies with obligations under international law and identifies possibilities to formulate a new regulatory framework in light of the recent Montreux Process and the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations. The chapter further outlines ways for remedial mechanisms for potential victims of pmsc peacekeeper wrongdoings and offers an insight into the general tension between the organization’s immunity and its accountability. While the un’s reliance on pmscs in peacekeeping operations is an efficient mean to secure troops, it must go hand in hand with the compliance of international legal obligations and institutional responsibility so as to ensure its legitimacy and credibility as a world organization mandated to maintain peace and security and to respect human rights.

The protection of refugees in international law post September 11 2001

2003 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 389-408
Author(s):  
Geoff Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
The People ◽  
The Face ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Post September 11 ◽  
Domestic Law

The protection of refugees in international law is always a complex mix of legal obligations and policy considerations. Unfortunately, the reaction against refugees post September 11 has ignored both the facts and the pre-existing law.This paper addresses how refugees have fared in international and domestic law post September 11 2001. Given that a refugee, by definition, has lost the protection of her/his state, there is no body, other than the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which is able to respond in the face of unjustified restrictions on the rights accorded to this most vulnerable group.The first thing to note is that none of the people involved in the events of September 11 was a refugee. Equally, immediately after the events of September 11, approximately 100,000 Afghans fled Kabul fearing revenge attacks by the United States. At the same time, under pressure from Pakistan and Iran, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees facilitated the repatriation of 215,000 Afghan refugees.

Beyond Srebrenica and Haiti

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 588-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Member States ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, international organizations have frequently called upon their member States to respect the principles of good governance and international law. Increasingly, however, questions are raised concerning the behaviour of international organizations themselves and whether their own practice corresponds to what they expect from their member States. In other words: do organizations practise what they preach? Since many international organizations aim to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, it is reasonable to consider the extent to which these organizations respect such rights and freedoms themselves. Given the immunity of the United Nations, this paper examines some alternative legal procedures for the settlement of claims against the United Nations, taking into consideration contemporary international principles in relation to access to court, due process and reparation. It concludes with a number of recommendations.

United Nations Constitutional Assistance

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-79
Author(s):  
Vijayashri Sripati
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter establishes United Nations Constitutional Assistance (UNCA) as a significant but uncharted international and constitutional law topic. UNCA is defined as a set of activities undertaken to produce/internationalize the Western liberal constitution. The Constitution’s salience is outlined to show that UNCA: sires UN/International Territorial Administration; is salient vis-à-vis the UN’s assistance in all other sectors (e.g., electoral, judicial, rule of law); and underpins UN peacebuilding/UN Statebuilding. This backdrop sets the stage for the book’s mission: to analyze UNCA through the concept of ‘Policy Institution’ and Purposive Analysis (analysis of the UN’s official statements). Which is: to investigate and identify the Constitution’s internationalization by international organizations (e.g., the League of Nations and the United Nations); to analyse how the Constitution and its purposes fit into international law and public policy; to consider how states internationalized the Constitution to achieve colonial trusteeship; and to explain how the legitimacy of UNCA with, and without ITA might be appraised in the light of this analysis.

UNAMID: A Path Towards Hybrid Peacekeeping?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Thó Monteiro ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
African Union ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Hybrid Operation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Definition Of

ABSTRACT In 2007, the United Nations - African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) was established as the first joint peacekeeping operation (PKO) of the United Nations (UN), with the African Union (AU) in Darfur, Sudan, which became known as the first hybrid PKO, bringing together two of the largest international organizations and taking over AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan). In this paper, we want to understand the purpose of this bilateral relationship, since this hybrid operation opened a window of opportunity for future operations to adopt this typology. Firstly, the responsibility of managing certain conflicts is distributed among other regional organizations, giving them more autonomy and responsibility. Secondly, the “burden” – human and financial – of the UN is somehow eased. To this end, we will gather and process the data relating to the strengths and weaknesses of this PKO typology, with the help of a SWOT analysis, to find clues and bring evidence to light that demonstrate the possibility of this model being replicated in future situations, while respecting the due differences inherent to each mission and each country and region. We concluded that the hybridization of more PKOs could be a reality, albeit dependent on a greater investment by regional organizations in adapting to UN procedures, namely through diverse types of training. In addition, it will always be necessary a prior and careful analysis regarding the implementation of a PKO of this typology, with a concrete and clear definition of the roles of each organization. KEYWORDS: hybrid peacekeeping; United Nations; peacekeeping operations; UNAMID; African Union.

International Law and U.S. Withholding of Payments to International Organizations

1986 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 973-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
The United States ◽  
The United Nations

On March 12, 1986, Ambassador Vernon A. Walters, the United States representative at the United Nations, said: [T]he prospect is for the withholding by the United States of a very sizable amount. … This inevitably would raise the question of whether the non-payment of a substantial amount could constitute a material breach of the United States obligation under Article 17 of the U.N. Charter to pay our duly assessed share of the U.N. budget. This is an issue of which we must be aware.

Politics in the Security Council

1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Dennett
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Practical Politics ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
World Organization

Official international organizations are mechanisms which states join because they believe that membership will enable them more effectively to achieve the broad goals of their respective foreign policies. While there is no question that there has been a considerable element of idealism in its creation, the countries which have joined the United Nations have done so because they believe – or hope – that one or another of the instrumentalities provided by United Nations machinery can be used to their advantage. They may wish to improve their standard of living, to provide some increased measure of security either through implementation of the idea of world organization or through other specific policies, or to promote, perhaps, an expansion of their influence. With fifty–nine different Members, it would hardly be surprising to find fifty–nine differing points of view, and it should not be surprising to find these countries playing practical politics to get out of the United Nations precisely what they joined it to achieve, or, since there may be differences, what they desire to achieve after they have once been admitted. Each Member is, in short, using – or trying to use – United Nations machinery to further its own foreign policy.

scholarly journals The Use of PMSCs by the United Nations in Times of Armed Conflict, Application of IHL and Responsibility Matters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Gamarro González
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
The United Nations

The companies dealing with military and security matters are on the rise, and today they provide services to a very wide client list, which includes states and international organizations (IOs). It is well known that these companies have been deployed in a large number of armed conflicts, and indeed, some of them have become prominent in the sector not only for their military results but also for their abuses of international humanitarian law and human rights. Surprisingly, it is lesser known that the United Nations (UN) has also had recourse to private military and security companies in the context of United Nations military operations with regard to the maintenance of international peace and security.The engagement of private military security companies in UN peace operations entails multiple legal questions. This dissertation is especially intended to shed some light over the extent to which PMSCs deployment in UN peace operations is compatible with international humanitarian law and how the law of institutional responsibility deals with the violations of international humanitarian law committed by such companies when providing services to the UN. For that purpose and to that extent due recourse has been made to the most relevant international law sources on the matter, such as the Geneva Conventions, their Additional Protocols, and other relevant instruments such as the ILC Articles on State and IO responsibility, and the Montreux Document. Jus cogens and international custom, including the practice of international organizations and states, and opinion juris as ascertained by legal scholars and the International Court of Justice, play an essential role in this dissertation, since the United Nations has not become yet a party to any IHL treaty, thus employing an inductive methodology. A comparative approach was adopted in regard to the observations of the most eminent institutions and jurists, and domestic and international courts, including the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights for the purpose of ascertaining the different rules of attribution of conduct existing in international law. Besides, certain decisions of the latter Court were analysed in order to clarify by analogy whether the application of international humanitarian law and the imputation of acts can function under the same degree of control test.

scholarly journals Nongovernmental Organizations and International Law

2006 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Charnovitz
Keyword(s):  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
General Thesis ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Temple

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have exerted a profound influence on the scope and dictates of international law. NGOs have fostered treaties, promoted the creation of new international organizations (IOs), and lobbied in national capitals to gain consent to stronger international rules. A decade ago, Antonio Donini, writing about the United Nations, declared that “the Temple of States would be a rather dull place without nongovernmental organisations.” His observation was apt and is suggestive of a more general thesis: had NGOs never existed, international law would have a less vital role in human progress.

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