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Applicability of international humanitarian law to United Nations peace-keeping forces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

Umesh Palwankar
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Extract

In recent years, and especially in 1992, the number of United Nations peace-keeping operations has increased at an unprecedented rate. Thirteen such operations were carried out between 1945 and 1987, whereas fourteen have been initiated since 1987. In 1992 alone, three new operations were started — in Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia and Somalia — and 1993 brought another, in Mozambique. The number of United Nations personnel deployed in the field quadrupled during 1992 to more than 50,000 persons, with a total budget of some $2,500 million at the end of the year.

Type
Humanitarian Law and United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 33 , Issue 294 , June 1993 , pp. 227 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1993

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References

1 Figures taken from a UN publication: “Background Note: United Nations Peace-keeping Operations”, prepared by the Communications and Project Management Division. Public Information Department, PS/DPI/15/Rev.2, September 1992.

2 For general works on United Nations forces, see: Bothe, Michael, “Le droit de la guerre et lex Nations Unit's”, Etudes et travaux de l'Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales, No. 5, Geneva, 1967, pp. 137–239 Google Scholar; Bowett, D.W., United Nations peace-keeping. A legal study of United Nations practice, Stevens & Sons, London, 1964; Rosalyn Higgins, United Nations peace-keeping 1946–1967: Documents and commentary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Vol. I: The Middle East (1969)Google Scholar, Vol. II: Asia (1970)Google Scholar, Vol. III: Africa (1980)Google Scholar, Vol. IV: Europe 1981 Google Scholar; Seyersted, Finn, United Nations forces in the law of peace and war, Sijthoff, Leyden, 1966.Google Scholar

3 Since the PKF are not mentioned in the Charter, their legal basis can be questioned. In practice, however, their legality has been uncontested whenever they have been set up by the Security Council. For fuller details on this point, see in particular Sandoz, Yves, “The application of humanitarian law by the armed forces of the United Nations Organization”, IRRC, No. 206, 09–10 1978. pp. 274–284 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Michael Bothe, supra, note 2.

4 UN document S/12611, p. 2.

5 “To a large extent, the United Nations troops have been able to fulfil their mandate solely by their presence, using persuasion and conciliation. But they have also made use of their weapons. The nature, extent and duration of these armed incidents have varied”, Bothe, Michael, op. cit., p. 143.Google Scholar

6 Sandoz, Yves, “The application of humanitarian law by the armed forces of the United Nations Organization”, IRRC, No. 206, 09–10 1978, p. 283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Schindler, Dietrich, “United Nations forces and international humanitarian law”, in Studies and essays on international humanitarian law and Red Cross principles in honour of Jean Pictet, Swinarski, Christophe, ed., ICRC, Martinus Nijhoff, Geneva/The Hague, 1984, p. 526.Google Scholar

8 April 1993.

9 For details of these mandates, see: Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to Security Council Resolution 721 (1991), S/23280, 11 December 1991, Annex III (for UNPROFOR); and Report of the Secretary-General (S/23613 and Add.l) reproduced in Press release, United Nations, SC/272, 28 February 1992 (for UNTAC).

10 “Circumstances developed in a way that it became necessary for the UN peace-keeping force to arrest and detain some of the foreign mercenaries who took up arms against the UN. A contingent of the mercenaries was actually captured in a field operation and detained under UN custody at the Kamina military base in Central Congo. The detainees were treated according to the rules laid down in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, Part III on Prisoners of War. The UN handling of the detainees was supervised by ICRC representatives”. Egge, Bjørn, “Coordinating UN peace-keeping operations and relief and refugee programmes”, paper submitted to the Nordic UN Seminar, Oslo, 29 06 1988, p. 13.Google Scholar

11 Supra, note 9.

12 “In situations of serious violations of the Conventions or of this Protocol, the High Contracting Parties undertake to act, jointly or individually, in co-operation with the United Nations and in conformity with the United Nations Charter” (Article 89, Protocol I).

“Acting for the protection of man, also in time of armed conflict, accords with the aims of the United Nations no less than does the maintenance of international peace and security. The Organization showed its concern in two main ways: first, by its participation in the process of reaffirming and developing international humanitarian law; secondly, by its resolutions on the applicability of humanitarian law and requiring its application to given situations or categories of persons, and also by issuing reports evaluating the application and respect of that law.

The United Nations actions to which Article 89 refers may therefore consist of issuing an appeal to respect humanitarian law, just as well as, for example, setting up enquiries on compliance with the Conventions and the Protocol”. Commentary on Article 89 of Protocol I, in Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Sandoz, Yves, Swinarski, Christophe, Zimmerman, Bruno, eds., ICRC, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Geneva/The Hague 1985, paras. 3596, 3597. pp. 1034–1035.Google Scholar

13 Additional report by the Secretary-General on the situation in Cyprus. S/11353/Add. 12, 31 July 1974, para. 5.

14 Resolution 32/128, 16 December 1977 (Missing persons in Cyprus), para. 1.

15 IRRC, No. 43, October 1964, p. 515.

16 S/4590, 9 December 1960, Annex: Text of a protest note addressed by the Special Representative to the principal authorities in Stanleyville, para. (f).

17 Bothe, Michael, op. cit., p. 223.Google Scholar

18 Two paragraphs may be cited from the preamble to the resolution adopted by the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session, 1992 (RES/47/30), in which the Assembly declared itself:

“Convinced of the continuing value of established humanitarian rules relating to armed conflicts and the need to respect and ensure respect for these rules in all circumstances …;

(…)

Stressing the need … for universal acceptance of such law …”.