United Nations Peacekeeping

Introduction

Under the structure of the United Nations, there are subsidiary organs established under the principal organ. United Nations Peacekeeping Operations is one such organ, established by the Security Council, the principal organ. This is one of the ways in which the Security Council fulfils its functions under the United Nations Charter which provides that international peace and security shall be maintained.

Since the setting up of the UN, the establishment, deployment, and execution of peacekeeping operations which are controlled by the UN has an impressive success record. Nonetheless, several worrying shadows have surfaced. UN forces increasingly have to use force in order to keep peace. There is widespread criticism of their

There exist very few provisions of law that clarify what sort of protection or liability peacekeepers may face under International Humanitarian Law. The essence of IHL lies in the difference between the terms civilian and combatants . Ordinarily, military personnel involved in a peace operation enjoy the same level of protection as provided to civilians of that country when they are in the area of armed conflict without actually being a party to the conflict. However, the legal situation is less clear once UN Peacekeeping soldiers become involved in hostilities. When they take a direct part in hostilities, they lose their status as civilians and can become the object of attack. But what is not clear is at precisely what moment they undergo the transformation from civilian to combatant. It would be hard to state that any use of force used would result the peacekeepers to be termed as combatants. For example, traditional peacekeeping operations were allowed to use force in self defence and that did not necessarily result in them being termed as combatants. This ambiguity creates a debate regarding the application of International Humanitarian Law to

Moreover, the position of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which is that humanitarian law principles, as a body of law binds all States and armed forces by their presence in situations of armed conflicts. , also cannot be ignored. Thus, the special, protected status accorded to peacekeepers by equating them with ‘civilians’ should not in turn diminish their obligations to comply with the IHL norms as specified in the Bulletin.

Suggestions:

As it is concluded above that International Humanitarian Law is applicable to Peacekeepers and the fact that the United Nations has at previous occations accepted the applicability of at least the principles and spirit of Humanitarian law ,the following can be suggested:

That a formal document by the United Nations consolidating the applicability of International Humanitarian Law to its peacekeepers and other forces can be a great method of ensuring the application and respect of the law by all parties of the