Improving Criminal Accountability in United Nations Peace Operations
June 27, 2009
In 2004, major problems of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other operations became a public scandal for the United Nations. Before that story broke, the Future of Peace Operations Program (FOPO) had begun work on the problem of criminal accountability for personnel in peace operations. Because states retain disciplinary responsibility for their military forces in peace operations, that work focused on UN staff and experts on mission, a category that includes UN police. As operations become more deeply involved in assisting or substituting for local government, their personnel must themselves be subject to the rule of law, and be seen as subject to it by local peoples. However, in Improving Criminal Accountability in United Nations Peace Operations, FOPO found that the tenuous reach of the law covering criminal acts by UN personnel on mission has left a legal and procedural vacuum filled only in part by administrative sanctions (such as fines, dismissal, and/or repatriation) for actions that would be felonies under most states’ domestic laws. FOPO therefore looked into other options, some of which would require serious rethinking of criminal jurisdiction in and for peace operations.
This relates to…
September 27, 2010
Enhancing United Nations Capacity to Support Post-Conflict Policing and Rule of Law
Revised and updated in 2010 by editors William Durch and Madeline England
This report provides an overview of recent trends in the use of police in UN peacekeeping missions, assesses
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September 17, 2010
UN Panels of Experts and UN Peace Operations
Drawing on research and interviews conducted in Côte d'Ivoire, DRC, Liberia, Washington, and New York, UN Panels of Experts and UN Peace Operations: Exploiting Synergies for
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September 01, 2009
Ending Impunity: New Tools for Criminal Accountability in UN Peace Operations
One of the most challenging problems for building the rule of law in post-conflict states has been establishing effective criminal accountability for personnel serving in UN peace
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January 01, 2009
Targeting Spoilers: The Role of United Nations Panels of Experts
United Nations Panels of Experts are small, civilian, fact-finding teams appointed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council to monitor the effectiveness of the targeted sanctions it
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March 01, 2007
Mapping and Fighting Corruption in War-Torn States
A new Future of Peace Operations Program (FOPO) study, Mapping and Fighting Corruption in War-Torn States, examines corruption in war-torn states and summarizes best practices for
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