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III. The Optional Protocol to the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

Huw Llewellyn
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Extract

1. The adoption of the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel (‘the Convention’)1 was a response to rising casualties among UN peacekeepers and other personnel as a result of their increasing deployment to dangerous situations following the end of the Cold War. It requires States parties to: prohibit attacks on UN personnel and others associated with UN operations; prosecute or extradite perpetrators of such acts; take all appropriate measures to ensure the safety of such personnel; and promptly release any who are captured or detained.

Type
Current Developments: Public International Law
Information
International & Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , July 2006 , pp. 718 - 728
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2006

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References

1 UN Doc A/Res/49/59 of 9 Dec 1994.

2 See Annexes I and II to the Secretary-General's Report on Safety and Security of Humanitarian Personnel and Protection of United Nations Personnel, UN Doc A/60/223.

3 Report of the Secretary-General on the Scope of Legal Protection Under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, UN Doc A/55/637.

4 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee 24–28 March 2003 UN Doc A/58/52, p 11.

5 See UN Doc A/C.6/60/L.4 and UN Doc A/60/52 for the most recent Working Group and Ad Hoc Committee Reports.

6 para 167 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, UN Doc A/RES/60/1 stressed the need for the negotiations to be completed during the 60th session of the General Assembly.

7 UN Doc A/RES/60/42. It is open for signature at the UN Headquarters in New York from 16 Jan 2006 to 16 Jan 2007.

8 See Art 1(b) of the 1994 Convention which defines UN and associated personnel.

9 See Art 2(2) of the 1994 Convention.

10 For discussion of the scope of personnel covered, and the relationship to international humanitarian law, see Bloom, Evan T ‘Protecting Peacekeepers; the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel’ (1995) 89 Am J Int'l L 621;CrossRefGoogle ScholarProfessorChristopher, Greenwood QC ‘Symposium: The United Nations, Regional Organisations, and Military Operations: Article: Protection of Peacekeepers: The Legal Regime’ (1996) 7 Duke J Comp & Int'l L 185.Google ScholarFor general discussion of the Convention see Bloom ibid; Sharpe, Walter Gary Sr ‘Protecting the Avatars of International Peace and Security’ (1996) 7 Duke J Comp & Int'l L 93;Google ScholarBourloyannis-Vrailas, M Christiana ‘The Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel’, (1995) 44 Int'l & Comp LQ 560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 This is subject to the limitation in Art 2(2) which excludes any UN operation authorized as enforcement action under Chapter VII in which any of the personnel are engaged as combatants against organized armed forces to which the law of international armed conflict applies. See Greenwood (n 10) 185.

12 See Bloom (n 10) 623 for the view that all peacekeeping operations are automatically covered; and see Greenwood (n 10) 185 for the questioning of that view.

13 Art 24 of the UN Charter.

14 There are currently nine non-Chapter VII peacekeeping operations: the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE); the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO); UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP); UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP); UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG); UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK); UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)—which supervises Israeli disengagement from the Syrian Golan Heights; UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL); and the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO)—which assists UNDOF and UNIFIL and has a presence in the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.

15 See Security Council Resolution 1528 (2004) of 27 Feb 2004 and subsequent Security Council resolutions renewing this mandate, most recently resolution 1633 (2005) of 21 Oct 2005.

16 The UNOCI mandate does not authorize its military personnel to engage as combatants in armed conflict, and so the operation is not excluded by Art 2(2) of the Convention. See (n 15).

17 eg the Food and Agriculture Organization or the World Health Organization. But the staff of those organizations and Agencies may fall within the definition of UN personnel or associated personnel if they are deployed as part of or in support of a UN operation and meet the conditions of Art 1(a) or (b) of the Convention.

18 Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, UN DocA/54/619-S/1999/957; and the Secretary-General's report on the Scope of Legal Protection Under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, UN Doc A/55/637.

19 See (n 3). The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) is surely a further such example.

20 See (n 3).

21 UN Doc A/58/52 at paras 30—9.

22 See the third preambular paragraph of the Protocol. This preambular reference formed part of the package with Art II(1)(a) that enabled conclusion of the negotiations.

23 Excluding peacekeeping, although arguably it could include also some forms of military assistance, eg to ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance.

24 UN Doc A/60/PV.61.

25 UN Doc A/RES/60/180 and Security Council Resolution 1645 (2005) of 20 Dec 2005. States Members will be drawn from the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the major financial, troop and police contributors. The Peacebuilding Commission will have participation by the country under consideration and other regional States and organizations, and by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other institutional donors.

26 para 97 of the World Summit Outcome Document (n 6).

27 These will be publicly available and for the benefit of all UN and non-UN actors. But in practice, much of their advice will be directed at the Security Council given that most country situations will be on the Security Council agenda.

28 In accordance with Arts 31(2) and 31(3) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

29 (n 25).

30 See paras 2(b) and 22 of the General Assembly and Security Council resolutions (n 25).

31 United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA); United Nations Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA); Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region; United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea Bissau (UNOGBIS); Office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East (UNSCO); United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS); United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peacebuilding (UNTOP); Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa; United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI); United Nations Office in Timor-Leste— the latter is directed and supported by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

32 See the discussion at paras 9 and 10 of this article.

33 See for example UN Doc A/RES/46/182 and UN Docs A/RES/60/124 and A/RES/60/125.

34 ibid.

35 Established by the UN Secretary-General following adoption of General Assembly resolution 46/182 ibid.

36 See the OCHA website at <http://www.un.org/ocha>.

37 Art 7 of the UN Charter.

38 Art 7 of the UN Charter. WFP was set up by joint resolutions of the General Assembly and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

39 Art 19(c) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

40 UNOCI in Côte d'Ivoire; UNMIL in Liberia; UNFICYP in Cyprus; and UNIFIL in Lebanon. There is also UNMIK in Kosovo. Serbia and Montenegro is a party to the 1994 Convention, but Kosovo is administered by the UN and its future status is under discussion.

41 The Office for West Africa, hosted in Liberia.

42 See (n 6).