UNIVERSITE DE YAOUNDE II

UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDE
----------- II
INSTITUT DES RELATIONS
INTERNATIONALES DU -----------
CAMEROUN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
INSTITUTE OF CAMEROUN
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ISLAMIC WORLD EDUCATIONAL -----------
SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL FEDERATION DES UNIVERSITES DU
ORGANIZATION MONDE ISLAMIQUE(FUMI)

CHAIRE ICESCO/FUMI
POUR
LA DIVERSITE CULTURELLE

Group 4 :
Respect for international humanitarian law in peacekeeping operations

BY
 FAWZIYA MUHAMMAD
 FIFEN YAYEE MEFIRA
 HABIBAT MOUDIAT FUESHE ISABELLE
 FOFIE TUWA BERYLE MILDREP
 KIMAH DEBORAH ABATO

International relations master in : cultural diversity, peace and

international cooperation 1

PEACEKEEPING

Pr. OLINGA ALAIN DIDIER

Academic year : 2020/2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS :
Introduction…………………………………………………………….page 3
I- International humanitarian law in peacekeeping operations : an
ideal facing many challenges………………………………...page 4
A- The particular case of Africa…………………………….page 4
B- Peacekeeping operations challenges outside Africa…....page 5
II- International humanitarian law in peacekeeping operations : an
ambition still under construction……………………………page 6
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A- African mobilization and progress………………………page 6
B- International humanitarian law protection mechanisms around
the world…………………………………………………...page 7
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….page 9
Bibliography……………………………………………………………..page 9
 Introduction
The word respect implies the seriously taking, the consideration or the strict application of a
given rule or statement. International humanitarian law corresponds to all the rules and
provisions enacted with the aim of guaranteeing the protection of Humans and Public
Properties in times of war or conflict. By peacekeeping operation, we mean a military and
strategic dispatch responsible for intervention, aid and support in a conflict where it's not
protagonist; this dispatch is ordered by the United Nations under the exclusive responsibility
of the executive office, the Security Council. The subject of this work being on the application 3
of the rules for the protection of Men in times of war during the activities of the UN militias,
the problem it raises is to know the situation of international humanitarian law during
peacekeeping operations. Can we affirm that there is indeed respect for the provisions of
international humanitarian law during peacekeeping operations? What measures have been
taken to ensure or even guarantee respect for international humanitarian law during
maintenance operations?

International humanitarian law contained in Chapters VI, VII and VIII of the United Nations
Charter unfortunately faces many difficulties when it comes to its application on the field;
thus, peacekeeping operations have known constant evolutions led mainly by doctrinal
contributions being the Agenda for Peace presented by Boutros-Ghali in 1992, the Brahimi
Report by Lakhdar Brahimi, and The Capstone Doctrine (Waerstens Lucile) in order to be
able to overcome these difficulties as best as possible.

The interest of such a work is initially theoretical because it presents the constraints of
application of international humanitarian law and secondly it is practical because it makes it
possible to observe the existence of technical, material and even accompanying institutions
during peacekeeping operations.

This aim will only be achieved by imperatively presenting the operational limits of
international humanitarian law during peacekeeping operations (I) and the means mobilized to
counter those limits (II).
 I- International humanitarian law in peacekeeping operations : an
ideal facing many challenges
The difficulties of respecting international humanitarian law in the context of peacekeeping
operations are innumerable. Due to the repetition, duration and large number of peacekeeping
operations carried out in Africa, particular attention is dedicated to it (A), not neglecting
operations outside Africa.

A- The particular case of Africa

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Africa in particular presents difficulties of several kinds

First of all infrastructural difficulties posing real challenges for peacekeeping operations.

Buildings responsible for protecting civilians are not sufficiently equipped.

This was the case of South Sudan, whose reception center for victims of conflict
accommodated 400 people with a capacity of 150 people. This made access to healthcare
difficult for everyone, or even just nutrition.

Then Cultural and social factors as well as generalized gaps impede access to victims. This
was the case in Liberia and Sierra Leone where sexual violence against women and children
was massively perpetrated with complete impunity because the victims did not dare to speak
out. Another aspect is that the victims of numerous violations of international humanitarian
law: series of rapes, torture, arbitrary kidnappings, disappearances are not accessible because
of the refusal of the popular armies, as was the case in South Sudan. The violence and
uncertainty of conflicts favors the illicit exploitation of natural resources, as has been
observed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There are also Geographical difficulties in the African context, in particular the difficulty of
military exercise in the desert, as has been the case with Operation Barkhane since 2014
throughout the Sahel and even in dense tropical forests, as noted by the MONUC (United
Nations Mission for the Democratic Republic of Congo) in Congo-Kinshasa, Burundi and
Rwanda.

Moreover, many soldiers assigned to peacekeeping operations in Africa have been accused of
incompetence, unpatriotism, corruption and sexual abuse of civilians, the people they were
supposed to protect.
 B- Peacekeeping operations challenges outside african context.

Theoretically, the implementations of the international humanitarian law was limited in the
domain of peace operations due to the nature of the involvement and the type of the conflict.
There had been a serious debate between the united nations organisation and the international
community of the red cross over the applicability of this law to peace keeping operations
under the UN authority. The limited applicability of this law stained from the variation in
perception of the peacekeeping mission and the field of the application of the international
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humanitarian law.

In its report to the United Nations, the international community of the Red Cross specifies the
fact that operations take place in a civilian environment, which makes difficult to carry out
operations unable to distinguish civilians from sources of threats from civilian populations
and occasionates collateral victims . More, the army of blue helmets is very often targeted,
and attacked unnecessarily and suddenly by armed civilians.

This was the example of Haïti in 2005.

The Kosovo war of 1998 is also a good illustration of the situation of non-respect of
international humanitarian law within the framework of peacekeeping operations. The
UNMIK (United Nations Mission for Kosovo) affirms the difficulty of military exercise in
hostile lands, which prevents the protection of civilians or the prosecution of perpetrators of
acts of violence.

Powerless international humanitarian law in the face of violations, inaccuracies, material and
immaterial difficulties poses a real problem for organizations responsible of peace and
stability. Peacekeeping operations will therefore gradually be the subject of a profound
reflection and will have to wait until 1992 for the UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali to
introduce human rights into the peacekeeping process, which will generate new perspectives
for the orientations of peacekeeping operations. UN and local cooperation will allow many
significant successes in terms of monitoring and even guaranteeing compliance with the
clauses of international humanitarian law. Besides this, some non-governmental organizations
have also initiated a deep dynamic.

II- International humanitarian law in peacekeeping operations : an

ambition still under construction.
A large deployment was observed on a global scale (B) and the African continent benefited
from a considerable support (A).

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A- African mobilization and progress
The situation in Africa has gone through the establishment of concrete and concise means,
including the allocation by the United Nations of 36 billion dollars and the commission of
70,000 soldiers in its 11 operations. The African Union has accelerated the pace of its
missions, authorizing the deployment of 40,000 soldiers in ten countries, ensuring respect for
international humanitarian law with the creation of multiple international missions.

Priority having been assigned to monitoring women and children most at risk during conflicts
by the security council, the specialists on the spot were responsible for empowering the
populations by encouraging them to claim and affirm their own rights or to bring the State to
respect its obligations in terms of security, rights and law enforcement.

This is the example of the MISSAN-GB (Mission of technical and military assistance of
Angola in Guinea Bissau) which provided technical and financial support to the government
in the targeting of risk areas and the care and repair of victims.

MINUSMA (United Nations Mission for Mali) has put in place an approach to the fight
against impunity to protect civilians in both war and post-war. She organized a coalition of
national non-governmental organizations to promote access to justice for victims of conflict
related to sexual violence.

The missions deployed on African soil have tried to cover all the territories with different
offices and antennas installed in the most unstable areas and generally have a mobile team.
All these divisions have a call center allowing civilians to inform them. This was the function
of MONUSCO (United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of the Democratic Republic of
Congo) which joined forces with the High Commissioner for Human Rights to set up 13 field
offices and 6 concentrated underground offices to the east due to several armed groups in the
Kivus.
In South Sudan, UNMISS deployed 100 troops to 10 federated states and recorded 86 cases of
prolonged and arbitrary detention.

AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) has set up offices to monitor and prevent rebel
attacks.

Civil society has also played a very important role in raising awareness: in Liberia, teaching
about human rights has been instuted in primary and secondary schools learning programs. In
South Sudan, a campaign has been launched for similar sensitization and in Mali community
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associations emerged with the aim of defending, protecting and preventing victims of sexual
abuse.

Building peace in complete security involves the post-conflict phase, the MAES (African
Union Electoral and Security Assistance Mission in the Comoros) took charge of ensuring the
transparent procedure of the elections after the conflict following democratic principles in
order to avoid a resumption of political conflict.

Finally, expert workshops are formed by the United Nations in order to train state
institutions, to create young institutions applied to international
humanitarian law in certain countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone.

B- International humanitarian law protection mechanisms around the

world
The use of the army of blue helmets in order to ensure the best possible respect for
international humanitarian law proceeds through disarmament, demobilization, reintegration
of former combatants, demining, reform of the security sector and other activities aimed at
restoring the rule of law, protection and promotion of human rights.

The most notable example of UN attempts to maintain peace in the world was that of Kosovo,
where UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) organized a ceasefire meeting, and
ensured the place of democratic governance leading economic development.

Exceptionally, the UN have been invested with all the powers of government and
management of public services, sometimes including legislative and judicial power, which in
no way corresponds to sovereignty. This was indeed the case of Kosovo.

UNMIBH (United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina) investigated violations of

international humanitarian law perpetrated by law enforcement officials. Traditional justice
mechanisms are therefore engaged, namely: the search for the truth on the causes of the
conflict, the repression of crimes in a national jurisdiction and the reparation of victims.

UNAMA (United Nations Mission in Afghanistan) has adopted measures to prevent civilian
casualties. Technical support was provided to local institutions such as the National Office of
the Security Council to protect and prevent the loss of civilians and public property such as
hospitals and schools.

The deployed specialists make weekly, monthly, annual and public reports to assess the
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pacification of conflicts or, on the other hand, the deterioration of the situation of international
humanitarian law.

The CIRC (International Red Cross Community) spoke in its report to the UN on the issue of
human rights during peacekeeping operations, especially at the strategic level. It suggests the
planning of operations according to the rules of international humanitarian law in areas at risk,
the distinctive regrouping of populations before any intervention in order to avoid any danger,
the collection of precise, clear and timely information by armed agents before any operation,
and it guarantees the access of the agents of international humanitarian law to the victims.
 Conclusion
International humanitarian law in the context of peacekeeping operations faces great various
difficulties both endogenous and exogenous to the various conflicts which most often
paralyze peacekeeping missionaries. However, the international community is not indifferent
to these many obstacles and is implementing multiple elements to support, rationalize,
optimize and secure peacekeeping operations. Despite these challenges, the United Nations,
the Regional Communities and non-governmental organizations as well as civil society have
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consolidated strong means, including the technical and material equipment of authorized
institutions, the awareness of the populations and a strong cooperation which without
pretension have not established absolute respect for international humanitarian law during
peacekeeping operations in the particular case of Africa or in the rest of the world, but have
accompanied more and more alternatives to achieve the objectives of peacekeeping which are
international peace and security and construction of a lasting peace. However, we find in
“United Nations; an Introduction” by Garcis Sven Bernhard that developing countries
increasingly accuse rich countries of using UN activities, the main ones being peacekeeping
missions, to pursue their own interests. Should this statement call into question the
promptness of the UN response to the conflicts in which it has had to intervene?

Bibliography
 Amvana Gabriel_ Efficacity of peacekeeping operations in Africa by United Bations
and African Union
 Lucile Maerstens_ United Nations peacekeeping operations : doctrins and practices
under constant evolution
 Thierry Tardy _ The maintain of strong peace. Political and operational constraint.
 Paul Williams D._ Learnings from peacekeeping operations in Africa
 United Nations_ Promotion of Human rigths
 United Nations_ Mandates and legal bases of peacekeeping operations
 Pascaline Motsch_ Human rights in peace building missions.
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