In an increasingly complex world, it is more crucial than ever to have a full picture of how international peacekeeping can be a force for good, but can also have potentially negative impacts on host communities. After thirteen years of presence in Haiti, the highly controversial United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti has now withdrawn. The UN's legacy in Haiti is not all negative, but it does include sexual scandals, the divisive use of force to 'clean up' difficult neighbourhoods as well as a cholera epidemic, brought inadvertently by Nepalese peacekeepers that killed more than 8,000 Haitians and infected more than 600,000. This book presents a unique multi-disciplinary analysis of the legacy of the mission for Haiti. It presents an innovative account of contemporary international peacekeeping law and practice, arguing for a new model of accountability, going beyond the outdated immunity mechanisms to foreground human rights.

Confronted with the practical legal aspects of Peace Support Operations (PSO) in their daily work, the two authors realized that there was an urgent need for the international community of military and civilian lawyers, law enforcement agencies, policy makers, legal advisers and military commanders dealing with these types of missions to have a guidebook analyzing, questioning and providing some solutions to the practical legal aspects intrinsic in them and which are often known only to those who have been serving in the field. It was therefore decided to create a tool to record and diffuse the know-how acquired by those who have been directly confronted with these issues, in the field and at headquarters. Among the cutting-edge topics practitioners explore in Peace Support Operations & Their Legal Implications are human trafficking and illegal immigration in theatres of PSO such as the Balkans, arrest and detention of suspects of serious breaches of the laws of war, the relationship and role sharing of civilian law enforcement agencies and peacekeepers, the use of non-lethal and other weapons (e.g. riot control agents), criminal liability for breaches of international law and Rules Of Engagement. Contributions of a more strategic nature deal further with the complexities of Status of Forces Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding, the extraterritorial applicability of human rights obligations, the application of the law of occupation to peacekeeping forces, their new role and the relative problems in peace-building. The main objective of this guidebook is to provide the basis for further discussion, suggesting what should be done next, and to constitute a problem-solving tool for those deployed in the field, often secluded from the external world and confronted with difficulties to be solved immediately, under the pressure of time. The idea is to show them the path undertaken by others who have been confronted with similar problems and to share the knowledge and fight the power. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

The UN's record in peace operations is long, various, distinguished by both accomplishments and failures, and most importantly, innovative. Unfulfilled expectations and escalating violence in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia forced retrenchment upon UN peace operations_but at the same time, a new opportunity to enhance capacities, review strategies, redefine roles, and reaffirm responsibilities has opened up. Here, a dynamic group of leading diplomats, academics, and journalists combines forces with UN policymakers and leaders including current Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to explore how the international community can improve its practice in negotiating and implementing peace. They look at what works and what doesn't in UN peacemaking and peacekeeping, and then map out alternative futures for UN action in the 21st century.

Revised and updated, The Law and Practice of the United Nations provides an analysis of the main legal issues surrounding the United Nations' practice, including a thorough discussion of Chapter VII of the Charter and its interpretation.

This book critically examines the response of the United Nations (UN) to the problem of sexual exploitation in UN Peace Support Operations. It assesses the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on Special Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (2003) (SGB) and its definition of sexual exploitation, which includes sexual relationships and prostitution. With reference to people affected by the policy (using the example of Bosnian women and UN peacekeepers), and taking account of both radical and ‘sex positive’ feminist perspectives, the book finds that the inclusion of consensual sexual relationships and prostitution in the definition of sexual exploitation is not tenable. The book argues that the SGB is overprotective, relies on negative gender and imperial stereotypes, and is out of step with international human rights norms and gender equality. It concludes that the SGB must be revised in consultation with those affected by it, namely local women and peacekeepers, and must fully respect their human rights and freedoms, particularly the right to privacy and sexuality rights.

An innovative analysis of accountability in international peacekeeping and human rights, with a focus on the UN's Haiti mission.

The UN plays a vital but underappreciated role in restoring the rule of law in countries recovering from civil war.