de Guttry, Post, & Venturini: The 1998-2000 Eritrea-Ethiopia War and Its Aftermath in International Legal Perspective - From the 2000 Algiers Agreements to the 2018 Peace Agreement

Andrea de Guttry (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa), Harry Post (Université Catholique de Lille), & Gabriella Venturini (Università degli Studi di Milano) have published The 1998-2000 Eritrea-Ethiopia War and Its Aftermath in International Legal Perspective - From the 2000 Algiers Agreements to the 2018 Peace Agreement (Asser Press 2021, 2d ed.). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

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This book centres on the war that raged between Eritrea and Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000, a war that caused great loss of life and tremendous devastation. It analyses the war in great detail from an international legal perspective: the nature and the state of the boundary conflict preceding the actual armed conflict, the military actions themselves, the role of the UN peacekeeping mission, the responsibility for the multitude of explosive remnants of the war left behind. Ample attention is paid to the decisions of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission and the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission.

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This study is not limited to the war and the period immediately following it, it also examines its more extended aftermath prolonging the analysis as far as the more recent improvement in the relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia, away from a situation of ‘no war, no peace’ that prevailed after the armed conflict ended. The analysis of the war and its aftermath is not only in terms of international legal issues, it has been placed in a wider than strictly legal perspective.

Maus: United Nations Peace Operations and Human Rights: Normativity and Compliance

Sylvia Maus has published United Nations Peace Operations and Human Rights: Normativity and Compliance (Brill | Nijhoff 2020). Here's the abstract:

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In United Nations Peace Operations and Human Rights: Normativity and Compliance Sylvia Maus offers a comprehensive account of the human rights obligations of United Nations peace operations with a dual focus on the applicability and the content of UN peace operations’ human rights obligations. Selected case studies show a triad of human rights gaps: a protection gap, an accountability gap and a remedy gap.

Going further than purely legal studies on the subject, Maus makes use of international relations theory and addresses considerations of reputation and legitimacy as reasons for (non-)compliance with human rights by the UN. Based on this interdisciplinary approach, she convincingly proposes ways for enhancing human rights compliance in UN peace operations.

Sebode: Peace-Keeping der 5. Generation? Die Afghanistanmission der Vereinten Nationen und ihre Bedeutung für deren Friedenssicherungspraxis

Ana Catarina Sebode has published Peace-Keeping der 5. Generation? Die Afghanistanmission der Vereinten Nationen und ihre Bedeutung für deren Friedenssicherungspraxis (Mohr Siebeck 2020). Here's the abstract:

Über ein Jahrzehnt währte die Afghanistanmission der Vereinten Nationen, bestehend aus den Missionskomponenten ISAF und UNAMA. Sie hat die Praxis des sog. Peace-Keeping der Vereinten Nationen maßgeblich geprägt. Ana Catarina Sebode bettet die Mission in den Kontext des Peace-Keeping ein und zeigt ihre Bedeutung für die Rolle des Sicherheitsrates im Friedenssicherungssystem der Charta der Vereinten Nationen auf. Sie beantwortet die Frage, ob die Afghanistanmission im bestehenden völkerrechtlich etablierten Generationengefüge des Peace-Keeping aufgeht, oder ob sie Teil einer neuen Generation der Friedenssicherung ist. Das besondere Engagement der NATO, die von 2003 bis 2014 die Führung über die militärische Missionskomponente ISAF innehatte, wird dabei kritisch gewürdigt. So entsteht ein Gesamtbild der Vor- und Nachteile des arbeitsteiligen Peace-Keeping zwischen den Vereinten Nationen, ihren Mitgliedstaaten und regionalen Partnern wie der NATO im kriegsgeplagten Land am Hindukusch.

Doss: A Peacekeeper in Africa: Learning from UN Interventions in Other People’s Wars

Alan Doss has published A Peacekeeper in Africa: Learning from UN Interventions in Other People’s Wars (Lynne Rienner Publishers 2020). Here's the abstract:

Alan Doss offers a rare window into the real world of UN peacekeeping missions in Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Doss's story is one of presidents and prelates, warlords and warriors, heroes and villains, achievements and disappointments—and innocent people caught in the midst of deadly violence. As he shares his front-line experiences, he reflects on the reasons for successes and failures and on the qualities that leaders need to successfully guide efforts to rebuild peace and prosperity in devastated societies. Not least, he also considers the UN's future role in conflict prevention and peacekeeping in a climate of increasing resistance to intervention in "other people's wars."

Nedeski & Boutin: The Continuing Saga of State Responsibility for the Conduct of Peacekeeping Forces: Recent Practice of Dutch and Belgian Courts

Nataša Nedeski (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) & Berenice Boutin (T.M.C. Asser Instituut) have posted The Continuing Saga of State Responsibility for the Conduct of Peacekeeping Forces: Recent Practice of Dutch and Belgian Courts (Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In this contribution we reflect on two recent high-stakes cases before domestic courts on state responsibility for the actions and omissions of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces. Both cases are the result of efforts by surviving relatives of, respectively, victims of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and victims of the Srebrenica genocide in 1995, to obtain reparation from troop-contributing states for the harm caused by UN peacekeeping troops’ failure to protect civilians. While the facts of both cases display some striking similarities, the courts reached opposite conclusions, with the Dutch Court holding the Netherlands responsible, and the Belgium Court rejecting any responsibility of the Belgium state. We critically review the two cases, and analyse in particular the approach of each court regarding attribution of conduct, paying particular attention to the specific factual circumstances of transition and withdrawal in both cases, and to the issue of attribution of legal omissions. We further present observations as to the question of shared responsibility in the context of peacekeeping operations.

Labuda: UN Peacekeeping as Intervention by Invitation. Host State Consent and the Use of Force in Security Council-mandated Stabilization Operations

Patryk I. Labuda (Tufts Univ. - Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy) has posted UN Peacekeeping as Intervention by Invitation. Host State Consent and the Use of Force in Security Council-mandated Stabilization Operations (Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Contemporary UN peacekeeping missions often have Chapter VII mandates and wide authorizations to use force, notably to protect civilians. Since 2010, however, the Security Council has created a new generation of stabilization missions to support host governments. Peacekeepers in these missions are expected not only to protect civilians but also to combat armed groups, sometimes jointly with state security forces. While this may seem like just the next step in the UN’s gradual drift from traditional to robust peacekeeping, this article argues that stabilization constitutes a more radical departure from conventional doctrines on the use of force by peacekeepers. In fact, stabilization should be understood as a distinct form of UN-mandated intervention by invitation.

Bove, Ruffa, & Ruggeri: Composing Peace: Mission Composition in UN Peacekeeping

Vincenzo Bove (Univ. of Warwick), Chiara Ruffa (Uppsala Univ.), & Andrea Ruggeri (Univ. of Oxford) have published Composing Peace: Mission Composition in UN Peacekeeping (Oxford Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

Composing Peace: Mission Composition in UN Peacekeeping is about mission composition in peacekeeping operations and asks how diversity of mission composition influences the ability of a peace mission to keep the peace. This book focuses on four types of mission composition—diversity among peacekeepers, within the mission leadership, between mission leaders and peacekeepers, and between peacekeepers and locals. It is the first book to explore mission composition and its consequences, unpacking a concept hitherto unexplored and empirically combining quantitative and qualitative methods. It makes an important contribution to the fields of peace research, security studies, and international relations at large.

Murati UN Territorial Administration and Human Rights: The Mission in Kosovo

Gjylbehare Bella Murati (Haxhi Zeka Univ.) has published UN Territorial Administration and Human Rights: The Mission in Kosovo (Routledge 2020). Here's the abstract:

This book offers an original and insightful analysis of the human rights inadequacies that arise in the practice of UN territorial administration by analysing and assessing the practice of UNMIK. It provides arguments based on law and principles to support the thesis that a comprehensive legal framework governing the activities of the UN mission is a crucial prerequisite for its proper functioning. This is complemented by a discussion of several emerging issues surrounding the UN activity on the ground, namely, its legislative, judicial, and executive power.

The author offers an extensive and well-documented analysis of the UN’s capacity as a surrogate state administration to respond to the needs of the governed population and, above all, protect its fundamental rights. Based on her findings, Murati concludes that only a comprehensive mandate can serve the long term interests of the international community’s objective to efficiently promote, protect, and fulfil human rights in a war-torn society.

UN Territorial Administration and Human Rights provides a detailed critical legal analysis of one of the major UN administrations of territory after the Cold War, namely, the UN administration of Kosovo from 1999 to 2008. The analysis in this book will be beneficial to international law and international relations scholars and students, as well as policymakers and persons working for international organisations. The analysis and the lessons learned through this study shed light on the challenges entailed in governing territories and rebuilding state institutions while upholding the rule of law and ensuring respect for human rights.

Call for Papers: Partnered Operations and International Law

The ESIL Interest Group on Peace and Security, the ASIL Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict, and the Department of Legal and Economic Studies - Law School - of Sapienza University of Rome have issued a call for papers for a conference on "Partnered Operations and International Law," which will take place at Sapienza University of Rome, Law School, on October 23, 2020. The deadline is March 31, 2020. The call is here.

Sprik: Protection of Civilians and Individual Accountability: Obligations and Responsibilities of Military Commanders in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

Lenneke Sprik (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) has published Protection of Civilians and Individual Accountability: Obligations and Responsibilities of Military Commanders in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (Routledge 2019). Here's the abstract:

This book explores the question of whether peacekeeping commanders can be held accountable for a failure to protect the civilian population in the mission area. This requires an assessment of whether peacekeeping commanders have an obligation to act against such serious crimes being committed under domestic and international law. The work uses the cases of the Dutch and Belgian peacekeeping commanders in Srebrenica and Kigali as examples, but it also places the analysis into the context of contemporary peacekeeping operations. It unfolds two main arguments. First, it provides a critical note to the contextual interpretation given to international law in relation to peacekeeping. It is argued that establishing a specific paradigm for peacekeeping operations with clear rules of interpretation and benchmark criteria would benefit peacekeeping and international law by making the contextual interpretation of international law redundant. Second, it is held that alternative options to the existing forms of criminal responsibility for military commanders should be considered, possibly focusing more clearly on failing to fulfil a norm of protection that is specific to peacekeeping and distinct from protective obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Longobardo: Robust Peacekeeping Mandates and Jus Post Bellum

Marco Longobardo (Univ. of Westminster - Law) has posted Robust Peacekeeping Mandates and Jus Post Bellum (in Jus Post Bellum and the Justice of Peace, Carten Stahn et al. eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Recently, some peacekeeping forces have been tasked with combat operations, especially when the missions are deployed against non-state actors in the aftermath of internal armed conflicts. In the framework of these robust mandates, peacekeepers’ main responsibilities are to protect civilians and support the local central government in regaining full control over its territory. These robust mandates raise some issues regarding their compatibility with the principles at the basis of peacekeeping operations and their likely impact on jus post bellum. Furthermore, these mandates’ contribution to the achievement of a just peace is questionable. After briefly outlining the evolution of peacekeeping, this chapter explores the compatibility of robust mandates with jus post bellum principles and the pros and cons of robust mandates to reach a just and stable post-conflict arrangement, using the missions currently operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Mali, and in South Sudan as case studies.

Rolffs: Angriff auf Friedensmissionen: Eine Untersuchung des völkerstrafrechtlichen Tatbestands

Lina Rolffs has published Angriff auf Friedensmissionen: Eine Untersuchung des völkerstrafrechtlichen Tatbestands (Nomos 2018). Here's the abstract:

Umfassende Analyse des völkerrechtlichen Straftatbestands „Angriff auf Friedensmissionen“. Ausgehend von der historischen Entstehung und bisherigen Rechtsprechung entwickelt die Autorin ein systematisch wie praktisch überzeugendes Verständnis des Straftatbestandes. Sie zeigt auf, dass die bislang zur Definition der Friedensmission herangezogenen „fundamental principles of peacekeeping“ auch wegen ihrer politischen Dimension strafrechtlichen Bestimmtheitsanforderungen nicht genügen und plädiert für eine weite, spezifisch völkerstrafrechtliche Definition, die die politische Fortentwicklung der Friedensmission unberührt lässt. Grundgedanken der „fundamental principles“ prägen danach aber u.a. den Anspruch der Mission auf den Schutz von Zivilisten und zivilen Objekten nach dem humanitären Völkerrecht. Nach der weiten Eröffnung des Tatbestands kann gerade durch dieses neue Tatbestandsmerkmal der Schutz des internationalen Friedenssicherungssystems wertungsmäßig gut abgerundet gelingen.

Mudgway: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers

Cassandra Mudgway (Auckland Univ. of Technology - Law) has published Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers: Towards a Hybrid Solution (Routledge 2018). Here's the abstract:

Sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations (UN) peacekeepers is not an isolated or recent problem, but it has been present in almost every peacekeeping operation. A culture of sexual exploitation and abuse is contrary to the UN’s zero-tolerance policy and has been the target of institutional reforms since 2005. Despite this, allegations of sexual abuse continue to emerge, and the reforms have not solved the problem. This book is a response to the continued lack of accountability of UN peacekeepers for sexual exploitation and abuse. Focusing on military contingent members, this book aims to analyse ways in which the UN can fill the accountability gap while taking a feminist perspective and emphasising the needs of victims, their communities, and the host state.

This book directly challenges the status quo of relying on troop-contributing countries (TCCs) to hold their peacekeepers to account. It proposes first, the establishment of a series of hybrid courts, and second, a mechanism for dealing with victim rehabilitation and reparation. It addresses these topics by considering international and human rights law and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students with an interest in international criminal law, United Nations peacekeeping, and peace studies.

Conference: The International Law Applicable to Peace Operations

On November 14-17, 2018, the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War will hold its next international conference in Dublin, with the support of the Defence Forces Ireland, the Irish Group of the Society, and the Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland, Galway. The theme is: "The International Law Applicable to Peace Operations." The program is here.

Nadin: The Use of Force in UN Peacekeeping

Peter Nadin has published The Use of Force in UN Peacekeeping (Routledge 2018). Contents include:

• Jim Della-Giacoma, The case of East Timor: Ancient history or the shape of things to come?
• Mark Malan, Action adapted to circumstance: Peacekeeping doctrine and the use of force
• Carlos Chagas Vianna Braga, Between absolute war and absolute peacekeeping
• Cedric de Coning, Implications of stabilisation mandates for the use of force in UN peace operations
• Stian Kjeksrud & Alexander Beadle, Understanding the utility of the UN military component to protect civilians in different scenarios
• Walter Dorn, Protecting civilians with force: Lessons and dilemmas from the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti
• Charles Hunt, The ‘All necessary means’, to what ends? The unintended consequences of the use of force by UN Peacekeepers
• Peter Nadin, The logic of force in UN peacekeeping: A policy primer
• Tim Ford, Leadership in UN Missions
• David Curran, The use of force and the civil-military dimension
• Darryl Watters, Generating the ability: The challenges of force generation
• James Sloan, UN peacekeeping and international law

Gill, Fleck, Boothby, & Vanheusden: Leuven Manual on the International Law Applicable to Peace Operations

Terry Gill (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law), Dieter Fleck (formerly, Ministry of Defense, Germany), William H. Boothby (formerly, Royal Air Force Legal Services), & Alfons Vanheusden (Ministry of Defense, Belgium) have published Leuven Manual on the International Law Applicable to Peace Operations (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

The Leuven Manual is the authoritative, comprehensive overview of the rules that are to be followed in peace operations conducted by the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the African Union and other organisations, with detailed commentary on best practice in relation to those rules. Topics covered include human rights, humanitarian law, gender aspects, the use of force and detention by peacekeepers, the protection of civilians, and the relevance of the laws of the host State. The international group of expert authors includes leading academics, together with military officers and policy officials with practical experience in contemporary peace operations, supported in an individual capacity by input from experts working for the UN, the African Union, NATO, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This volume is intended to be of assistance to states and international organisations involved in the planning and conduct of peace operations, and practitioners and academia.

Cameron: The Privatization of Peacekeeping: Exploring Limits and Responsibility under International Law

Lindsey Cameron (International Committee of the Red Cross) has published The Privatization of Peacekeeping: Exploring Limits and Responsibility under International Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) have been used in every peace operation since 1990, and reliance on them is increasing at a time when peace operations themselves are becoming ever more complex. This book provides an essential foundation for the emerging debate on the use of PMSCs in this context. It clarifies key issues such as whether their use complies with the principles of peacekeeping, outlines the implications of the status of private contractors as non-combatants under international humanitarian law, and identifies potential problems in holding states and international organizations responsible for their unlawful acts. Written as a clarion call for greater transparency, this book aims to inform the discussion to ensure that international lawyers and policy makers ask the right questions and take the necessary steps so that states and international organizations respect the law when endeavouring to keep peace in an increasingly privatized world.

Lundgren: Backdoor Peacekeeping: Does Participation in UN Peacekeeping Reduce Coups at Home?

Magnus Lundgren (Stockholm Univ.) has posted Backdoor Peacekeeping: Does Participation in UN Peacekeeping Reduce Coups at Home? (Journal of Peace Research, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

I advance and test a theoretical argument of how participation in UN peacekeeping affects the likelihood of coup attempts in troop-contributing countries (TCCs). The argument highlights the interplay between the economic incentives of militaries in poor TCCs and the UN’s preference for contributors with stable civil-military relations. Fearing the loss of UN reimbursement funds, militaries for which such funds are important will avoid visible acts of military insubordination, such as coup attempts, that would place their future participation in UN peacekeeping at risk. I test this proposition against time-series cross-sectional data on 157 countries in the 1991–2013 period using panel regression and matching. The data show that countries where the armed forces are more dependent on peacekeeping revenues experience fewer coup attempts than comparable peers, even when taking coup-proofing measures and other alternative explanations into account. I also find that the coup-restraining effect is only observed in periods where member states contribute enough troops to award the UN a real choice over alternative contributors. The study introduces a novel theoretic logic, presents empirical results at odds with the existing literature, and suggests important policy implications with regard to UN vetting and standards for troop-contributing countries.

Foley: UN Peacekeeping Operations and the Protection of Civilians

Conor Foley (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro) has published UN Peacekeeping Operations and the Protection of Civilians: Saving Succeeding Generations (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

This book is based on the author´s experience of working for more than two decades in over thirty conflict and post-conflict zones. It is written for those involved in UN peacekeeping and the protection of civilians. It is intended to be accessible to non-lawyers working in the field who may need to know the applicable legal standards relating to issues such as the use of force and arrest and detention powers on the one hand and the delivery of life-saving assistance according to humanitarian principles on the other. It will also be of interest to scholars and students of peacekeeping, international law and international relations on the practical dilemmas facing those trying to operationalise the various conceptions of 'protection' during humanitarian crises in recent years.

Kihara-Hunt: Holding UNPOL to Account: Individual Criminal Accountability of United Nations Police Personnel

Ai Kihara-Hunt (Univ. of Tokyo - Graduate Program on Human Security) has published Holding UNPOL to Account: Individual Criminal Accountability of United Nations Police Personnel (Brill | Nijhoff 2017). Here's the abstract:

Ai Kihara-Hunt’s Holding UNPOL to Account: Individual Criminal Accountability of United Nations Police Personnel analyzes whether the mechanisms that address criminal accountability of United Nations police personnel serving in peace operations are effective, and if there is a problem, how it can be mitigated. The volume reviews the obligations of States and the UN to investigate and prosecute criminal acts committed by UN police, and examines the jurisdictional and immunity issues involved. It concludes that these do not constitute legal barriers to accountability, although immunity poses some problems in practice. The principal problem appears to be the lack of political will to bring prosecutions, as well as a lack of transparency, which makes it difficult accurately to determine the scale of the problem.