1st Edition
Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping Operations Legal Responsibility and Accountability
This book discusses the legal responsibility of UN peacekeepers for the protection of civilians under international legal regimes, particularly international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international refugee law, and occupation law. It considers both negative and positive obligations, that is, a duty to respect or not violate a particular right directly and a duty to take positive action to secure or protect a particular right, respectively. In addition, it describes the standards and methods, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, by which actors in UN peacekeeping operations, including the UN, troop contributing countries, and individual peacekeepers, can be held accountable for third-party claims and allegations of criminal misconduct against UN peacekeepers for violations of responsibility in peacekeeping operations. The work will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of International Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law and International Relations.
Part I: Background and Context; 1. Introduction; 2. Conceptualising UN Peacekeeping, Protection of Civilians, Legal Responsibility and Accountability; Part II: Applicable International Legal Regimes And Responsibilities; 3. Protection of Civilians under International Human Rights Law; 4. Protection of Civilians under International Humanitarian Law and Occupation Law; 5. Protection of Civilians under International Refugee Law; Part III: Accountability, Remedies, And Means Of Redress; 6. Accountability of the United Nations and Troop Contributing Countries; 7. Accountability of Individual UN Peacekeepers; 8. Accountability Implementation Mechanisms: Problems and Prospects; Part IV: Conclusions; 9. Conclusions;
Biography
Aminul Islam is a judge of the Bangladesh judiciary. He has over two decades of experience in Bangladesh as a presiding judge, lawyer, journalist, and educator.
'Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping Operations: Legal Responsibility and Accountability sheds light on a critically important dimension of contemporary UN peacekeeping operations, offering valuable insights into the accountability gap and proposing bold but sensible remedies for addressing that gap.'
Professor Richard Caplan, University of Oxford, UK
'This book powerfully demonstrates that the UN has both negative and positive obligations under international law to protect civilians, especially when it has deployed peacekeepers to protect them. It also shows that the UN has a long way to go to internalise those obligations and provide proper accountability for their breach.'
Professor Nigel D. White, University of Nottingham, UK
