Peacekeeping Law Reform
Introduction
United
Nations Flag
The immense growth of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping
in quantitative, qualitative and normative terms is one of the major
developments of the post Cold-War era. Peacekeeping has become a key
activity of the UN despite the fact that it was not envisaged in the UN
Charter.
The Secretary-General currently has command of around 120,000 UN
peacekeeping personnel, at a cost of near to US$8 billion per year.
The demand for UN peacekeeping continues to grow, and the Security
Council is mandating ever more robust and complex tasks for UN
peacekeepers. With these greater demands, however, there have been
significant and increasing challenges for the management of UN
peacekeeping.
While UN peacekeeping reform has been a focus of intense discussion
since 1990, there has been limited consideration of how work on legal
issues may contribute to the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping. The
United Nations Peacekeeping Law Reform Project (the Project) was set up
to identify concrete ways to improve UN peacekeeping by combining
practical and academic expertise.
The Project is led by Scott Sheeran, assisted by Sufyan El
Droubi, Stephanie A Case, Catherine Bevilacqua and Abigail
K Sloan.
The University of Essex has a wealth of expertise to draw
upon which is relevant to this work.
The Project is currently engaged in a number
of consultations, including in
United Nations in New York, with stakeholders with experience in UN
peacekeeping. The
Project receives funding from the University of Essex and support from the
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Focus of the project
The current focus of the Project is working on two major studies and
consultations for the UN peacekeeping community that concern:
- The 1990 UN Model Status of Forces Agreement; and
- The Human Rights standards relevant for UN peace operations.