amnesty international

Peace-keeping and Human Rights

JANUARY 1994 SUMMARY AI INDEX: IOR 40/01/94

DISTR: SC/PG/PO

This paper examines the evolution of human rights protection and promotion in the context of United Nations (UN) peace-keeping operations. Based on its own observations and findings in respect of the human rights aspects of a number of recent peace-keeping and other monitoring operations, Amnesty International believes that the UN has so far failed to build essential measures for human rights promotion and protection consistently into its peace-keeping activities. It is time for the UN to develop a more coherent and comprehensive approach. It must ensure that human rights concerns are addressed in the planning and implementation of any peace-keeping operation and that mechanisms are established within the operation to secure the full protection of human rights both during the transitional settlement period and in the longer-term, when the main UN operation comes to an end.

The paper sets out Amnesty International's 15-Point Program for Implementing Human Rights in International Peace-keeping Operations. This set of recommendations is aimed at the incorporation into all peace-keeping and other relevant UN field operations essential measures to ensure respect for human rights as well as monitoring, investigation and corrective action in respect of violations. The 15-Point Program is addressed to all those involved in the establishment of such operations - the parties to the conflict, observer governments involved in the process and other UN Member States as well as the UN secretariat and other UN bodies and specialized agencies.

The first part of the paper examines the role of the UN so far in the area of peace-keeping and human rights protection and demonstrates the need for consistent monitoring, investigation and reporting of human rights violations to be undertaken from the outset. It includes a number of case studies of recent peace-keeping operations and proposes a series of human rights measures which ought to be included in the UN's planning and implementation of future operations. The second part of the paper looks at attacks on peace-keeping personnel as well as the indiscriminate use of force and other reports of abuses by peace-keepers themselves. These issues need to be addressed in a serious and transparent way as UN troops, and forces acting under UN authority, are deployed in increasingly violent contexts. In such situations, not only are measures required to ensure that those responsible for attacks on peace-keeping personnel are brought to justice but the UN itself and all its personnel must set an example and demonstrate their own adherence to international humanitarian and human rights standards at all times.

In the final section of the paper the recommendations contained in the 15-Point Program are elaborated in more detail. They include structural suggestions as to how UN officials and governments involved at the political level should address human rights issues at all stages of UN peace-keeping or peace-building in a country. These recommendations are designed for use in all types of operations: cease-fire monitoring, implementation of peace agreements, peace enforcement or the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Member States and the UN are urged to play greater attention to the importance of addressing human rights in a serious way in the planning and implementation of all peace-keeping operations. Amnesty International is convinced that human rights protection is essential to the success of any such operation and that, as long as the UN avoids tackling these issues effectively, it is seriously damaging its own credibility and thereby its capacity to undertake peace-keeping and peace-building operations in other contexts and countries in the future.

This report summarizes a 45-page document (34,186 words), : Peace-keeping and Human Rights (AI Index: IOR 40/01/94), issued by Amnesty International in January 1994. Anyone wanting further details or to take action on this issue should consult the full document.

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