Effective Command and Control in United Nations Peace Operations

Abstract

This chapter discusses effective command and control in United Nations peace operations from four distinct perspectives. In the first section, the incidents in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (2004) and Juba, South Sudan (2016) are discussed. The recently revised “UN Policy on Authority, Command and Control in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations” is analysed in the subsequent section, concluding that a crystal-clear policy framework should go hand in hand with both readiness and willingness of central and local UN leadership to act swiftly and decisively in crisis situations. The third section discusses international responsibility for wrongful acts committed by a UN peacekeeping unit, using the Netherlands Supreme Court decision in the case of the Mothers of Srebrenica Association et al. v The Netherlands (2019) as a case study. It concludes that the Netherlands Supreme Court in this case has indeed followed the UN doctrine that a peacekeeping unit that contributed to a UN operation or mission by a State, should in principle be considered an “organ” of the UN, while finding in casu that the Dutch State was (partly) responsible and liable for the tragic events, since the unit had acted wrongfully under the direction or control of the State. The final section discusses the function and tasks of the UN Office of the Director of Peacekeeping Strategic Partnerships (OPSP), established in 2013 with the aim of creating a new and independent evaluation function of deployed UN uniformed personnel. It concludes by noting that the OPSP in its brief existence has already contributed significantly to UN mission mandate implementation.