The Responsibility to Rebuild and Its Potential for Law-Creation: Good Governance, Accountability and Judicial Control

Abstract

The Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) on Responsibility to Protect (R2P) rests on three pillars (prevent, react, and rebuild). In a legal sense the latter pillar may be more innovative than the former two. Looking into the most crucial areas of post-conflict peacebuilding as addressed in the Report - security, justice, and economic development - the Article evaluates existing law, identifies lacunae, and comments on the obligation to cooperate, the protection of human rights, and the need for judicial control in peace operations. In this context the new UN Peacebuilding Commission could be an essential tool for implementing the ICISS Report in practice. The proposals of the Report related to peacebuilding are progressive, but fully compatible with the existing Charter architecture. R2P might successfully contribute to law-creation in that a future engagement in peace operations or transitional administration could be considered unlawful, if activities for post-conflict peacebuilding would not be seriously considered, effectively planned and fully implemented.