UN Mandate Research Articles

Balancing Social and Cultural Priorities in the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for UNESCO World Heritage Cities

There is a strong relationship between heritage-led urban regeneration and the UN initiatives for Sustainable Development (SD). These include the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention (ICH; 2003) and Historic Urban Landscape (HUL; 2011) under the UNESCO mandate and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; 2015) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA; 2016) under the UN mandate. Despite the presence of those initiatives, regeneration in a World Heritage city often leads to the disappearance of intangible heritage, gentrification, excessive tourism, and social exclusion. Therefore, this paper critically identifies the shortcomings of those initiatives in addressing social and cultural sustainability. It uses the recently inscribed city of As-Salt on the WHL to showcase how the relevant SDGs’ targets and indicators are problematic in monitoring and measuring the sustainability of urban regeneration practices in WH cities. This is achieved by investigating where heritage and culture are embedded within the descriptions of goals and indicators in the three initiatives (SDGs, NUA, and HUL) document. A content analysis, using the NVivo qualitative data analysis tool, was conducted in order to identify complementarity, synergies, and correlations among the goals and indicators related to social and cultural sustainability. This paper concludes by suggesting an integrated approach under the umbrella of the SDGs for a more sustainable heritage-led urban regeneration alternative for cities acquiring UNESCO WH status.

РЕАЛИЗАЦИЯ МАНДАТА МИРОТВОРЧЕСКОЙ МИССИИ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ ОБЪЕДИННЕНЫХ НАЦИЙ: УРЕГУЛИРОВАНИЕ КОНФЛИКТА НА ТЕРРИТОРИИ ОСТРОВА КИПР

The article provides the retrospective analysis of the Greek-Turkish armed conflict on the island of Cyprus. The genesis of the inter-ethnic confrontation of the various diasporas of the island, the main stages of the conflict intensification are considered. The role of third parties in the settlement of the Greek-Turkish conflict on the island of Cyprus is analyzed. The article focuses on the influence of the NATO bloc on maintaining the confrontation between ethnic communities, as well as on the tacit involvement of the USA CIA in the conflict. Particular attention is focused on the mechanism for settlement the ethnic conflict through the implementation of the UN mandate with the deployment of a peacekeeping contingent and military observers. The author emphasizes that thanks to the decision of the UN Security Council, the ethnic conflict had not been escalated into a full-scale war and was neutralized.

Общественно ориентированная деятельность полиции в миротворческих миссиях ООН как модель эффективного сотрудничества полиции и общества

The community-oriented policing within the framework of UN peacekeeping operations was considered in the article. Emphasis is placed on the interaction of the police and civil society institutions in the implementation of the law enforcement function of a rule of law state as one of the necessary conditions for its creation and functioning. In the context of many types of interaction between public authorities and public, the partnership model and the concept of community-oriented policing were singled out separately. The definition of community-oriented policing is given and its constituent elements are considered within the framework of the functioning of the United Nations police in peacekeeping missions on a territory of states with a conflict and post-conflict environment. It is concluded that the mechanisms of interaction between the police and public during the implementation of the UN mandate on the territory of a hosting state have shown their effectiveness and can be used as models for effective cooperation between the police and society in the course of building and functioning of a rule of law state.

UN Peacekeeping and Democratization in Conflict-Affected Countries

Does UN peacekeeping promote democracy in countries wracked by civil war? Existing studies are limited and reach contradictory conclusions. We develop a theory to explain how peacekeepers can help overcome obstacles to democratization in conflict-affected countries, then test our theory by combining three original datasets on UN mandates, personnel, and activities covering all UN missions in Africa since the end of the Cold War. Using fixed effects and instrumental variables estimators, we show that UN missions with democracy promotion mandates are strongly positively correlated with the quality of democracy in host countries but that the magnitude of the relationship is larger for civilian than for uniformed personnel, stronger when peacekeepers engage rather than bypass host governments when implementing reforms, driven in particular by UN election administration and oversight, and more robust during periods of peace than during periods of civil war.

The Reform of Certain Aspects of the UN Peacekeeping Activities as a Factor of Increasing the Effectiveness of Local Peace-Building and Regional Development (Case of the UN Operation in the Central African Republic)

In this article the author analyses in detail the UN peacemaking activities illustrated by the example of the MINUSCA peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR). Today the mission has achieved the following results: presidential and legislative elections have been held, cooperation with neighboring states has been established, UN cooperation with local security agencies is advancing, conditions for the protection of natural resources have been assured, conflict mitigation activities for the local population are being organized. However, there is no progress in a number of areas, which is consequently connected with such intrastructural problems of the UN as duplication of functions and responsibilities in various UN departments, lack of representation of African countries in UN administrative structures, the issue of compliance with the UN mandate while implementing this mandate in a civil war. Not only will the solution of these problems increase the effectiveness of the UN peacekeeping mission in the CAR, it will also increase the level of security in Africa as a whole.

Categorisations of developed and developing countries in UN news on climate change

ABSTRACT Categorisations of social groups involve interpretations of reality that include social cognition, classification of relevant concepts, worldviews and ideologies. To reveal the factors that form the basis for the commonly used terms developed countries and developing countries, this study uses corpus-assisted critical discourse studies to examine how they are represented in United Nations climate change news reports. Results show these two categorisations are constructed through lexico-grammatical patterns that serve generally as Locations specifying the characteristics of various climate change scenarios. In addition, guided by UN mandates, Agents (developed countries) are expected to provide climate funds to Patients or Goals (developing countries) to effectively solve this global problem. The ways in which these patterns are represented in UN news reporting reflect the post-World War II world order and the core value of humanitarianism endorsed by the UN. To address the ongoing problem of insufficient financial support to developing countries, it is proposed that provisions of support be included in the Nationally Developed Contributions of developed countries.

International involvement in (re-)building police forces: a comparison of US and UN police assistance programs around the world

ABSTRACT The US and UN are two of the largest patrons of police reform programs worldwide: between 2000 and 2020, the US provided approximately $160 billion in police assistance to more than 130 countries worldwide; simultaneously, the UN spent over $77 billion supplying police-oriented security sector reform to countries experiencing or having experienced armed conflict, doing so through the deployment of peacekeeping missions and within the offices of UN Police, the UN’s hub for police reform and training programs. Though these two providers seek the same overall objective, they often vary in their specific goals: the US often engages in foreign police reform to promote its own national security objectives by increasing institutional capacity, while the UN adopts police reform programs to promote institutional constraint. The two models have important implications for how we understand bilateral and multilateral reform programs, including activities performed and recipient countries targeted across both time and space. Using originally collected data on US security assistance programs as well as a careful analysis of original data on UN mandates, this article provides the first quantitative exploration of these two different modes of assistance, comparing and contrasting their objectives and where, when, and how they are provided.

Implementing and Interpreting Refugee Resettlement Through a Veil of Secrecy: A Case of LGBT Resettlement From Africa

In the last decade the number of countries aiming to resettle refugees increased and complementary pathways aiming to relocate humanitarian migrants expanded. Stakeholders in charge of the selection process of candidates and logistical organization of these programs multiplied as a consequence. Because refugee resettlement and complementary pathways are not entrenched in international law, selection processes and logistical organization are at the discretion of stakeholders in charge, sometimes hardly identifiable themselves, and can vary greatly from one scheme to another. For displaced candidates to resettlement and complementary pathways, this opacity can have dramatic consequences in regions of origin. This article will present the case of a group of African lesbian and gay asylum seekers who first sought asylum in a neighboring country, hoping for resettlement to the global North. Because their first country of asylum criminalizes homosexuality, the responsible regional office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) must circumvent the said country’s sovereignty on asylum matters and recognize LGBT asylum seekers as refugees under UN mandate before submitting their cases to resettlement countries. UNHCR agents thus conduct refugee status determination (RSD) and resettlement procedures behind a veil of secrecy, at the risk of antagonizing their local partners and confusing aspiring refugees. Meanwhile, INGOs from the global North cooperate with local LGBT associations to relocate LGBT Africans out of the same African countries. This paper will show African asylum asylum seekers’ efforts to qualify for all these programs simultaneously, unaware of the mutually exclusive aspects of some; to become visible to institutions and “sponsors” they deem more powerful, at the expense of solidarity within their group.

Remarks by Jay Pozenel

The UN Office of Legal Affairs provides central legal support and assistance to UN offices and entities implementing the fundamental UN mandate established by the UN Charter, namely, to support the maintenance of international peace and security; to promote economic and social advancement for all people; and to affirm faith in fundamental human rights and promote the wider acceptance of international law. The General Legal Division is one of six divisions of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, and one of two of the Office's divisions that provide transactional legal services and support to the United Nations, its Funds and Programmes, such as the UN Development Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Population Fund, and others, the UN's peacekeeping missions, and the UN's regional and country offices throughout the world. Specifically, the Office oversees global crises and at times relevant legal aid. It deals with the internal legal framework of the UN and facilitates its legal interactions with suppliers, donors, implementing partners, and the public at large. In the General Legal Division, we have some thirty lawyers and ten support staff in the Division dealing with a variety of the day to day legal issues faced by the Organization.

Sustainability of the UN Nation-Building Measures in Post-Mandate Countries


 
 
 The first UN peacekeeping mission was authorized in 1948, during the first Arab- Israeli War. Since then, the peacekeeping missions have been established in many countries, with varying mandates. The existing literature on the subject focuses primarily on the changing nature of the UN missions, over the past 70 years. Moreover, there is considerable literature on the factors that pertain to the gaining of a peacekeeping mandate and how the UN resources are utilized to complete the overall objectives. However, the literature is quite limited in the evaluation criteria and frameworks for peacekeeping and nation-building. Furthermore, the minimal existing literature focuses on evaluating the present-time effectiveness of UN missions, based on their mandated objectives. This paper, therefore, aims to address a prevailing gap in the literature by focusing on evaluating the sustainability of the UN missions. The Diehl and Druckman‘s Framework of peace operations evaluation is used to measure the sustainability of the UN nation-building missions. The cases of UN missions in Liberia (UNMIL), El Salvador (ONUSAL), and Timor-Leste (UNMIT) are considered for this purpose. These countries provide some resemblance with their assigned UN mandate, yet differences exist in their cultures, historical backgrounds, and economic situation. This paper concludes by providing retrospective lessons and potential areas of improvements for future UN missions.
 
 

The State of the Netherlands v. Respondents & Stichting Mothers of Srebrenica

The July 2019 decision of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands constitutes the final act of a long litigation arising from the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. After Bosnian Serb militias attacked the safe area of Srebrenica, members of the Dutch battalion (Dutchbat), which was responsible for safeguarding the enclave under a UN mandate, permitted between 8,000 and 10,000 men and boys to be taken away by Bosnian Serb forces. Those men and boys were eventually killed by forces commanded by General Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić, president of the autonomous Republika Srpska. This Supreme Court decision and related rulings involve issues of international responsibility for the conduct of peacekeepers—in particular, attribution of conduct to the United Nations and its member states and immunity of international organizations.

Kerjasama UNICEF dan IRC dalam Penegakan Hak Anak di Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone was one of the countries with the largest use of child soldiers during the civil war between 1991-2002. Girl child soldiers made up to 30 percent of the total child soldiers involved in the Sierra Leone civil war. The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program (DDR) which was one of the UN mandate as a post-conflict peace consolidation could only reach 506 out of a total of 6,845 child soldiers who have been disarmed. This was because the requirement for the disarmament phase was to hand in their weapon, while many girls were not equipped with weapon by their armed forces commander considering that most of them acted as cooks, house workers, and bush wives. UNICEF and IRC as international organizations then carried out further DDR projects with more gender-responsive and community-based with gender mainstreaming and inclusive citizenship policies to enforce children rights of Sierra Leonean girl soldiers who previously had not included in DDR program. This paper will discuss the enforcement of children rights of Sierra Leonean girl soldiers in the furtjer DDR projects.

Legal norms or ad hoc fixes? International legal aspects of Russian military involvement in conflict settlements in the Caucasus

ABSTRACT This article provides a comparative analysis of the legal grounds for the deployment of the Russian Armed Forces in a series of conflicts in the Caucasus, namely in the disengagement between North Ossetia and Ingushetia (1992–1994), South Ossetia/Georgia (1992–2008), Abkhazia/Georgia (1994–2008), and in the Russian–Georgian War of 2008. The difficulties in codifying certain actions from the point of view of international law are detailed. The article discusses whether the political and military actions of Moscow in various Caucasian conflicts were driven and interconnected by one and the same logic, or were purely ad hoc fixes. Cases where Russia’s actions have been legitimized by securing mandate from a regional intergovernmental organization are differentiated from cases where it has acted on the basis of intergovernmental agreements, as well as from the application in certain cases of Article 51 (“the right of individual or collective self-defence”) of the UN Charter. The legitimacy or illegitimacy of the deployment of the Russian Armed Forces abroad is considered in the context of, and in comparison with, a series of cases where force has been used in conflicts by coalitions under a UN mandate, as well as by NATO and some Western powers.

Dignifying, Restoring, and Reimagining International Law and Justice Through Connections with Arts and Culture

This symposium provides a critical opportunity for international legal scholars to engage with the value and power of certain aspects of culture. The successive holders of the UN mandate on cultural rights have declined to define culture, instead taking a holistic, inclusive approach to its meanings, including inter alia diverse forms of artistic and cultural expressions, languages, worldviews, practices, and cultural heritage. Cultural rights—including the right to take part in cultural life without discrimination, the right to access and enjoy cultural heritage, and freedom of artistic expression—are a core part of the universal human rights framework. They are vital in and of themselves and protect key aspects of the human experience, but they have also been increasingly recognized as important elements of accessing justice and responding to atrocities and as “fundamental to creating and maintaining peaceful and just societies and to promoting enjoyment of other universal human rights.” The artistic and cultural expressions which result from the exercise of these rights likewise have inherent value and can also play significant roles in achieving basic goals of international law and human rights. As I noted in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in my capacity as UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights:Humanity dignifies, restores and reimagines itself through creating, performing, preserving and revising its cultural and artistic life . . . . Cultural heritage, cultural practices and the arts are resources for marshalling attention to urgent concerns, addressing conflicts, reconciling former enemies, resisting oppression, memorializing the past, and imagining and giving substance to a more rights-friendly future.

The Interlinking Crises of COVID and Police Violence on the June 2020 Global Anti-racism Debate

To complement the insights of my co-panelists, I will offer some reflections from the perspective of my UN mandate, on the ongoing global anti-racism debate as it has been structured by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the national and transnational uprisings against systemic racism in law enforcement.

Geneza i założenia współczesnej strategii bezpieczeństwa Konfederacji Szwajcarskiej

For centuries, Switzerland’s security system was based on the historically grounded neutrality and it was directed “inwards”, with few exceptions such as World Wars. Along with geopolitical changes in Europe and in the world in the 20th and 21st centuriy, the country was forced to re-evaluate its security policy. In the internal area, the Armed Forces were reorganized and modernized, creating one of a kind military organisation, well-equipped militia army based on obligatory army service for the citizens, civil defense and strong social need to defend the country. Contemporary threats to the European security have forced the Confederation to open itself to international cooperation, which resulted in joining to the UN and intensified cooperation with other organizations, including the EU and NATO. Switzerland returned to “active neutrality”, established extensive economic and assistance contacts, and joined – with other countries – peacekeeping, stabilization and observation missions with the UN mandate around the world. In the 20th and 21st century, Switzerland has become a country opened to international cooperation in many areas, not only economic but also political.

Problematising the peacebuilding strategies through embedded and situated research in Pyla

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use Foucault’s genealogical analysis to problematise the influence of political agreements and resolutions on Cypriots’ social life and to examine spatial practices. At the same time, this paper deals with the implications of the UN’s vision for Pyla in Cyprus as a prototype of integrity and bi-communality. Furthermore, it analyses and problematises the UN mandate system in order to challenge “peace-keeping” strategies.Design/methodology/approachThis investigation has been achieved through the author’s experience of situating and being in the site as well as through conducting site-specific interventions, performances, walking, observations, writing and interviews. Adding to these analytical methods, the involvement of the feminist theories in different ways allowed author to be more critical, reflexive and personal. In addition, the author critically analyses legal documents such as the Cyprus Constitution and the UN’s reports, documents and resolutions in order to understand the connection between politics and accordingly the creation of space.FindingsThis embedded critical spatial research into the in-between village Pyla establishes a new methodological understanding for design interventions that do not target a solution but, by implementing a reflexive practice, they create resistance practices. Focusing on these practices should allow a critical reflection on the previously applied urban development programs and their impact on Pyla and other cities and villages in Cyprus. The findings and outcomes that are presented through this research can be used by different powers for a critical reflection on the role of design in conflict situations.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of this research has been the lack of direct contact with the Greek Cypriot inhabitants of the village in order to understand their specific views on the conflict and their participation in the everyday life of the village. One of the reasons for this has been the differences in language which has made it difficult to approach the citizens and discuss their struggles as they would not necessarily confine in an outsider. Nonetheless, the author has tried to capture Greek Cypriot views in the circumstances of the UN and authorities meeting and, where possible has relied on literature to guide the understanding of the village life and Greek Cypriot role in it.Originality/valueThe author’s critical reflection on the unification-focused resolution strategies for the divided Cyprus (created by the UN, academics and architects) established the unique strength of this research paper. This research does not perceive the Cyprus conflict and its division as a problem, instead, it recognises the conflict and works within its division in order to understand the hidden political transformations, powers, appreciations and practices which become subordinate to the conflict. Different practices challenge the idea behind the normalisation processes that the UN aimed to achieve and reacts to those who came up with unification strategies; nonetheless, this should open new visions in the negotiations between the different powers.

INTERVENSI KEMANUSIAAN NATO DI LIBYA : ANALISIS JUS IN BELLO

The Arab Spring is a term for the revolutions of countries in the Middle East. The Arab Spring has a purpose to overthrow a dictatorial government. The series of Arab Spring began with protest in Tunisia on December 18, 2010. This protest started with Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, who set himself on fire as a protest against corruption. The success of the protest in Tunisia gave a domino effect to the surrounding countries. The impact of the Arab Spring also occurred in Libya in 2011. Libyan leader, Muhammar al-Gaddafi who has been in power for 42 years, refused to resign. This triggered protest from the Libyan people. Civil war happened in Libya between the pro-Gaddafi group and the opposition. NATO conducted humanitarian intervention in Libya under the official UN mandate. This article provides a humanitarian intervention analysis conducted by NATO using just war theory, especially the principle of jus in bello. The purpose of this article is to find out whether the intervention was in accordance with the jus in bello principle or not. This article used the literature study method by collecting data related to NATO intervention in Libya. This article shows that there are crimes against humanity committed by NATO in Libya. But, NATO intervention in Libya can reach the goal if viewed with proportionality principle in jus in bello. Keywords: Libyan conflict, humanitarian intervention, jus in bello.

Аналіз можливих форм і способів проведення миротворчої операції ООН на Сході України

Formulation of the problem. A number of international legal issues on the deployment of a peacekeeping operation in the east ofUkraine remain unresolved: who and on what line the peacekeeping contingent should share, the legitimization of the peacekeeping operation, the manning of the peacekeeping contingent.Presenting main material. It is acceptable for the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping forces on the internationally recognized border ofUkraine and theRussian Federation. This will stop the support of the separatists from the Russian territory. The position of the RF consists in the division of the conflicting sides according to the actual line of contact. This means that potential peacekeepers, if sent to the conflict zone, will appear in the depth of Ukrainian territory. Their presence will have a "freezing" function and will not allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out measures to ensure national security and defense, the return of control over temporarily occupied territories in theDonetsk and Lugansk regions.There are two main types of UN operations:- peacekeeping - requires the documented consent of the parties to the conflict, can be carried out by regional organizations, in cooperation with the UN or independently; the UN mandate is desirable, but it may not be;- peace enforcement - requires the existence of a UN Security Council mandate, but does not require the consent of the parties to the conflict.Another group of problems relates to the allocation of peacekeeping contingents. The region, which came under the control of the occupation administration, was declared "the area of implementation of measures to ensure national security and defense, repelling and deterring the armed aggression of theRussian FederationinDonetskand Lugansk regions." This excludes the UN from among the potential regulators, or requires the use of regional organizations instead of UN contingents, in fact, there are only three combat-capable contingents in this region: the NATO Response Force, the European Union Operational and Tactical Union (CJTF), the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces.Conclusions. Thus, for the solution of specific tasks in the context of the conflict in the East of Ukraine, the usual peacekeeping operation or UN political mission is not suitable, but it is precisely the creation of an individual partnership of the forces of various organizations and, possibly, individual states. Such a partnership can include a political and diplomatic mission of the UN and the OSCE, and will rely on the components of the NATO, EU and CSTO crisis response forces to establish the guaranteed separation and violent development of the heavy weapons of the parties. Such a combination of power components makes sense only in the case of full implementation of Minsk agreements.

Uma Abordagem Cognitiva sobre o Haiti: o papel do ambiente psicológico na construção de imagens no contexto da MINUSTAH (2004-2016)

O artigo realiza um estudo sobre o ambiente psicológico do Haiti a partir da interação entre duas variáveis cognitivas: prisma atitudinal e imagem. Nesse sentido, com base na literatura sobre modelo de análise em processo decisório, assumimos a premissa de que elementos cognitivos (como ideias e percepções construídas ao longo da história) são tão importantes na definição de planos de ação quanto as tradicionais variáveis objetivas tais como aporte financeiro. Para tanto, testamos as proposições desse modelo no caso da Missão das Nações Unidas para Estabilização do Haiti (MINUSTAH), de 2004, ano de seu início, até 2016. A partir da análise amostral de discursos presidenciais e, também, de resoluções do mandato da ONU, testou-se a hipótese de que quanto maior for a convergência das imagens entre os tomadores de decisão externos e internos, maiores serão as chances de uma missão de paz, neste caso a MINUSTAH, alcançar seus objetivos.