FORUM: General Assembly Second Committee

QUESTION OF: Enhancing the security and evaluating the criminal jurisdiction of United Nations Peacekeepers

SUBMITTED BY: United States of America

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

Concerned by the “jurisdictional gaps” and the absence of a regulated process for dealing with crimes committed by United Nations officials and experts on missions, impeding efforts on accountability of personnel on United Nations missions,

Further concerned by the fact that corruption threatens the success of United Nations (UN) international peacekeeping missions and causes wastage of donor money, and that the UN currently provides no clear guidance on corruption on its missions and its operations,

Recalling the zero-tolerance policy to crimes committed by the UN officials, and the dire need for it to be implemented with consequences if violated or infringed,

Taking note of the debate on the complex question of who has the legal authority to impose criminal penalties on UN on UN personnel,

Emphasisingthe need to cooperate with Member States and the relevant United Nations committees to advance criminal proceedings, trackings, and the establishment to exercise criminal jurisdiction over States’ nationals in a host State,

Encouraging the combined efforts and cooperation of Member States to propose a framework that the UN could use in addressing this pressing and urgent issue and strengthening the effectiveness of its operations,

Noting that there are difficulties to fully maintain supervision of 80,000 military and civil personnel currently scattered over 16 countries globally,

Callsfor Member States to aid in preventing sexual exploitation and abuse as well as improving victim assistance by methods such as but not limited to:

a)encouragingthe development and implementation of civilian protection strategies by taking full note of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC) Professional Standards for Protection Work which can help prevent inappropriate association between peacekeeping personnel and local communities by providing the following:

thecommon consensus of the majority of humanitarian and human rights protection agencies
importantdirection and advice regarding the division of responsibilities and effective interaction among organisations and services related to protection work

b)enlistingthe aid and guidance of relevant committees and organisations such as the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations as well as the ICRC to improve training tools for peacekeeping operations, utilising devices and methods such as but not limited to:

methodsof mass media such as pamphlets and computer-based instruction modules
conferencesheld around the world once a year to educate the peacekeeping personnel on correct behavior and placed regulations on unauthorized contact with local residents of the host Member States
encouragingtraining programmes on the rights and vulnerabilities of women and girls in conflicts
establishinginformational sessions and programs that lecture the consequences of serious crimes, such as tainting the UN’s reputation and personal repercussions including but not limited to ejection from duty and incarceration

c)improvingvictim assistance mechanisms by:

includingpartnerships that involve community-based organisations as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that provide support, such as child aid and financial aid, to victims
enlistingthe help of relevant organisations to create a center in countries where peacekeeping missions are currently happening to establish a safe place for victims of abuse or misconduct to receive psychological counselling and treatment and medical care
providingfor victims and witnesses who provide information in relation to crimes of a serious nature alleged to have been committed by UN officials and experts on mission and to facilitate access of victims to victim assistance programs, without prejudice to the rights of the alleged offender, including those relating to due process

d)respondingadequately to requests by Host States for support and assistance listed above in order to enhance their ability to conduct effective investigations in respect to crimes of a serious nature alleged to have been committed by UN officials and experts on mission;

Calls for the establishment of a comprehensive report to be conducted by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, for the purpose of researching the capabilities and limitations of the current peacekeeping forces, which:

a)willbe coordinated, funded, and documented by the High Level Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, and reported to the collaborative justice system and database mentioned in clauses 2 and 4 respectively

b)willbe conducted over the course of 6 months, beginning in the Spring of 2016, and culminating in December of 2016

c)willbe focused on the situations concerning the United Nations Peace Operations, such as but not limited to:

thelimitations and criminal activity of peacekeeping forces, with a focus on motivations for such illicit actions
theability of organizations to draw up realistic mandates for their forces to follow, and the ability of these forces to adhere to such mandates
thenecessity for a new headquarters for the purpose of supplying information gathering and strategic oversight to global peacekeeping operations;

Establishing criminal accountability in UN Peacekeeping Operations to ensure that all those accused of committing criminal acts are prosecuted and receive appropriate punishment, and in result improving transparency on the criminal activities that are perpetrated, through methods such as but not limited to:

a)theimplementation of a collaborative justice system that is a solution that would give the primary responsibility of prosecution to the Host State if its laws and regulations have extraterritorial jurisdiction and its criminal justice system meets international human rights standards, and they will work in close collaboration with the UN, specifically working with the UN by enlisting the aid of a recruited officer from the UN charged with the task of monitoring the trial

b)enlistrelevant organisations for a UN support structure, housed in part within the newly-created UN Office of Administration of Justice, that would be needed to facilitate steps of the system outlined and detailed in the previous subclause, to do the following:

assessingthe criminal justice needs of the host state through diplomatic means and visits to the country to determine how best to bring the host state criminal justice into compliance with international human rights law, if suitable
givingaid in reviewing allegations of misconduct by non-military mission personnel and further aid in the investigation under terms of the mission mandate and Status of Mission Agreement with the host state

c)recommendingusing the Model Codes for Post-Conflict Justice made by the United States Institute of Peace and the Irish Centre of Human Rights in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) to use as a recommended point of departure for building UN-host state partnerships where peace operations are deployed in order to:

furtheraid in establishing a common ground for a criminal code that deems what is or what is not considered criminal and the relevant penalties that apply to a person convicted of a criminal offense
providean example that supports a range of reform tasks in post-conflict states;

Encourages Member States and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to reevaluate all current peacekeeping operations and whether they are contributing to resolving the situation or impeding that process, and further emphasis the importance of giving peacekeeping operations with clearly defined mandates and objective with a pre-planned strategy for each operation based on a realistic assessment of the situation, as well as an international legal framework for UN peacekeeping to provide sufficient guidance for operations, taking note that there is no express legal provision for UN Peacekeeping in the Charter, and requests that decisions to deploy peacekeeping operations are judicial through means such as but not limited to:

a)emphasisingthe significance and dire need of clarifying and understanding the legal framework that governs the use of force and contexts in which force can be used in any given UN Peace Operations, which includes determining when and how international humanitarian law (IHL) has relevance to particular UN missions, more specifically:

encouragethe Security Council (SC) to create specific manuals of instruction tailored to each mission that will prevent conflicts between the peacekeepers and the locals that will be educated to peacekeeping personnel during training sessions for each mission beforeauthorisation of its execution
encouragethe UN to ensure that UN peacekeepers that States request are aware of the expectation that persons who serve in that capacity should meet high standards in their conduct and behavior and be aware that certain conduct may amount to a crime for which they may be held accountable

b)Making sure that before authorisation of a peacekeeping operation, the following procedures have been accomplished:

theestablishment of clear and achievable objectives of the operations, and the careful planning of requirements, made by relevant departments within the UN,
securingpledges and obtaining the necessary resources before authorisation,
theplanning of an exit strategy;

Calls for Member States to exchange intelligence and efficiently investigate the allegations of criminal conduct by developing a UN database of qualified, trained, pre-screened uniformed and civilian personnel available for UN operations and strengthen peacekeeping capabilities globally, particularly in Africa through means such as but not limited to:

a)supportingthe US-led Global Peace Operations Initiative, which has significantly bolstered the capacity and capabilities of regional troops, particularly in Africa, to serve as peacekeepers

b)developinga database shared and updated by contributing states that includes information on individuals’ and units’ experience in UN operations, disciplinary issues, performance evaluations, expertise, and availability for deployment, through means such as but not limited to:

recruitingofficers charged with the task of enforcing UN rules dispatched to every peacekeeping mission, as well as monitoring peacekeeping personnel and monitoring trials conducted by Host States
enlistingthe aid of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations;

Strongly condemns all targeted attacks against the UN personnel such as explosive device attacks, ambushes, kidnapping, suicide attacks, acknowledging with grave concern that they constitute a major challenge to UN field operations, and therefore further emphasizes:

a)theneed for missions to provide timely information to UN Headquarters about incidents involving the safety and security of UN personnel

b)theneed to request the Secretary-General to include in his annual report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, a report on incidents of attacks against the UN in peacekeeping operations, consisting of an assessment of distinguishable trends in such events;

Integrates a new set of international based amendments to the already accepted Montreux Document, which will:

a)create a discrepancy between type of missions that United Nations Peacekeepers will participate in by the category of their required action that is necessary by the independent Peacekeepers as well as whether or not military intervention is necessary, and will read:

Level 1 - Nonviolent mission specifically to deliver humanitarian aid to a territory that is not currently at any risk for engaging in aggressive combat
Level 2 - Missions of a very low chance of military engagement with combatants, but with a greater emphasis on placing Peacekeepers for humanitarian aid purposes over military protection or intervention
Level 3 - Missions with verified military intervention necessary in order to protect the delivery, dispersal, and medical aid of the territory that Peacekeepers will be placed into
Level 4 - Missions in which the sole purpose is to perform a military action in which there is an inherent risk to human life, usually based on a timeline basis, and must be done with little to no public knowledge of the mission

b)emphasize the necessity for a clear cut set of medical, psychological, and physical requirements that differ based on the level of mission that any and all Peacekeeping officers and members will be partaking in:

neurologicaltesting before engaging in any and all mission involving a possibility of military intervention
psychologicalevaluation before and after every mission regardless of the mission’s individual matters of operation, in order to see and impending change in behavioral or psychological nature
physicaltests of both fitness and firearm safety, as well as use in the field, so as to evade any conflicts of an international scale because of a simple mistake on behalf of the Peacekeepers themselves.