Is the United Nations a warring party in Congo?

Law professor Bruce Oswald wonders whether the creation of an intervention brigade for eastern Congo formally makes the United Nations a party to the conflict in that region: Whether a UN peacekeeping force engaged in armed conflict with opposing forces should be considered a party to the conflict (for the purposes of applying international law) ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Law professor Bruce Oswald wonders whether the creation of an intervention brigade for eastern Congo formally makes the United Nations a party to the conflict in that region:

Law professor Bruce Oswald wonders whether the creation of an intervention brigade for eastern Congo formally makes the United Nations a party to the conflict in that region:

Whether a UN peacekeeping force engaged in armed conflict with opposing forces should be considered a party to the conflict (for the purposes of applying international law) has been controversial for a number of decades. The UN has never publicly admitted that its peacekeepers are parties to the conflicts in which they engage, notwithstanding the fact that on a number of occasions it has acknowledged that its peacekeeping forces have engaged in offensive operations against armed groups. As a matter of law, it is difficult to conclude that the Brigade would not be a party to the conflict in situations where it conducts offensive operations. As a party to the conflict, the Brigade would be required to abide by international humanitarian law.

Troops that will form the brigade have been trickling into Congo, and the unit reportedly conducted its first patrols this week.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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