For the UN, the Complexities of Being a Combatant
The International Peace Institute has published a balanced new report on the UN’s intervention brigade, which should soon begin full operations in eastern Congo. As the report makes clear, the brigade’s combat role creates a host of legal and practical challenges for the United Nations. As I’ve argued before, one will be ensuring that the ...
The International Peace Institute has published a balanced new report on the UN's intervention brigade, which should soon begin full operations in eastern Congo. As the report makes clear, the brigade's combat role creates a host of legal and practical challenges for the United Nations. As I've argued before, one will be ensuring that the intervention doesn't turn the rest of the UN force--which is not well-equipped for combat--into an easy target:
The International Peace Institute has published a balanced new report on the UN’s intervention brigade, which should soon begin full operations in eastern Congo. As the report makes clear, the brigade’s combat role creates a host of legal and practical challenges for the United Nations. As I’ve argued before, one will be ensuring that the intervention doesn’t turn the rest of the UN force–which is not well-equipped for combat–into an easy target:
In order to guard against legitimizing reprisal attacks against the regular MONUSCO force and its civilian components by rebel groups, the Intervention Brigade will be required to distinguish itself from the regular MONUSCO troops. However, rebel groups cannot be relied upon to respect this distinction. Previous periods of offensive operations by MONUSCO have brought threats of reprisals: when MONUSCO used attack helicopters in Rutshuru in North Kivu province in July 2012, the M23 responded by threatening to treat the peacekeepers as hostile forces. Other peacekeeping operations have also experienced threats against their civilian components in the wake of high tempo military operations.
Even the brigade’s success in encouraging rebel surrenders will bring dilemmas:
[T]he brigade may find itself custodian to numerous defectors and surrendering rebel groups creating a large population of captured persons. The treatment and housing of these persons by the UN will be challenging, not least inensuring fair treatment, repatriation, and transfer to the local authorities. Lessons from other conflict theaters demonstrate the need for assurances to guard against human rights abuses, and current UN practices for the circumstances of detention in non-international armed conflict will require revision and updating.
The whole report is well worth a read.
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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