| dc.description.abstract | The UN is an international organisation which has its roots dating as far back as
1917, when its predecessor was called the League of Nations. Concerned states met
in Geneva around 1940 to craft a way-forward for the weakened League, thereby
agreeing to form a new international organisation, the UN at the end of the Second
World War (WWII). The UN adopted its founding document, referred to as the UN
Charter of 1945. The main purpose of the UN is the maintenance of international
peace and security. Peacekeeping is an adaptation of the provisions of Chapter 1,
article 2 of the UN Charter, which vests the organisation with the mandate to work
towards a world free from wars and other violent conflicts.
In recent years, UN peacekeeping missions have been associated with gross human
rights violations, resulting from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse by UN
peacekeepers themselves.
This dissertation examines selected cases in Africa, including the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Eritrea-Ethiopia, Somalia, Sierra-Leone and Ivory
Coast, as much as they may be relevant to the thrust of the study. Although there is
broad consensus in the international community that erring members of the
peacekeeping forces be held accountable, what remains particularly problematic is
that innocent civilian lives are being destroyed through self-interest, lust,
dysfunctional local legal systems, lack of uniform rules of conduct and misconduct,
lack of effective investigative systems in host countries, and lack of effective
planning systems by victims, among other factors. The study makes a modest
attempt at addressing these critical challenges on the accountability of UN
peacekeeping forces in the 21st century context. | en_US |
