A World of Innocent Bystanders: UN Monitoring in Darfur and Syria [A Presentation]

By Kristin Keehan

Kristin Keehan is a third year student at Albany Law School who hopes to pursue a career in civil litigation. She is a Senior Editor for the Albany Government Law Review, an Associate Editor for the Center for Judicial Process, and a teaching assistant for Professor Timothy Lytton's Torts class.

Kristin prepared this presentation for the Prof. Bonventre's International Law of War & Crime Seminar, Fall 2013.

The United Nations Peacekeepers is an organization that few are familiar with. The group as a whole is dedicated to insuring the success of peaceful resolutions in warring countries. However, the peacekeepers have been met with great hostility, largely owing to their avoidance of intervention, even in the face of horrible atrocities occurring right before their eyes. They have frequently assumed the role of the not so innocent bystander.

The three basic principles of the UN Peacekeepers are: (1) consent of the parties involved; (2) impartiality; and (3) non-use of force, except in self-defense and defense of populations.

The presentation looks at the organization through the lens of the United Nations. Notably, while "peaceful resolutions" is the aspiration repeated throughout United Nations publications, the ultimate outcome of many peacekeeping missions is quite different.

(click to enlarge slides) 

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For the entire presentation, open HERE.
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