The Authority of the Secretary-General to Prosecute Peacekeepers - Essay Example

1.6 Literature review The literature review will aim to focus on research that relates to the ity of the Secretary-General regarding prosecution of peacekeepers. It will describe the pathway that should be adopted by the Secretary-General to prosecute those peacekeepers who commit crime during the process of peacekeeping. This section will provide a summary of the research that has already been conducted on the subject and in doing so; it will relate this research to the problem that is being addressed in this dissertation.

To begin with, a discussion of the crimes of ‘sexual exploitation’ that are committed against women in host states are focused upon. Additionally, the literature will discuss briefly how peacekeepers may be prosecuted before the ICC. The process of waiving-off of peacekeepers’ immunity by the Secretary-General to promote their prosecution will also be analysed. Olivera Simic in 2009,1 in the journal article “Rethinking ‘sexual exploitation’ in UN peacekeeping operations” explains the term sexual exploitation and how it is confusing to researchers.

The article also takes into consideration various sexual exploitation cases related to several peacekeeping missions. She argued that the term “sexual exploitation” might cover activity that is not necessarily “sexually exploitative”. However, she mainly focuses on the type of crimes and also mentions the ‘zero tolerance policy’; completely omitting the notion of prosecution and punishment of the criminals. Gabrielle Simm in 2011,2 in his article “International law as a regulatory framework for sexual crimes committed by peacekeepers” discussed the jurisdiction over peacekeepers and the responsibility of states and international organizations in relation to crimes of peacekeepers, and how their possess immunity that prevents judicial action against them.

Therefore, he argued that “international law’s strength lies in standard setting, but some of its standards are problematic, and it is weak in both monitoring and enforcement mechanisms”. He also pointed out that immunity can be waived-off by the Secretary-General. However, there are no special criteria to waive the immunity of peacekeepers or to prosecute them. Although Nigel D. White and Sorcha MacLeod 3 stated that immunity should be waived when crimes result from non-official tasks; this is considered against Section 20 of the 1946 Convention that grants the Secretary-General the right to waive a peacekeepers’ immunity when he feel it is necessary.

In 2012, Melanie OBrien4 in her journal article “Protectors on trial? Prosecuting peacekeepers for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court” examines the peacekeeping forces’ crimes that were committed during their missions. The article also discusses how to prosecute the criminals according to the Rome Statute. However, this article does not cover all peacekeepers, because not all of them come from member states to the ICC. The literature discussed above takes into consideration the various aspects of the issue of prosecution pertaining to the punishment of crimes committed by peacekeepers.

An attempt has been made to enlighten the reader regarding both sides of the argument, to facilitate the understanding of the issue in a non-biased manner.