Проблем одговорности за ратне и друге злочине припадника међународних мировних снага
The Problem of Liability for War and Other Crimes Committed by Members of the International Peace Forces

Author(s): Boris Krivokapić
Subject(s): Criminal Law, International Law
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Источном Сарајеву
Keywords: International law;Peacekeeping missions;International crimes;United nations;
Summary/Abstract: We are witnessing an increasing number of peacekeeping operations carried out by international armed forces. However, while they contribute to the termination of armed conflicts, the establishment of peace and order, the protection of the population, the fight against organized crime, etc. the reality is that a number of their members also commit various crimes, some of which represent war crimes or crimes against humanity. The number of these crimes is not small at all. Because of the immunity they enjoy and the unwillingness of the countries they come from to punish them adequately, the perpetrators of these acts often go unpunished. The paper points to this and related problems and tries to answer the question of what needs to be done to counteract this phenomenon. Although there are, in principle, solutions to this problem (among other things, the UN Secretary-General is empowered and obliged to strip a person in a UN mission of immunity when that immunity could prevent justice from being done and when the immunity could be lifted without prejudice to the interests of the UN) they are not applied in practice. Possible solutions include the conclusion of a special convention to regulate this matter; specifying, by the act by which each mission is formed, the conditions under which the persons concerned are deprived of immunity; introduction of a new international criminal offense and extending the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to include these acts as special crimes. However, the law alone cannot solve this problem, as it is complex one and affects the interests of many states.

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