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UN
Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO): homepage
of the DPKO which also offers Peacekeeping
Best Practices, the new unite responsible for policy,
lessons learned and knowledge management within DPKO.
Report
on the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, August 2000:
Known as the Brahimi report, it is the most extensive attempt
by the UN at reforming and adapting peacekeeping operations
to present-day conflicts. At the bottom of the page, there
is a link to a great factsheet on current UN missions.
Strengthening
of the United Nations: an Agenda for Further Change:
Report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the UN General Assembly
on September 9, 2002 regarding reforms to the UN system. It
addresses peacekeeping missions as well.
Humanitarian
Assistance: Protecting Refugee Women and Girls Remains a Significant
Challenge. United States General Accounting Office. May 23,
2003.
The
Partnership for Effective Peace Operations: a forum,
events, papers and a broad range of links revolving around
peacekeeping issues.
Bluehelmet:
a newly created organization dealing with peackeeping operations
with a forum, links and news articles.
There are a number of organizations dealing with accountability
issues in humanitarian affairs. Below are the four major ones.
ALNAP and HAP do include UN agencies in their membership while
the other two, People in Aid and Sphere do not:
Humanitarian
Accountability Partnership (HAP): project launched
in 2001 in Geneva in response to concerns among humanitarian
organizations about the lack of accountability to crisis-affected
populations. It contains great links and articles on accountability
in humanitarian affairs. It also contains many links to
groups and studies dealing with accountability and transparency
in humanitarian situations.
Sphere:
a project working to improve the quality, effectiveness
and accountability of distaster response through the understanding
and use of the Humanitarian Charter, Minimum Standards and
Key Indicators. Sphere produces a handbook, the Spehere
Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Distaster
Repsonse - available in eight languages; training modules
on how to apply the Sphere Handbook; a lesson-learned document
on how to institutionalize the Humanitarian Charter and
Minimum Satndards; a 45 minute introduction/orientation
film and a website that contains most of the above items
in three languages.
People
In Aid: it is an inter-agency, self regulatory
initiative and a global quality standard concerned with
human resources management in the sector of humanitarian
affairs.
Active
Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian
Action (ALNAP): network dedicated to improving the
quality and accountability of humanitarian action by sharing
lessons, identifying common problems and building a consensus
on approaches. The ALNAP Annual Review Series provides a
comprehensive, independent assessment of the performance
of the humanitarian sector based on an annual evaluation
synthesis of over 50 evaluative reports. It also provides
a meta-evaluation of the quality of evaluations. Finally,
it offers the Evaluation Reports Database (ERD), ALNAP Guidance
Booklets, ALNAP Training Modules.
"The
need for a system of accreditation for international humanitarian
agencies." Nicolas Stockton. 12 October 2001:
interesting speech by Nicolas Stockton, who was Deputy International
Director with Oxfam BG in 2001, on the need for accreditation
to improve humanitarian accountability. It focuses on international
NGOs but also applies to all UN agencies dealing with humanitarian
issues.
The joint UNHCR-Save The Children report on sexual violence
and exploitation in West Africa was a watershed event in humanitarian
accountability. Below are documents dealing with the issue
in chronological order:
Note
for Implementing and Operational Partners by UNHCR and Save
the Children-UK on Sexual Violence & Exploitation: The
Experience of Refugee Children in Guinea, Liberai and Sierra
Leone Based on Initial Findings and Recommendations from
Assessment Mission form 22 October-30 November 2001. February
2002.
United
Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee. June 2002:
Deals with the initial reaction of the UN system to the
report.
Report
of the Secretary-General on the Activities of the Office
of Internal Oversight Services, "Investigation Into
Sexual Exploitation of Refugees by Aid Workers in West Africa",
UN Doc. A/57/465, October 11, 2002.
"UN
investigation into sexual exploitation by aid workers -
justice has not been done." Asmita Naik, Forced Migration
Review, Refugee Studies Center, Oxford, U.K., January 2003,
pp-46-47: Article wirtten by one of the co-authors
of the original UNHCR-Save The Children report.
"Protecting
the Children From the Protectors: Lessons From West Africa."
Asmita Naik.
"West
Africa scandal points to need for humanitarian watchdog."
Asmita Naik. Overseas Development Institute on ReliefWeb.
31 July 2003. This article, written in July 2003,
is the best summary of the current situation on this issue.
Sexual
and Gender-Based Violence Against Refugees, Returnees and
Internally Displaced Persons: Guidelines for Prevention and
Response. UNHCR. These guidelines were established
in great part as a result of the UNHCR-Save The Children Report.
Protecting
the human rights of women and girls trafficked for forced
prostitution in Kosovo, Amnesty International, May 6, 2004.
Report on trafficking of women and girls in Kosovo with a
large section on UN involvment and responsibilities.
Field
Visit to Inform the Development of Concern Worlwide'd Programme
Participant Protection Policy. Sierra Leone. June-July 2003.
IASC
Task Force Mission Report: Liberia and Sierra Leone, 21-31
October 2002.
The
Accountability of Armed Forces, United Nations Civilian Police
and International Civil Servants Taking Part in Peace Support
Operations. Report to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights. Fifty-Third Session, 2001.
E/CN.4Sub.2/2002/6, 30 July 2002. This report, written
from within the UN system by Francoise Hampton, deals with
humanitarian accountability issues.
Women,
War and Peace: the Independent Experts' Assessment on the
Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women's Role in Peacebuilding.
Elisabeth Rehn & Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. This is
one of the best treatments of women in conflicts. Specifically,
chapter 5 on UN Peacekeeping Operations has cases and statistical
information on UN reactions to reports on violations.
PeaceWomen:
An excellent site for informations regarding the implementation
of Security Council 1325 on women, peace and security with
a sub-portal on women,
gender and peacekeeping, including a section with
press
articles about human rights violations by peacekeepers.
Gender
justice and accountability in peace support operations. International
Alert. February 2004. By far one of the best, up-to-date
reports on the overall situation regarding gender and peackeeping
operations by Pam Spees of UK-based International
Alert.
Accountability
and Administration in Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor. Ralph
Wilde. 7 ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law
455 (2001). Ralph Wilde at University College London
has written extensively on the issue of the administration
of territories by international organizations.
The
Role, Preparation and Performance of Civilian Police in United
Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Sydney, 1997. Duncan Chappell
and John Evans. In-depth study on the role of CIVPOL,
the Civilian Police force, since 1960 and many of the current
challenges it faces.
"We'll
kill you if you cry. Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict."
Human Rights Watch. January 2003.
"Hopes
Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict
Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution". Human
Rights Watch. November 2002.
More information on sexual violence and exploitation in the
former Yugolsavia
The
Ambiguities of Security Council Resolution 1422 (2002). Stahn
Carsten. European Journal of International Law. Vol. 14 (2003)
No. 1.
For articles relating to allegations of specific peacekeeping
violations in the former Yougoslavia, West Africa and East
Timor see:
"Misconduct,
Corruption by U.S. Police Mar Bosnia Mission. Europeans
Quietly Bring in More Officers." Colum Lynch. Washington
Post, 29 May 2001.
"Teenagers
used for sex by UN in Bosnia". Daily Telegraph, London.
April 25, 2002.
"Crime
Without Punishment". Robert Capp. Salon.com. June 27,
2002.
"Setting
the Standard? UNMIK and KFOR's Response to the Violence
in Mitrovica". Amnesty International. March 2000.
"UN
Peacekeepers in Timor face possible sex charges." Reuters.
August 3, 2001.
"UN
Sierra Leone troops accused of systematic rape." Daily
Telegraph, London, January 17, 2003.
"Sexual
Exploitation in Liberia: Are the conditions ripe for another
scandal?" Sarah Martin, Refugee International, April
4, 2004,
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