Accountability for United Nations civilian operations in post-conflict Kosovo

Abstract

The current United Nations peacekeeping mission in Kosovo is not merely assisting and advising a State in post-conflict peace-building, it is acting as a transitional international administration. UNMIK is charged with the provision of civil administration services and the design and development of civilian structures with the support of a military force, KFOR, authorised by the Security Council. The extensive mandate and wide powers of the international administration raise many legal issues, including the status of Kosovo in international law, the consent of the legal sovereign and the competence of the Security Council to authorise such an extensive mission, even pursuant to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. This thesis examines these issues, before considering the application of international human rights standards to the international administration in Kosovo. There are several possible bases for this, including human rights as obligations binding upon the Security Council and UNMIK by virtue of both international and domestic law. However, none of them clearly establishes legal obligation on the part of the international administration to observe international human rights standards. Further, the wide immunities granted to the international administration, and the limitations of the domestic judicial and human rights institutions, preclude persons obtaining an effective legal remedy. The possibility of obtaining a remedy outside the domestic legal systems is similarly limited. This thesis also considers how international human rights standards should apply in post-conflict situations, taking into account the possibility of derogation from international human rights standards m the difficult circumstances in which the initial steps of peace-building take place.