The protection of individuals in post-conflict Kosovo: the applicability of international human rights law and international humanitarian law to a new generation of peacekeeping operations.

Abstract

On 10 June 1999 the United Nations Security Council adopted Security Council Resolution 1244 thereby authorising the establishment of both international civil and security presences in the Kosovo region of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Tins paper seeks to examine the applicability of human rights and international humanitarian law norms to the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Kosovo Force (KFOR) operations and their relative protections for individuals in Kosovo. Together, both UNMIK and KFOR serve to govern the Kosovo region to the exclusion of the Yugoslav government, and with such a concentration of power it is essential that individuals are adequately protected. This protection, if it exists, must come from international human rights law and/or international humanitarian law, which are both driven and underpinned by the ideal of the protection of individuals. Tins thesis investigates the extent to which UNMIK and KFOR operate within the framework of these bodies of law. A comparison of the conceptual and material similarities and differences between international human rights law and international humanitarian law is undertaken, with a view to investigating their relative strengths and weaknesses as a means of furthering the aim of protection of the individual. An examination of the applicability of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, respectively, to the UNMIK and KFOR operations is undertaken, and finally, a brief examination of the remedies available to individuals for violation of these legal norms is undertaken. The paper concludes that the framework in which the UNMIK and KFOR operations is incomplete with regard to protections for individuals and suggests that guidelines need to be established for this new generation of peacekeeping operations.