Overcoming the Hurdles to Accountability in UN Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is a creation of the United Nations (UN) and it plays a pivotal role in UN endeavours to maintain international peace and security. However, peacekeeping has also generated a backlash. Despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica in the mid-1990s could not be prevented. Not only have peacekeepers failed to protect civilians, UN peacekeeping operations have also occasionally been a source of harm to the local population. Sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers has seriously tainted the UN’s reputation and, so far, no initiatives have successfully eradicated it. The cholera outbreak in Haiti is a clear example of the negative consequences that peacekeeping may have for vulnerable communities in a country. Against this background, it has been said that UN peacekeeping operations should be carried out in a more accountable manner by providing redress to victims and taking effective measures to prevent harmful conduct by peacekeepers.1 Although no one would object to this general proposition, the ways in