This book is based on the author´s experience of working for more than two decades in over thirty conflict and post-conflict zones. It is written for those involved in UN peacekeeping and the protection of civilians. It is intended to be accessible to non- lawyers working in the field who may need to know the applicable legal standards relating to issues such as the use of force and arrest and detention powers on the one hand and the delivery of life-saving assistance according to humanitarian principles on the other. It will also be of interest to scholars and students of peacekeeping, international law and international relations on the practical dilemmas facing those trying to operationalise the various conceptions of 'protection' during humanitarian crises in recent years.
This special forum discusses the future trajectory of UN peace operations at a time many stakeholders and analysts consider to be one of crisis, contestation, or at the very least transition. The UN is facing difficulties in responding effectively to many of the world's worst recent conflicts, even where it has (or until recently had) operations. Even before COVID-19, the blue helmets were facing a period of serious retrenchment and budgetary constraints. Mission mandates have experienced a transformation, from the recent "robust turn" to the incorporation of stabilization mandates grounded in counterinsurgency/ counterterrorism doctrine. The crossroads of economic downturn, geopolitical realignment and continuous adaptation of peacekeeping practice provides the backdrop of the contributions to the special forum that follows. The analyses presented here not only accompany the ongoing evolution of the nexus of issues that constitute peacekeeping studies but also reflect the breadth and depth of the extensive attendant academic literature.
The Afghan authorities and the international community have worked together to rebuild the justice sector into something which now at least approximates to a system that conforms to international standards. This article argues that while the process has been fraught there have been tangible advances and some verifiable ways to measure this. Capacity-building support of the state system will require continuing external monitoring, to gauge its impact, and the state system also has an important role in monitoring the way in which customary law institutions dispense justice. This article concludes that, despite many set-backs and uncertainties, now is not the time for the international community to turn its back on justice sector reform in Afghanistan.
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