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Spagnolo, Andrea --- "The crime of attacking peacekeepers" [2013] ELECD 1059; in Pocar, Fausto; Pedrazzi, Marco; Frulli, Micaela (eds), "War Crimes and the Conduct of Hostilities" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 153

Book Title: War Crimes and the Conduct of Hostilities

Editor(s): Pocar, Fausto; Pedrazzi, Marco; Frulli, Micaela

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781955918

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: The crime of attacking peacekeepers

Author(s): Spagnolo, Andrea

Number of pages: 18

Abstract/Description:

For over a decade the international community has focused extensively on the protection of peacekeepers. Undoubtedly in many circumstances, and especially in non-international armed conflicts, attacks on peacekeepers constitute an unlawful method of warfare. Parties to a conflict use such illicit conduct to achieve a military or political advantage. In Sierra Leone the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacked peacekeepers in order to show their opposition to the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programs; in Sudan the rebels attacked the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) camp because they thought it provided the government with some intelligence; in the former Yugoslavia peace keepers were taken hostage in response to the NATO bombing campaign. These situations represent only a few examples of the many instances resulting in attacks on peacekeepers. The UN suffers image and communication problems and such problems are shared by the peacekeepers.