Chapter III. General review of the legal activities of the United Nations and related intergovernmental organizations

• Pages: 81-314

  

Chapter III

GENERAL REVIEW OF THE LEGAL ACTIVITIES OF THE

UNITEDNATIONS AND REL ATED INTERGOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATIONS

A. G     

  UN

1. Membership of the UnitedNations

As of 31 December 2013, the number of MemberStates of the UnitedNations was193.

2. Peace and Security

(a) Peacekeeping missions and operations1

(i) Peacekeeping missions and operations established in 2013

Mali2

By resolution2100 (2013) of 25 April 2013, the Security Council, interalia, conde mned

the oensive launched on 10 January 2013 by terrorist, extremist and armed groups to-

wards the south of Mal i, welcomed the swi action by the French forces, at the request of

the transitiona l authorities of Mali, to stop the oensive of terrorist, ext remist and armed

groups towards the South of Mali, and took note of letters and a communiqué addres sed

to the Secretary-General from the tra nsitional authorities of Mali, the President of the

Economic Community of West Africa n States (ECOWAS) Commission and the African

Union (AU) Peace and Secu rity Council, respectively, in support of the deployment of a

UnitedNations stabilization mi ssion inMali.

By the same resolution, recal ling the report of the Secretary-General3 that includ-

ed recommendations and options for establishi ng a UnitedNations stabilization opera-

tion in Mali4 and act ing under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the

Security Council decided to establish the UnitedNations Multidimensional Integrated

1 e mi ssions and operations a re listed in ch ronological order accord ing to their dat e of

establishment.

2 Se e also the report of t he Secretary-Gener al on the situation in Ma li (S/2013/582) and a statement

by the President of the Sec urity Council of 16 July 2013 (S/PRST/2013/10).

3 S/2013 /189.

4 Ibid., chap.VII.B, p. 12.

      

Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and requested the Secretar y-General to sub-

sume the UnitedNations Oce in Mali (UNOM)5 int o MINUSMA .6 e Security Counci l

decided that the authority be transferred from the A frican-led Internationa l Support

Mission in Mali (AFISMA)7 to MINUSMA on 1 July 2013, including military training ,

provision of equipment, intelligence and logistic al support, at which point MI NUSMA

should commence the implementation of its mandate for an init ial period of 12 months,

and requested the Secreta ry-General to include in MINUSMA, in close coordina-

tion with the AU and ECOWAS, AFISMA militar y and police personnel appropriate to

UnitedNationsstandards.

Resolution 2100 (2013) also dened the composition and mandate of MINUSMA, 8

and authorized the M ission to use all necessary means , within the limits of its capaci-

ties and areas of development, to carr y out its mandate. e Security Council authori zed

French troops, within t he limits of their capacities and areas of deployment, a nd upon

request of the Secretar y-General, to use all necessar y means, from the commencement of

the activitie s of MINUSMA’s mandate, to intervene in support of elements of MI NUSMA

when under imminent and ser iousthreat.

(ii) Changes in the mandate and/or extensions of time limits of ongoing

peacekeeping operations or missions in 2013

a. Cypr us

e UnitedNations Peacekeeping Force in Cypru s (UNFICYP) was established by

Security Council resolution186 (1964) of 4 March 1964.9 e Security Council decided

5 For more informat ion about UNOM, see section A.2(b)(i)(a) of this chapter below.

6 For more information ab out MINUSMA, see ht tp//:www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/

minusma /. See also the report of t he Secretary-Genera l, recommending options for the establ ishment

of a UnitedNations p eacekeeping oper ation there (S/2013/189), the report of the Secreta ry-Genera l

on the situation in Ma li, providing update on the developments sinc e S/2013/189 and deployment of

MINUSMA (S/2013/338), and the report of the S ecretary-Gener al on the situation in Ma li, for the period

from 10 June to 29 September 2013 (S/2013/582).

7 By its resolution20 85 (2012) of 20 December 2 012, the Security Counc il authorized the deploy-

ment of AFISMA for an in itial period of one year. See OP 9, and 9(a)–(f), of resolution2 085 (2012).

8 e Secur ity Council decided t hat MINUSMA would compris e up to 11,200 military per sonnel

and 1,440 police pe rsonnel. e Security Counci l decided that the mandate of MI NUSMA should in-

clude, interalia: (a) stabiliz ation of key population centers and suppor t for the reestablishment of Stat e

authority th roughout the country (i) to support the t ransitional authoritie s of Mali, to stabilize t he key

population centers, e specially in the nor th of Mali, and in thi s context, to deter threats and t ake active

steps to prevent the retu rn of armed elements to those a reas, and (ii) to support the tr ansitional authori-

ties of Mali to ex tend and re-establish Stat e administration t hroughout the country ; (b) support for the

implementation of the tr ansitional road map, includ ing the national polit ical dialogue a nd the electoral

process; protection of c ivilian s and UnitedNation s personnel; support for huma nitarian assistance ;

support for cultu ral preservation; and supp ort for national and internat ional justice.

9 For more informat ion about UNFICY P, see https://uncyp.un missions.org a nd http//:www.

un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/uncyp/. See also the repor t of the Secreta ry-General on t he

UnitedNations operation in Cy prus covering developments for t he period from 21 June to 15 December

2012 (S/2013/7), for the period from 16 December 2012 to 20 June 2013 (S/2013/392), and for the period

from 21 June to 15 December 2013 (S/2013/781).

  

to extend the mandate of UNFICY P by resolutions2089 (2013) of 24 January 2013 and

2114(2013) of 30 July 2013, until 31 July 2013 and 31 January 2014, respectively.

b. Syrian Arab Republic

In view of former Secretar y-General Mr.Ko Annan’s decision to step down as Joint

Special Envoy of the UnitedNations and t he League of Arab States at the end of August

2012 ,10 the GeneralA ssembly in resolution67/183 of 20 December 2012 welcomed the ap-

pointment of the new Joint Special Representative of the UnitedNations and the Leag ue of

Arab States for Syria, Mr.Lak hdar Brahimi. In t he same resolution, the GeneralAssembly,

interalia, welcomed the repor t of the independent international comm ission of inquiry

on the Syrian Ara b Republic, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Counc il (HRC) reso-

lution19/22,11 demanded that the Syr ian authorities provide the commission of inquiry

and individual s working on its beha lf immediate, full and un fettered entry and access to

all areas of t he Syrian A rab Republic, and stressed the need to follow up on the report of

the commission of inquir y and to conduct an international, trans parent, independent and

prompt investigation into abuses and violations of internat ionallaw.

Subsequently, in General Assembly resolution 67/262 of 15 May 2013, the

GeneralA ssembly, inter alia, rear med its support for the mission of the Joint Special

Representative of the UnitedNations and the League of Arab States for Syria and de-

manded that the Syrian authorities strictly observe their obligations under international

law with respect to chemica l and biologicalweapons.

c. Syrian A rab Republic and Israel

e UnitedNations Disengagement Observer Force (UN DOF) was established by

Security Cou ncil resolution350 (1974) of 31 March 1974.12 e Security Council renewed

the mandate of UNDOF by resolutions 2108 (2013) of 27June 2013 and 2131 (2013) of

18 December 2013.13 In resolution2131 (2013), the Securit y Council, interalia, decided to

renew the mandate of the UN DOF for a period of six months, underlined that there shou ld

be no militar y activity by Syrian armed opposition groups in the area of separation, and

stressed the obligation of both parties to scrupulously and fully respect the terms of the

1974 Disengagement of ForcesAgreement.

10 See UnitedNations Juridical Yearbook , 2012, chap. III, sect. A.2(a)(i).

11 A/H RC/21/5 0.

12 For more information about UNDOF, see http//:www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/undof/ and

the report of the S ecretary-General on the Unite dNations Disengagement Observer Force (U NDOF)

for the period from 1 Ja nuary to 31 March 2013 (S/2013/174), for the period from 1 Apri l 2013 to 30 June

2013 (S/2013/345), for the period from 1 July to 12 September 2013 (S/2013/542), and for the period from

12 September to 3 December 2 013 (S/2013/716).

13 e resolutions extended the mand ate of UNDOF until 30 June 2013 and 31 December 2013,

respectively.