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
UNITEDNATIONS AND REL ATED INTERGOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS
A. G
UN
1. Membership of the UnitedNations
As of 31 December 2013, the number of MemberStates of the UnitedNations was193.
2. Peace and Security
(a) Peacekeeping missions and operations1
(i) Peacekeeping missions and operations established in 2013
Mali2
By resolution2100 (2013) of 25 April 2013, the Security Council, interalia, conde mned
the oensive 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 oensive 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
UnitedNations stabilization mi ssion inMali.
By the same resolution, recal ling the report of the Secretary-General3 that includ-
ed recommendations and options for establishi ng a UnitedNations 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 UnitedNations 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 UnitedNations Oce 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
UnitedNationsstandards.
Resolution 2100 (2013) also dened 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 iousthreat.
(ii) Changes in the mandate and/or extensions of time limits of ongoing
peacekeeping operations or missions in 2013
a. Cypr us
e UnitedNations Peacekeeping Force in Cypru s (UNFICYP) was established by
Security Council resolution186 (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 UnitedNations 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 resolution20 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 resolution2 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, interalia: (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 UnitedNation 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://uncyp.un missions.org a nd http//:www.
un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/uncyp/. See also the repor t of the Secreta ry-General on t he
UnitedNations 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 resolutions2089 (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 UnitedNations and t he League of Arab States at the end of August
2012 ,10 the GeneralA ssembly in resolution67/183 of 20 December 2012 welcomed the ap-
pointment of the new Joint Special Representative of the UnitedNations and the Leag ue of
Arab States for Syria, Mr.Lak hdar Brahimi. In t he same resolution, the GeneralAssembly,
interalia, 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-
lution19/22,11 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 ionallaw.
Subsequently, in General Assembly resolution 67/262 of 15 May 2013, the
GeneralA ssembly, inter alia, rear med its support for the mission of the Joint Special
Representative of the UnitedNations 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 biologicalweapons.
c. Syrian A rab Republic and Israel
e UnitedNations Disengagement Observer Force (UN DOF) was established by
Security Cou ncil resolution350 (1974) of 31 March 1974.12 e Security Council renewed
the mandate of UNDOF by resolutions 2108 (2013) of 27June 2013 and 2131 (2013) of
18 December 2013.13 In resolution2131 (2013), the Securit y Council, interalia, 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 ForcesAgreement.
10 See UnitedNations 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 dNations 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.
To continue reading
Request your trial