How Can International Institutions Be Improved to Ensure Accountability and Justice for Violations That Occur in Humanitarian and Counter-Terrorism Operations?

View/ Open
PhD Thesis (3.187Mb)
Download
Publication date
2021Author
Sarwar, Fiez I.Supervisor
Elfving, SannaEmeseh, Engobo
Keyword
AfghanistanIraq
Palestine
Syria
Libya
International Humanitarian Law
Counter-Terrorism Operations
International Criminal Court
United Nations
9/11
United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
International peace
International security
Rights

The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
Institution
University of BradfordDepartment
Faculty of Management, Law and Social SciencesAwarded
2021
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The thesis purports to assess the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in maintaining international peace and security and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in prosecuting individuals who have committed severe violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international law, during humanitarian and counter-terrorism operations. The thesis endeavours to highlight the failures of both institutions, firstly, the UNSC being unable to fulfil its institutional mandate, which is mainly attributed to the abuse of veto privileges granted to the five permanent members (P5). This has effectively allowed individuals from the militaries of the P5 and their allies elude criminal liability, promoting a culture of impunity. The UNSC’s failure to prevent P5 members use of unauthorised military force in pursuing counter-terrorism operations and interpose expeditiously in humanitarian crises, have also contributed to the erosion of the institutions’ legitimacy, which is further perpetuated by the USA’s continued ‘War on Terror’ doctrine after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Secondly, the ICC’s inability to prosecute individuals for crimes under the Rome Statute will also be highlighted as the principle of complementarity and the court’s inability to enforce arrest warrants are significant factors contributing to the institutions inability to administer international criminal justice. The thesis draws upon practical examples to substantiate the failures of both institutions by referring to the conflicts in: Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Libya. Before concluding the UNSC and the ICC have become futile, the thesis will then make recommendations for reform and propose a novel solution to restore legitimacy back to both institutions.Type
ThesisQualification name
PhDCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The roles of regional organisations in international peace and security in the post-modern era. The case of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe with the Former Soviet Union Republic States.Not named; Nara, Takako (University of BradfordDepartment of Peace Studies, 2013-11-04)The thesis analyses the systems, dynamics and conditions of international cooperation/non-cooperation in the international community that is embodied through international/regional institutions and organisations. As Robert Cooper describes, the international community consists of the three worlds in which the differences between them may be confrontational in international cooperation. While the post-modern civilisation and values are introduced into the institutions and organisations for international peace and security, the state actors from the pre-modern and modern civilisations and values are vigorously defending the traditional version of state sovereignty. Then, all these are equally the member of the international community and, as Robert Axelrod¿s Prisoner Dilemma game sets, neither state actors nor structural actors of international relations can escape from it. Therefore, it is hoped that, as Axelrod¿s theory suggests, the closed community, in the end, produces cooperation and a positive peace for a better future for all. In the case studies, the OSCE faces a number of non-cooperative state actors, like Russia. An anti-OSCE civilisation exists and is resisting the organisational values, while it is staying in the framework. Thus, the organisation is suffering from defectors and free-riders. Knowing the limitation of the organisation, it still has a space for improvement and a useful function which is to provide a long term process to make a non-cooperate actor cooperative.
-
The fundamentals of global governanceWhitman, Jim R. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)What kind of activity is global governance? What do all of the many sectoral forms of global governance – of the planetary environment, of global finance and global health – have in common? Moving beyond sector-specific studies, this book outlines the fundamentals of global governance in eight chapter-length propositions.
-
Examining the dynamic cascading of international norms through cluster genealogies. 1998 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and Other CasesGreene, Owen J.; Whitman, Jim R.; Sumita, Benita (University of BradfordDivision of Peace Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, 2016)In 1998 the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were developed following years of crises faced by the millions of people experiencing forced displacement, especially those internally displaced. These Principles were widely considered to be precedent setting, both historically and normatively. However, the examination of the construction of the international norms that underpin the Principles indicates that there are important epistemological weaknesses in widely used constructivist frameworks that understand normative shifts in international relations. They are critiqued as being impedingly linear, temporally compressed and analytically obstructive in its agent-centric view of norm cascading. This research aims to address some of these gaps with an enhanced life-cycle model using cluster genealogies and the processes of replication and particularization. The reformulated framework is tested for robustness and feasibility using two preliminary cases – UNSC Resolution 1325 and the Chemical Weapons Convention. It is then used to conduct an in-depth original analysis of the development of the 1998 UN Guiding Principles. The findings in the case of the Guiding Principles show, for example, that though the acceptance of the IDP definition was a big leap, the replication and particularization of human rights limits the humanitarian scope of the Guiding Principles, and also brings into question existing humanitarian protection of IDPs under the Geneva Conventions. Meanwhile, rooting them in ‘sovereignty as responsibility’ has not shifted the community of states’ intersubjective take on sovereignty, but it has added to the existing normative tension – individual vs. state – that underpins the very understanding of sovereignty.