The Compatibility of the International Humanitarian Law on International Peace Forces

Abstract

The United Nations has resorted to developing a mechanism to stop armed conflicts and reach a peaceful settlement to them. They are the International Peace Forces in order to try to settle armed conflicts. The aim was to allow the conflicting parties to reach a peaceful solution,  and the International Peace Forces (IPF) evolved in terms of their composition or in terms of the tasks they perform. In addition to the first task they undertook, namely the separation of the conflicting forces and the maintenance of the truce, they carry out the tasks of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of combatants into their communities, strengthening the rule of law, enabling the local authority to strengthen its presence and fulfill its responsibilities besides securing elections with the aim to ensure a democratic transition of power, as well as ensuring respect for human rights and protecting civilians in the conflicting zones, carrying out humanitarian work including securing safe passages with the arrival of aid, securing refugees and expelled people. These forces witnessed a great development in terms of the mandates they carry out from peacekeeping to the tasks of peace enforcement; therefore, they carry out combat operations for peace enforcement, which in turn raised the question about the degree of the compatibility between the rules of international humanitarian laws and International Peace Forces. Such a question incited the researcher to  answer it through inducing and analyzing significant texts, and he reached to a number of results, among of which is : International Peace Forces uses the armed forces in some of their tasks  as being a part of armed conflict in the tasks of carrying out peace, and in turn, The United Nations must adopt decisions that frankly state that International Peace Forces should be compatible with the rules of humanitarian law.