Evaluating the Conflicting Interests in the United Nations: Comparative Analysis of UN Resolutions Policy Output Regarding Conflict-Related Violence (CRSV)

Introduction

The UN Charter clearly states the UN’s goal to promote and encourage respect for human rights. Furthermore, according to Article 101 of the Charter, all personnel must act according to the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity (Liivoja, 2008). In addition to the guidelines set in the UN Charter, peacekeeping efforts since the end of the Cold War have increasingly received more robust mandates to use weapons, partly to enable stronger protection of the civilian population (Kirschner & Miller, 2019). The UN identifies peacekeeping efforts as one of the most important tools for maintaining international peace and security (UNSC, 2018). However, peacekeeping operations whose personnel commit criminal violations and abuses of human rights, mainly through sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, have been well-documented for many years (Burke, 2017). Several reports have pointed to peacekeepers’ involvement in the trafficking, rape, and sexual abuse of minors and adults (O’Brien, 2011; Smith, 2017; Westendorf & Searle, 2017). The accusations surrounding the abuses have shocked the international community, demanding action (Nguyen, 2015). The UN has been singled out as responsible for allowing the abuses to occur (Nguyen, 2015). This type of institutional problem within the UN has been demonstrated several times, including when operations in the Central African Republic and Somalia reported allegations of abuse in 2015 and 2014, respectively (Burke, 2017). Critics argue that the phenomenon should be highlighted as part of a problematic institutional culture that prioritizes militarized and patriarchal forms of security (Smith, 2017).

Rather than an institutional problem, the UN’s handling of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse has painted violence as a legitimate problem (Smith, 2017). International organizations, such as the United Nations, must manage external demands to obtain and maintain legitimacy (Bromley & Powell, 2012). Here, legitimacy is defined as the belief or perception within a specific audience that the exercise of authority is appropriate (Tallberg et al., 2018). Many organizations struggle with managing and complying with the external demands placed on the organization, especially when these demands come into conflict with, or jeopardize, benefit-maximizing activities which peacekeeping operations can be considered to be (Bromley & Powell, 2012; UNSC, 2018). When outsiders’ expectations of an organization conflict with management’s interests, organizations may try to gain legitimacy without necessarily changing implementation (MacLEAN & Behnam, 2010). To deal with pressure from outside actors, previous research has shown that organizations such as method adopt formal policies to avoid legal sanctions and public scrutiny (Bromley & Powell, 2012).