Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission

The report of the Ad Hoc Committee on criminal accountability of officials and experts on mission addresses the issue of criminal responsibility of United Nations officials and experts on mission participating in peacekeeping operations. The work of the Committee is part of the Agenda Item  entitled “Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects”.

The report takes note of the circumstances and legal gaps that make difficult to ascertain criminal responsibility of agents and officials for serious crimes (such as sexual exploitation and abuses). The jurisdictional immunity granted to United Nations agents is one of these circumstances. As noted by the report, the legal regime of the different categories of peacekeeping personnel, which enjoy jurisdictional immunity from criminal proceedings, is established in the 1946 Conventions of Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and in the Status of force agreements (SOFAs).

The report stresses that if the host State believed that a member of a peacekeeping operation had committed a crime, it shall inform the Special Representative of the Secretary-General. If the Special Representative held the view that criminal proceedings should be instituted, the Representative would refer the case to Headquarters. The question would then be considered by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Office of Legal Affairs and other relevant offices. The authority to waive immunities rests on the Secretary General that had delegated it to the Legal Council