International solidarity. UN, NATO and EU peace operations

Abstract

The idea of solidarity has been inscribed in the international system. Its legal mechanisms are operations defined in Chapters VI and VII of the Char- ter of the United Nations. They are operations required whenever peace and security are threatened: peacekeeping operations (undertaken under article 40 for provisional measures of the UN Charter) and humanitarian interventions (warranted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter). In 1990s humanitarian intervention was thought to be the main means of solidarity. Peacekeeping operations – carried out in a fossilized, cold-war form that was not adapted to new conditions – were underestimated. The fiasco of the humanitarian inter- ventions in Somalia and Rwanda as well as a reformulation of the mandate of peacekeeping operations (expanding the tasks of soldiers and giving them the right to use power in situations other than self-defence for the purpose of the mission fulfilment) standardised the evaluation of effectiveness of the two international operations. The 2001 and 2003 abuses of the right to humanitar- ian intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in a limited international approval of such interventions in favour of peacekeeping operations. The use of peace operations was additionally encouraged by the successful reform of UN peacekeeping missions and the intensification of peacekeeping operations, carried out by the following regional and sub-regional organizations: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union (EU), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Or- ganization of American States (OAS), the African Union (AU), The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) , the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In recent years, the peacekeeping operations have been a primary means of reaction to military conflicts and a primary form the international community have been choosing to express the international solidarity. In this context – and from the perspective of the effectiveness the idea of solidarity have been implemented with – it is important to determine the posi- tion of the operations for ensuring respect for personal rights and freedoms of people – that are a quintessence of solidarity – in the conglomerate of actions offered by peacekeeping missions. The analyses presented in this volume follow the evolution of UN, NATO and EU peacekeeping operations, and examine Polish participation in the operations to confirm the conclusions they lead to.