Atribuição da responsabilidade internacional às Nações Unidas e aos Estados pela prática de atos de abuso e de exploração sexual nas operações de peacekeeping

Abstract

This master’s degree dissertation aims at imputing International Responsibility for illicit acts to both the United Nations Organization and Troop Contributing Countries in the context of Peacekeeping Operations. According to the International Law, any illicit act by an International Organization or State means that a) the act should be considered as a violation of an international obligation; and b) the act lays on them, according to the terms of International Law. Peacekeeping missions share international obligations which emanate from the countries whose soldiers are involved in these missions and the United Nations Organization, under cover of the international law. Concerning the soldiers‟ behaviour and the illicit act and also because of their dual status, some considerations on the criteria of effective control are needed. In fact, the International Responsibility depends on the nature of the sexual acts committed against women by the peacekeepers. Supported by the effective control test and external social factors which justify the unlawful character of the sexual acts, the dual imputation of the conduct to the United Nations Organization and the countries involved, seems to be the appropriate solution. Of course a circumstantial analysis on the conduct is also essential in order to find out the responsible collective entity for the offender. In what concerns the methodology, a set of deductive methods was used with the purpose of giving a practical applicability on the attribution of the responsibility and therefore allowing to clear up the human dimension of the problem.

Date of Award	17 Jun 2017
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Isabel Tavares (Supervisor)