(Il)legality of killing peacekeepers: The crime of attacking peacekeepers in the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals

On 28 March 2013, the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted Resolution 2089 extending the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and creating the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB)çthe first-ever offensive combat unitwithin the structure of a peacekeepingmission.The establishment of the Brigadehas raised a numberof political and legal controversies, one ofwhich iswhether, and underwhat circumstances, attacking peacekeepers operating under robust mandates entails individual criminal responsibility under international law. The UN press release issued after the combat death of a Tanzanian FIB member, although condemnatory, did not classify the attack as criminal, implying that hemay have been a lawful target. In the future, such robust peacekeepingmandates are likely to become more common, raising questions about the boundaries of international humanitarian law for 'peacekeepers', and the scope of the international criminal law prohibition on attacking them.This article addresses those questions through the jurisprudence of the ad hoc tribunals, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court. Unfortunately, existing jurisprudence fails to adequately accommodate the possibility of peacekeepers becoming parties to the conflict.This article proposes a functional approach based on participation in offensive operations.