Different operational contexts, in particular serious violation of human rights, national reconciliation

The resolutions of SC ido not have as their own specific or exclusive object the authorization of an operation of a regional organization. They have a wider scope; 5 they deal with situations classed by the Council as a threat or a violation of peace, in which the Council shall exercise the same powers that derive generally from the Charter applying to the Member within the framework of regional organizations. Acting under Chapter VII (and not Chapter VIII), the Council authorizes the deployment of an operation maintained by the States, as well as operational activities including enforcement actions in the context of the operations; the latter, therefore, are placed in their context – just like an expression of the General Assembly – “under the authority” of the Council. 6 As such, they perform tasks of various types contained in the constitutional acts and, consequently, guarantee regulatory principles implicitly or expressly referred to in those acts.Above all, the reference to Chapter VII is indicative of the seriousness of the situation. Therefore, the resolutions in questions are to be understood in the light of their contents and of the relevant operational context; on this basis it is possible to understand the effects of those resolutions. 8 In other words, that reference should encourage us to focus on the authorizations to use the force made possible by themselves; namely on the reasons of those authorizations, 9 on the rules of international law which come into play in the context in question, on the role played by the UN in dealing with such operations, characterized by the strong presence of Member States of the organizations concerned (e.g., Nigeria compared to the operation of ECOWAS in Sierra Leone, France in Artemis in the Congo, in Chad/CAR and in Mali) by the strong presence of States extraneous to the regional organization (e.g. the U.S. compared to the ECOWAS operation in Liberia, second phase; the initial large French presence in the operation in Côte d’Ivoire); ultimately, about the reasons for authorizations on the basis of their operational contexts.