UN Cooperation with Regional Organisations in Peacekeeping Operations: A Legal Perspective

The development of the United Nations (UN), in its first 50 years, shows little or no history of the UN cooperating with regional organisations in peacekeeping operations. In fact, prior to 1990, no single resolution of the Security Council referred to regional organisations. However, from 1991, such references proliferated, and by 1993, the Security Council, in Resolution 866, marked ‘the first peacekeeping mission undertaken by the UN in cooperation with a peacekeeping mission already set up by another organisation’. This chapter discusses the UN cooperation with regional organisations in peacekeeping operations. Particular attention is focused on the legal basis, and the nature and principles emerging from this cooperation.