A/HRC/14/24 G. United Nations peacekeeping and multinational force operations 78. The United Nations currently deploys more peacekeepers than at any other time in its history. Some peacekeeping missions, like the one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have very strong mandates to protect civilians, use armed force and support the national military. Missions are also increasingly mandated to perform a range of activities, from active combat to development, justice reform and human rights monitoring. Recent years have also seen an increase in regional and international multinational force deployments, including where multinational forces are a party to an armed conflict (as in Iraq or Afghanistan). 79. In almost all cases, the various international missions I have encountered have been very cooperative and I have benefited from their knowledge and their facilities. This has been true even when my mandate has required me to scrutinize relevant aspects of the work of those missions.36 The increased use and changing nature of peacekeeping and multinational force operations raise many questions with respect to the human rights and humanitarian law obligations of international forces, and accountability for violations of those obligations. The development of practical standards necessary to answer many such questions is still at an early stage.37 My experience indicates that research could usefully focus on the following issues: (a) Participation in peacekeeping and multinational force operations by militaries accused of human rights and humanitarian law abuses: (i) When, and under what conditions, if any, should such an accused military unit be excluded from regional or international peacekeeping operations or other military engagements? (ii) How should the international community respond to credible allegations that a military contingent in a peacekeeping or multinational force operation committed human rights or humanitarian law abuses? What constitutes a “credible” allegation? How should investigations be conducted, and by whom? (b) United Nations obligations with respect to the national militaries it supports (i) Where support is provided to a national military, what are the obligations of the United Nations when the former engages in alleged human rights or humanitarian law abuses? At what point does the United Nations become complicit in, or legally responsible for, the abuses committed? (ii) What forms of conditionality are most effective and should be used as the basis for United Nations support for a national military? How can public transparency of conditions be secured? What steps should the United Nations take to ensure that conditions are met, and what should be done if conditions are violated? (iii) Which United Nations agency should be tasked with an independent investigation of abuse allegations? Should there be a separate and independent United Nations human rights investigative entity? What level of investigation is required? 36 37 A/HRC/11/2/Add.3 and 4 and A/HRC/14/24/Add.3. See, for example, the excellent 2005 report of Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein on sexual exploitation by peacekeepers (A/59/710). 19