Part II Commentaries to Typical Sofa Rules, 9 Civilian Components

Subject(s):

Diplomatic immunity — Military assistance — Military matters

This chapter addresses the civilian components accompanying Visiting Forces. For these components, the privileges and immunities of the UN and those specific of the mission apply. This mission immunity is essential for an impartial and effective performance of the specific UN mandate, which is ‘a prerequisite for the success of the mission’. The legal framework for these privileges and immunities has to be sought in Art. 105 of the UN Charter, which consecrates the principle that the UN officials shall enjoy in the territory of each of its members such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the fulfilment of UN purposes in order to be independent in the exercise of their functions. On the other hand, the 1946 Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations has not come to bring a common understanding on to whom it applies when peacekeepers are involved.