Definition of UNPROFOR Bosnia mission, 1994

This definition of the scope of the UNPROFOR mission, as defined in a 1994 UN resolution, with regard to civilians is noteworthy because its stated aim is to “protect the civilian populations of the designated safe areas against armed attacks and other hostile acts.” The ethnically neutral reference to “populations,” in the plural, raises the question whether Serbian residents of UN-protected enclaves or those living in their proximity were also envisioned to be beneficiaries of protection “against armed attacks and other hostile acts,” as set forth in the UNPROFOR mission statement.

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,HRW,,BIH,3ae6a7d48,0.html#_ftn19

The role of the U.N. in the “safe areas” has been mired in confusion since the areas’ inception. The Security Council resolutions establishing the six “safe areas” provided for the placement of U.N. troops within the areas but left unclear whether force could be used to protect the enclaves and their population from attack or whether U.N. troops could use force only for their own self-defense. A subsequent resolution[15] stated that UNPROFOR was mandated to “deter attacks against the safe areas.” A May 1994 report by the U.N. Secretary-General[16] made clear that U.N. troops were authorized to use force to protect the “safe areas” but that, due to a lack of troops, the U.N. could not guarantee the defense of the “safe areas.” The U.N. estimated that it would need 34,000 troops, “to ensure full respect for the ‘safe areas,’” but it assumed that only an initial force of 7,600 would be available.[17] According to U.N. officials in the field,[18] only 3,500 were eventually deployed and only a few hundred of those were deployed in Srebrenica. This made it nearly impossible to fend off any attacks, if only U.N. troops were used. U.N. commanders have generally interpreted their mandate narrowly, claiming that U.N. troops could use force only to protect themselves, not the civilian population, within the “safe areas.” The aforementioned report by the secretary- general states: “UNPROFOR understands its mission [within the safe areas] as follows:

To protect the civilian populations of the designated safe areas against armed attacks and other hostile acts, through the presence of its troops and, if necessary, through the application of air power, in accordance with agreed procedure.”[19]

[19] U.N. Security Council, “Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to Resolution 844 (1993),” S/1994/555, May 9, 1994, p. 5.