United Nations Personnel Act 1997

4 Meaning of UN worker.U.K.

(1)For the purposes of this Act a person is a UN worker, in relation to an alleged offence, if at the time of the alleged offence—

(a)he is engaged or deployed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as a member of the military, police or civilian component of a UN operation,

(b)he is, in his capacity as an official or expert on mission of the United Nations, a specialised agency of the United Nations or the International Atomic Energy Agency, present in an area where a UN operation is being conducted,

(c)he is assigned, with the agreement of an organ of the United Nations, by the Government of any State or by an international governmental organisation to carry out activities in support of the fulfilment of the mandate of a UN operation,

(d)he is engaged by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a specialised agency or the International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out such activities, or

(e)he is deployed by a humanitarian non-governmental organisation or agency under an agreement with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, with a specialised agency or with the International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out such activities.

(2)Subject to [F1subsections (3) and (3A)], in this section “UN operation” means an operation—

(a)which is established, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, by an organ of the United Nations,

(b)which is conducted under the authority and control of the United Nations, and

(c)which—

(i)has as its purpose [F2a purpose mentioned in subsection (2A)], or

(ii)has, for the purposes of the Convention, been declared by the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations to be an operation where there exists an exceptional risk to the safety of the participating personnel.

[F3(2A)The purposes referred to in subsection (2)(c)(i) are—

(a)maintaining or restoring international peace and security;

(b)delivering humanitarian, political or development assistance in peacebuilding;

(c)delivering emergency humanitarian assistance.]

(3)In this section “UN operation” does not include any operation—

(a)which is authorised by the Security Council of the United Nations as an enforcement action under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,

(b)in which UN workers are engaged as combatants against organised armed forces, and

(c)to which the law of international armed conflict applies.

[F4(3A) In this section “ UN operation” also does not include any operation in respect of which a declaration is made in accordance with Article II (3) of the Optional Protocol (opt-out for operation to deliver emergency humanitarian assistance in response to natural disaster). ]

(4)In this section—

• “the Convention” means the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9th December 1994;

• [F5“the Optional Protocol” means the Optional Protocol to the Convention adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 8 December 2005;] and

• “ specialised agency ” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 57 of the Charter of the United Nations.

(5)If, in any proceedings, a question arises as to whether—

(a) a person is or was a UN worker, or

(b) an operation is or was a UN operation,

a certificate issued by or under the authority of the Secretary of State and stating any fact relating to the question shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.