A United Nations fact-finding mission, also called a United Nations commission of inquiry, is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

mission carried out with the intention to discover facts. Fact-finding missions have been sent by the UN to a number of conflict areas over the past 50 years, on a case-by-case basis. There are legal and political parameters for fact-finding, which provide a basis for more a comprehensive use of this tool, particularly by the

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

History

Fact-finding was first established during the

Hague Convention of 1907 The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were amon ...

, which dealt with international commissions of inquiry.

Declaration

The draft declaration, was adopted without a vote by a Special United Nations Committee at the end of a three-week sessions in New York held 4–22 February 1991. On 9 December 1991, the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

adopted resolution 46/59; ''Declaration on Fact-finding by the United Nations in the Field of the Maintenance of International Peace and Security''. The resolution emphasized "...that the ability of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security depends to a large extent on its acquiring detailed knowledge about the factual circumstances of any dispute or situation" and "...to encourage States to bear in mind the role that competent organs of the United Nations can play in ascertaining the facts in relation to disputes or situations."

Characteristics

The declaration that defines and institutionalizes the use of such missions states that it is not only a tool to gather information, but also to signal concern over a potentially explosive situation. It states that fact-finding should be comprehensive,

objective Objective may refer to: * Objectivity, the quality of being confirmed independently of a mind. * Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope * ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film * Objective pronoun, a personal pron ...

impartial Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over anothe ...

, and

timely __NOTOC__ Punctuality is the characteristic of completing a required task or fulfilling an obligation before or at a previously designated time based on job requirements and or daily operations. "Punctual" is often used synonymously with "on ti ...

. It should be used at the earliest possible stage to prevent disputes. Fact-finding missions may be undertaken by the

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

, the General Assembly and the Secretary-General, with the consent of the "receiving State". Nations, however, are asked to receive and cooperate with these missions. Refusals to do so should be explained.

Role of the Secretary-General

The

should monitor conflicts which may threaten international peace and security, and bring relevant information to the attention of the Council. He should be able to mount an emergency mission in case of need. The Secretariat's early warning capability should be enhanced. The ''Secretary General's Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons'', requests the Secretary-General to carry out investigations in response to reports that may be brought to his attention by any

member state A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

concerning the possible use of chemical, biological or toxin weapons. The Security Council encourages the Secretary-General to carry out promptly investigations in response to these allegations brought to his attention by any Member State.{{cite news, date=9 December 1991, title=Relating to the Secretary General's Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons, publisher=UNODA, location=New York, url=https://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Secretary-General_Mechanism/general_resolutions/, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026181350/http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Secretary-General_Mechanism/general_resolutions/, archive-date=26 October 2013, accessdate=5 May 2014

Relation to the International Criminal Court

There is also a range of fact-finding procedures in the

relating to serious violations of human rights and

International humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...

, as well as fact-finding on the

crimes of aggression In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s and

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

which is carried out by the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

. Professor Lyal S. Sunga discusses how UN human rights special procedures fact-finding can help the International Criminal Court find facts and how the two should be made complementary.Lyal S. Sunga, "How Can UN Human Rights Special Procedures Sharpen ICC Fact-Finding?" 15(2) ''The International Journal of Human Rights'' (2011) 187–204.

References