How Does the un Security Council Control States or Organizations Authorized to Use Force? A Quest for Consistency in the Practice of the un and of Its Member States

Various circumstances have brought about an increase in authorizations by the un Security Council of different types of military operations to be carried out by external actors, on the basis of a prior request by the State hosting the activities, or against that State. This practice raises several problematic issues which are connected with the need to find a proper balance between the interests of the Council and those of the implementing actors, who always act on a voluntary basis. This contribution aims to investigate how the Security Council has organized the sensitive task of monitoring the behaviour of the authorized or delegated institution in order to guarantee consistency between the activities performed and the mandate given. The manner in which the monitoring mechanism is organized is of pivotal importance to prevent abuses and to make the whole exercise more credible and capable of preventing additional disputes, as the recent case of Libya demonstrates. The author reaches the conclusion, on the basis of the practice of the Security Council and of member States, that the need to guarantee a more efficient and sophisticated un mechanism of control has not yet been met, and that there is still much to be done in the interest of transparency and increased overall credibility of un-mandated operations.