Jurisdicción universal: alternativa al régimen de responsabilidad penal de personal militar de Naciones Unidas en misiones de mantenimiento de paz

Abstract

Universal jurisdiction has a contemporary connotation, but it has been used for years in the jurisdictional problems of States. This principle extends the punitive right to any state to judge international crimes without the need to have requirements such as the territoriality of the norm or that the crime is committed within the sovereignty of the state. Peacekeeping operations have been criticized for the numerous cases of sexual abuse and exploitation that have occurred since the beginning of these operations; United Nations personnel have jurisdictional immunity that prevents them from being subjected to ordinary justice and, actually, no criminal responsibility regime has been established for these cases. From a socio-legal research, the principle of universal jurisdiction is analyzed as an alternative, investigation, persecution and trial to the ordinary regulations of criminal responsibility in order to reveal this problem that affects society in general. The analysis carried out focuses on the operations deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti, it shows that the victims of these crimes are mainly women in a state of vulnerability. Sexual violence against women in these contexts constitutes a crime against humanity, allowing the principle of universal jurisdiction to be activated as a response to the loopholes that exists in the criminal responsibility regime applicable to these subjects.