The Privatisation of ‘the Core Business of un Peacekeeping Operations’: Any Legal Limit?

The purpose of the present analysis is to investigate whether the law of collective security could play a normative function in the determination of which services may or may not be outsourced in the context of un peacekeeping operations. The key question is whether pmscs should only perform those activities instrumental to the life of the un, or should also cover those functions that are a direct expression of the competences attributed to it for the maintenance of international peace and security. The point is made that since peacekeeping is aimed at preserving fundamental values of the international community, peace and increasingly human rights, pmscs might play a part in it, but only in a secondary way.