Spaces of Violence and (In)justice in Haiti: A Critical Legal Geography Perspective on Rape, UN Peacekeeping, and the United Nations Status of Forces Agreement

The UN has no standing military forces and borrows troops and police to create UN peacekeeping forces for deployment into emergency situations. The countries that contribute these forces retain jurisdictional control over those individuals, such that neither the UN nor the state receiving peacekeeping forces may prosecute them for alleged crimes committed while they are deployed. This paper examines spaces of violence associated with the rape of civilians by UN peacekeeping forces in Haiti. We consider how the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), by which troop-contributing countries retain jurisdiction over their troops, create legal spaces in which victims and their home countries are marginalized from legal procedure and justice. A critical legal geography perspective, and insights on the practical application of jurisdiction provide a useful lens for assessing assemblages of violence and the spatial dissonance of justice illustrated by two case studies of civilian rape by UN peacekeeping forces. Although this legal arrangement makes sense according to the logic of international security, we conclude that the legal framework of UN SOFAs should be reconsidered to increase the potential for justice for survivors of rape by peacekeepers.