AbstractEver since the Security Council decided for the first time to send armed forces into a troubled area, the question has remained open as to whether such peace-keeping or peace-enforcement contingents were required to comply with international humanitarian law when they had to use force. The ICRC has always argued in favour of the applicability of that body of law, in particular the 1949 Geneva Conventions, to operations conducted under the control of the United Nations. Under the title « Observance by United Nations forces of international humanitarian law» the United Nations Secretary-General has now issued a set of fundamental principles and rules of international humanitarian law applicable to forces conducting operations under United Nations command and control. The text is given below.