ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the Council's decisions with regard to northern Iraq, and the subsequent transition from the coalition intervention to the deployment of the United Nations Guards Contingent in Iraq (UNGCI), reveal a significant reluctance among many of the Council's members to take any action that violated Iraq's sovereign rights. The consequent emphasis on international law and respect for Iraqi sovereignty led to the consent-based deployment of the United Nations (UN) Guards. In this case, the principle of consent created three different opportunities; it allows the UN into Iraq to assist the refugees, supported by the members of the Security Council; it allows the coalition states to meet the political objectives of limiting the deployment time of their troops while also withdrawing from Iraq secure in the knowledge that the Iraqi government's ability to persecute the Kurds was reduced; finally, it allows the Iraqi government to influence the nature of the UN humanitarian program in Iraq.
