ABSTRACT
The concept of a UN ‘Legion’, as virtual a reality as it may be, is an integral part of the UN adventure. It is based on the audacious vision that, some day, an armed force could be directly recruited, trained, deployed and placed permanently at the disposal, not just of a state, but of an international organization such as the UN. Reading between the lines of a Charter primarily designed to perpetuate a world order – the balance of power resulting from the Allied Forces’ victory against Nazi Germany at the end of the Second World War – some have seen in the project of a world army, or military force, a logical consequence of the ideals of an organization dedicated to placing force at the service of international law, if not human rights.
