United Nations Security Council Resolution 816

{{Short description|March 1993 United Nations resolution}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

{{Infobox UN resolution

|number = 816

|organ = SC

|date = 31 March

|year = 1993

|meeting = 3,191

|code = S/RES/816

|document = https://undocs.org/S/RES/816(1993)

|for = 14

|abstention = 1

|against = 0

|subject = Bosnia and Herzegovina

|result = Adopted

|image = Bosnia areas of control Sep 94.jpg

|caption = Areas of control in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994)

}}

United Nations Security Council resolution 816, adopted on 31 March 1993, after reaffirming resolutions 781 (1992), 786 (1992) concerning a ban on military flights over Bosnia and Herzegovina and recognising the current situation in the region, the council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, extended the ban to cover flights by all fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft over the country, and to use all measures necessary to ensure compliance with the ban.{{cite book|last=Sarooshi|first=Danesh|title=The United Nations and the development of collective security: the delegation by the UN Security Council of its Chapter VII powers|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2000|page=268|isbn=978-0-19-829934-9}}

The council went on to note that this ban did not apply to flights destined for use by the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) or for humanitarian reasons. It also requested UNPROFOR to continue to monitor compliance with the ban on flights over Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling on all parties to co-operate with UNPROFOR in the monitoring process.

Addressing member states, the council authorised that after seven days following the adoption of Resolution 816, they should all ensure compliance with this resolution. It also urged member states to co-operate with UNPROFOR with measures they have taken to implement the current resolution and rules of engagement, and in the event of the co-chairmen of the Steering Committee of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia notifying the council that all the Bosnian parties have accepted their proposals on a settlement, the measures set forth in the present resolution will be subsumed into the measures for implementing that settlement.

The resolution concluded by asking the Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to report back to the council on the actions taken by member states to enforce the current resolution.{{cite book|last=Dinstein|first=Yoram|title=War, aggression and self-defence|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2005|edition=4th|page=312|isbn=978-0-521-85080-3}}

Resolution 816 was adopted by 14 votes to none, with one abstention from China, due to its reservations about the authorisation of the use of force.{{cite book|last=Russett|first=Bruce M.|author2=Hurd, Ian|title=The once and future security council|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|date=1997|page=[https://archive.org/details/oncefuturesecuri00bruc/page/91 91]|isbn=978-0-312-16556-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oncefuturesecuri00bruc/page/91}}

Based upon Resolution 816, NATO began Operation Deny Flight on 12 April 1993 to enforce the no-fly zone.{{cite web |last1=Beale |first1=Michael O. |title=Bombs over Bosnia The Role of Airpower in Bosnia-Herzegovina |url=https://media.defense.gov/2017/Dec/27/2001861494/-1/-1/0/T_0013_BEALE_BOMBS_OVER_BOSNIA.PDF |publisher=Air University Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526063617/https://media.defense.gov/2017/Dec/27/2001861494/-1/-1/0/T_0013_BEALE_BOMBS_OVER_BOSNIA.PDF |archive-date=26 May 2024 |pages=19-20 |date=August 1997}}