I.  INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN ARMED CONFLICT: LEGAL SOURCES, PRINCIPLES AND ACTORS the continuing application of both to States participating in United Nations peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations aims at preventing any gap in that protection. For the same reason, it is undeniable that States participating in multinational armed operations approved but not directly under United Nations command are also bound to respect international human rights and humanitarian law. This primary responsibility of the State is in no way affected by the fact that the military operations may have been approved by the United Nations, including by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.32 It could be argued that the Security Council may derogate from obligations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law and that obligations established under such a Security Council resolution would prevail under Article 103 of the Charter.33 Such derogations would, however, need to be explicit and cannot be presumed. On the issue of whether international organizations participating in an armed conflict have human rights and international humanitarian law obligations, there is no clearly established practice. International organizations are not parties to the relevant treaties, but their member States and States contributing troops to peace operations are. In addition, it is argued that the customary law applicable in this field to international organizations is the same as that applicable to States. While the European Court of Human Rights decided in the case of Behrami v. France that human rights violations can be attributed to international organizations, this decision has been highly controversial and may be revisited by the Court in a series of cases before it. In any event, it should be recalled that, as regards the United Nations, the Organization seeks to observe the highest standards of behaviour when conducting   It should be noted that in 2000 the International Law Commission, on the basis of the recommendation of a working group, decided to include the topic of the responsibility of international organizations in its long-term programme of work. It further decided to prepare draft articles on the responsibility of international organizations to be submitted to Member States for their consideration. 33   See, for example, House of Lords, Al-Jedda v. Secretary of State for Defence, 12 December 2007, paras. 35 and 125. 32 29