The governments of the Western Hemipshere ask more and more of the armed forces on a regular basis. In some instances they are sent overseas for peackeeping and stabilization missions. In Latin America, the armed forces are increasingly called upon to provide support to the police in very complex environmenbts, and in some jurisdictions take over public security altogether. With the exception of the military police units the use of force paradigm utilized by military forces is designed to defeat an adversary under the legal framework of international humanitarian law (IHL) otherwise known as the law of armed conflict (LOAC). Many of these new mission sets described above take place outside of war and thus outside of IHL/LOAC. This reality presents a series of challenges for armed forces as related to both accountability and the management of general military operations and conduct.
