United Nations Involvement in Post-conflict Reconstruction Efforts: New and Continuing Challenges in the Case of East Timor

This commentary is intended to contextualise and expand upon Hansjoerg Strohmeyer’s article in this issue of the University of New South Wales Law Journal on post-conflict reconstruction of the judicial system in East Timor.* 1 In this commentary, I provide a brief overview of the history of United Nations (‘UN’) involvement in the governance of post-conflict societies generally, and describe some of the specific difficulties both new and continuing encountered by the UN mission in East Timor in responding to the challenge of creating a fair, transparent and effective judicial system as a critical part of its peace-building efforts in that country.