Statement by H.E. Robert Hill, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations to the United Nations Security Council on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict
20 November 2007
(As delivered)
Mr. President,
Australia thanks Secretary-General Ban and Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Holmes for their presentations this morning on this very important topic. We also welcome the Secretary-General’s recent report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict which is an important and valuable tool in our collective consideration of this issue.
The protection of civilians must remain an essential objective for the Security Council in the context of contemporary armed conflicts. The death and displacement of innocent men, women and children is an appalling aspect of all conflicts. However, the deliberate targeting of civilians is a particularly heinous aspect of so many contemporary conflicts, including in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan. Girls and boys recruited as child soldiers; civilians as unwitting targets of suicide bombers; families displaced from their homes; sexual violence as a deliberate weapon of war; are all an offence to humanity.
The international community must condemn these atrocities, and recommit to defeating them, in all circumstances. Australia is committed to taking every effort to ensure that civilian life is protected and that international humanitarian law and human rights law are upheld.
Mr President
Beyond our efforts to avoid these atrocities, the international community must demand that parties to conflict allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need. In this regard, we welcome the strong mandates provided by the Council to both the African Union/ United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) to ensure the freedom of movement of humanitarian personnel and to protect civilian populations.
Mr President
We must also do more to implement the “responsibility to protect” principle as endorsed at the 2005 World Summit. This was an important affirmation of the responsibility of the international community to take action to prevent large-scale gross human rights abuses and genocide, and a clear, and suitably constrained, statement on the limits of sovereignty.
Now we must develop a practical approach to implement the responsibility to protect. To this end, Australia will become a founding donor of the new Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. The Centre will build a worldwide research network; develop strategy; and help coordinate advocacy, to identify, prevent or respond to circumstances where populations are threatened. We also welcome the Secretary-General’s intention to appoint Professor Edward Luck as his Special Advisor for the Responsibility to Protect.
Mr President
Australia would like to re-affirm the Secretary-General’s call for Member States to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court. If we are to ensure that the perpetrators of the world’s most egregious crimes are denied a safe haven, we must step up our collective efforts to promote universality of the Rome Statute. In that regard, Australia urges those States who have not ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute to do so.
The International Criminal Court plays a crucial role in ending impunity for serious crimes. In January this year, the Court confirmed charges of war crimes against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a former Congolese militia leader. We await his trial, the first ever before the International Criminal Court, due to start in March 2008. Australia welcomes and commends the recent action by the Government of the DRC to surrender Germain Katanga to the International Criminal Court. This provides a good example of the results that can be achieved with the cooperation of the situation country.
Australia joins the international community in calling upon the Government of Sudan to cooperate with the International Criminal Court. In particular, we urge the Government of Sudan to take all steps to arrest Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmad Harun, and militia leader Ali Kushayb and transfer them to the Court for trial.
Mr President
As the Secretary-General pointed out in his report, a further key challenge is the need to eliminate the unacceptable humanitarian impact of certain types of cluster munitions. Explosive remnants of war, including unexploded cluster munitions, pose a serious humanitarian danger to civilians who must live amongst them long after the end of the armed conflict. Australia welcomes the entry into force of Protocol V to the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention, on explosive remnants of war. Australia joined this instrument earlier this year, and we urge all States to join and implement this important instrument as soon as possible.
Australia also recognises the pressing need to negotiate an international ban on those cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. In this regard, we are active and constructive participants in the Oslo process and the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention. We believe that these processes can be complementary with the same aim of negotiating a strong, viable instrument which include the major producers and users of cluster munitions, and which will make a real difference in protecting civilians in post-conflict situations.
Mr President
In conclusion, we must build on the Secretary-General’s recent report and maintain the momentum to keep these issues at the front and centre of our work. Collectively, we must ensure that populations at risk have access at all times to the greatest protection possible, that perpetrators of abuse are held accountable for their actions, and that advocacy, monitoring and capacity building deliver real results and make a positive difference in people’s lives.
This Council, and indeed the international community as a whole, will be judged on our ability to protect the most vulnerable. It is a challenge that we simply must meet. Thank you Mr. President.