United Nations Security Council New York, 21 June 2005
Statement by HE Mr Allan Rock Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict
(Check aginst delivery)
Mr. President,
I am pleased to address the Council on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. At the outset I would like to reaffirm our strong support for the call to action that we have heard today from Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland.
Our governments continue to attach the highest importance to the protection of civilians in armed conflict, and the attention that this Council has rightly focussed on increasing the physical and legal security of war affected populations.
Last December, our governments highlighted six key issues that should form the basis of future Council action on protection issues. These included: putting a greater emphasis on conflict prevention; systematically pursuing lessons learned on civilian protection mandates in the past; strengthening monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for targeted sanctions; more pro-active engagement on the issue of natural resources and armed conflict; and reinforcing the capacity of country teams to respond to protection concerns. In addition, we placed important emphasis on the need for this Council to reach agreement on how it will apply Chapter 7 in response to attacks against civilians, particularly in internal conflict, consistent with resolution 1265 adopted in 1999.
We continue to believe that these issues must be the focus of Council efforts in the months ahead, and be reflected in the Secretary-General�€™s next report. Today however, we will focus on a small number of additional concerns that have been noted by Mr. Egeland.
Mr. President,
The appalling and endemic use of sexual abuse and violence as a weapon of war demands our urgent attention. It is clear from what we have seen in the horror of Bosnia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone and what is evident today in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, that a more robust and better coordinated international response is required.
States affected by conflict, their justice systems and local communities should be engaged as a matter of priority to ensure that perpetrators of sexual violence are brought to justice. The international community can do more to marshal and coordinate support for local-level judicial reform, capacity building and the overall strengthening of the rule of law as a critical investment. In this respect, we strongly support the proposed Peacebuilding Commission, we note the good work of the Challenges Peace Operations Project on these issues and we look forward to the finalisation of its Phase II report later this year. Where serious crimes amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide cannot or will not be addressed locally, the International Criminal Court becomes the appropriate forum to turn to.
In addition, UN agencies and other humanitarian, development and human rights agencies must strengthen their efforts to promote prevention of sexual exploitation and increase accountability, including within their own work. We also believe it would be useful for OCHA and DPKO to consider how UN Peace Support Operations with protection of civilians mandates might be better designed to ensure greater physical security for women and children at risk of sexual or gender-based violence. We must look to troop contributing countries to follow through on the work initiated by Prince Zeid and the Special Committee on Peacekeeping, to ensure that peacekeepers do not contribute to gender-based violence and that individual peacekeepers are held accountable if they commit such acts.
Mr. President,
As we have seen in recent months, regional organizations can play an important role in providing timely, appropriate and effective responses to protection crises. The leadership that the African Union has shown in Darfur is an example of what may be possible in this respect. We encourage continued strong links between the UN and regional organizations on civilian protection issues. The international community must make concerted efforts to build and enhance regional crisis response capacity, including through political, material and financial support where required.
We must continue to recognize that key elements of the civilian protection agenda have important regional dimensions, such as the abduction, recruitment and use of boys and girls as child soldiers, and forced displacement.
As was evident in West Africa, failure to effectively put our collective resources into DDRprogrammes that assist in the reintegration and rehabilitation of children renders them vulnerable to re-recruitment with consequences for national and regional stability. In this regard, Mr. President, I would like to draw the Council�€™s attention to the domestic and regional implications of the continued abduction and recruitment of children in Northern Uganda. That region presents a continuing tragic cycle of displacement, violence and child abduction, an appalling situation that has lasted for almost 20 years. We urge the Security Council to request continuing reports on the humanitarian and human rights realities in Uganda, and to look for the appropriate moment, Mr. President, to put this conflict on its agenda, so it might explore all possible means to hasten the day when the violence stops.
Mr. President,
We strongly support Mr. Egeland�€™s emphasis on the rights and needs of internally displaced persons. Their deliberate dispossession is among the most visible and devastating symptoms of conflict today. We reaffirm the responsibility of governments in the first instance to ensure the needs of IDPs on their territory are met, including by facilitating safe and unhindered access for humanitarian agencies. Certainly the Guiding Principles provide a useful framework, and the international community has a key supporting role to play.
In this regard, the capacity of UN country teams and other agencies must be enhanced, so they can better respond to the protection and assistance needs of the displaced. We fully endorse the emphasis the Secretary-General put on strengthening UN field capacity and on the �€œcollaborative approach�€? in his report �€œIn Larger Freedom�€?.
Where they exist, peace operations can play an important role in helping to provide stability and build the confidence of the civilian populations, including the displaced. This can help reduce the impetus for people to feel compelled to flee, and increase their comfort in returning or reintegrating within their country. The AU has done this effectively in Darfur, as is the UN in DRC, and we should carefully explore the types of training that can be provided to civilian police and military to further enhance their effectiveness in performing such functions. This means that a peace operation must be framed and equipped to take a holistic approach. Where the operations take place in the context of a collapsed or disrupted State there may be a need to fill some capacity vacuum on an interim basis through the international community. The issues of how to properly deal with law enforcement responsibilities need to be adequately addressed from the outset of the mission, both from an operational and legal perspective.
Mr. President,
This year has been a difficult one for the dedicated UN staff and humanitarian personnel that work tirelessly in the field to help those in greatest need. The kidnappings of UN and NGO staff in Afghanistan are regrettably only the most recent reminder that those who seek to protect civilians urgently need our support if they are to continue their work. All parties to conflict must respect the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence which governs the efforts of these agencies. It is imperative that they also be allowed to advocate on behalf of conflict-affected populations, and not fear reprisals from governments for raising concerns about violations of international law.
In addition to condemning attacks against those who perpetrate violence against aid staff, this Council can take concrete action by encouraging the General Assembly to rapidly reach a conclusion on the expansion of the scope of the 1994 Convention for the Protection of United Nations and Associated Personnel, and remove the �€œexceptional risk�€? requirement, so that it can cover all UN and other Associated staff whose work, by its very nature, renders them vulnerable to attack. Every day that we spend deliberating on the scope of a new legal instrument puts them at further risk.
Mr President,
We welcome the progress report provided by Under-Secretary-General Egeland on improving monitoring and reporting of protection of civilians. This work must continue. In addition, we urge him to continue to use his office to bring civilian protection concerns to the Council�€™s and our collective attention. This includes situations on which the Council may not yet formally be seized
Our message is in the end quite simple -we must continue to move forward robustly on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
We call on the Security Council to commit itself to continue to fulfill the protection of civilians agenda as a priority, and to expand consideration to issues that were not identified five years ago. Those issues we outlined in December and today must continue to be addressed as part of deliberations on the development of multidimensional responsibility in integrated mission mandates, and should moreover be reflected in a new Security Council resolution on Protection of Civilians. We look forward to discussion of these elements in greater depth in coming months.
Thank you, Mr. President.