GUIDANCE: PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS DEBATE, NOV. 11

UNCLAS STATE 115929 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM UNSC SUBJECT: GUIDANCE: PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS DEBATE, NOV. 11 ¶1. (U) This is an action message. Please see Paragraph 3. ¶2. (U) Mission may draw on the building blocks at paragraph three for the November 11 Security Council high-level debate on the protection of civilians. ¶3. (SBU) Begin Building Blocks: Mr. President, It is now over ten-years since the Security Council first undertook efforts to improve the physical and legal protection of civilians in armed conflict. It recognized that civilians - men, women, girls and boys - accounted for the majority of casualties in conflict-zones. Since then, the Council has adopted at least four resolutions on the subject and the Secretary-General has presented seven reports, with over 100 recommendations on such issues as protection of specific groups, humanitarian access, sexual violence, impunity, the ratification of international instruments, small arms and the role of peacekeeping missions and regional organizations. The resolution the Security Council is now adopting consolidates ten years of study and effort. We thank you, Mr. President, and the Government of Austria, for your leadership on it. We also take this occasion to pay tribute to the hundreds of UN personnel dispatched to war-zones, who have died trying to put our aspirations into practice. As a result of this past decade of UN action, millions of civilians have been saved and assisted through political, peacekeeping, human rights, humanitarian and development efforts. Progress is evident in such places as Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, and several other countries affected by armed conflict. UN-backed mediation on Kenya helped avert further devastating bloodshed. But, also in this decade, the response came too late, fell short, or still has a long way to go. Millions of Congolese died in the last decade as a direct and indirect cause of armed conflict. Hundreds of thousands of Darfurians were butchered in cold blood and millions driven from their homes. The plight of civilians in eastern DRC, Darfur, and elsewhere in North and South Sudan remains precarious and extremely worrying. Somalia and its civilian population remain devastated by decades of violence. Sri Lanka's people are just beginning to recover from over twenty years of conflict and its affects. Insurgent attacks still terrorize civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pakistani civilians today experience one of the world's worst displacement crises. And, the United States remains deeply concerned about the human suffering of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples that result from the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. Unfortunately, far too many civilians remain threatened and victimized by violence. The perpetrators - frequently terrorist and extremist groups, rebels, and other non-state actors - are unmoved by and operate outside of the law. War-torn states often lack the capacity to bring perpetrators to justice and to provide security for their citizens. State security forces lacking necessary training and oversight, as well as state forces integrated with former rebels in the context of peace agreement implementation, themselves can threaten civilians. Both of these problems are evidenced in the case of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). International peacekeepers aim to support a stable peace and supplement local capacity in conflict-affected countries. Some missions have not understood how to effectively protect civilians, especially from physical violence, sexual and gender-based violence, and rape, or had the means to match their challenging mandates. We must do better, and understand the threats to civilians when missions deploy, support efforts to prevent and halt violence if it emerges, and to back up these missions if it does. In some cases, as we have seen, the severity of the threat goes well beyond the capability of UN peacekeeping and requires the Security Council to authorize combat forces to help the host government stabilize the situation and enforce a peace. It is especially important that military forces undertaking such action abide by the Geneva Conventions, whose 60th anniversary we celebrate this year. Our forces are committed to compliance with the laws of war, including the Geneva Conventions, even as we face an enemy that is loyal to no state, that hides among civilians, and that routinely violates laws. Mr. President, The lives of innocent civilians in all of the world's conflict zones, from Darfur to Goma to Sderot, demand our concern when threatened by armed conflict. But the situations in which civilians are imperiled radically differ and accordingly this resolution, in addition to recognizing the importance of reparations programs, addresses a wide range of actions to be taken to strengthen the protection of civilians. I would like to highlight four. First, we must continue to develop the means to ensure that the Security Council has prompt access to accurate and objective information on the threats to civilians in armed conflict, impediments to humanitarian access, and alleged violations of international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. Second, we must reinforce tools to hold accountable those who flout the laws of war. The Security Council must be prepared to impose sanctions on those who violate international humanitarian law, whether by freezing assets, banning international travel, or restricting the flow of goods and arms. We must recognize that ending impunity for violations of international law is essential to establish accountability and promote reconciliation through credible and effective national courts when possible, or through international or hybrid tribunals when necessary. Those responsible must be held to account. Third, we need to support the capacity of host governments emerging from conflict to rebuild their national infrastructure and institutions to protect and provide for the security of their citizens. Fourth, members of the Security Council, troop and police contributors and the Secretariat need to forge a shared understanding of what protection of civilians entails in peacekeeping contexts and what is required to operationalize it effectively. The Secretariat needs mission-wide strategies for the protection of civilians, involving military, police and civilian components and coupled with political and public pressure. Peacekeepers need to be prepared, trained and equipped to employ force effectively, as and when required, in accordance with their mandates. While peacekeepers cannot protect every civilian from violence, they need to become as effective as possible. It is very timely that DPKO and OCHA have recently completed an in-depth study on "Protecting civilians in the context of UN peacekeeping operations." We look forward to early discussions on the issues it raises, including in the forthcoming session of the General Assembly's Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. In conclusion, Mr. President, we have tools and mechanisms to protect civilians in armed conflict. We still have considerable work to do to improve them, to develop new ones, and to summon the will to use them more consistently. We must also consider additional measures to enhance the safety and security of UN personnel undertaking this vital work. All of this we must do, concurrent with our efforts to prevent, halt and end the armed conflicts themselves. Thank you. End building blocks. CLINTON