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