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Borders Hindering UN Role in Civil Wars - UN Security Council - Global Policy Forum Borders Hindering UN Role in Civil Wars
By David L. Phillips
Dawn
August 22, 2000
The United Nations is increasingly summoned to protect civilians in armed conflict. But how should it respond to humanitarian emergencies inside a sovereign state? To promote effective humanitarian action and avoid risk, a new balance between sovereignty and rights is needed.
Today more than 30 million people have been displaced by conflict. Civilians are forced from their homes, driven to borders, used as human shields, raped, tortured and killed. Instead of sympathy, they need a extended commitment to end cycles of violence. Recent self-examinations of the United Nations' performance in Rwanda and Serbrenica reveal the terrible consequences of inactivity.
The UN's authority is eroded by inadequacy. The International law specifies that victims are entitled to humanitarian assistance and protection, but it also clarifies that sovereign states have primary responsibility to provide for victims of conflict in their territory.
The United Nations faces a complication when the state is unable to act or is itself the cause of crisis. It is also unable or unwilling to respond with an effective humanitarian action. A more strategic and organised approach is needed to manage the multitude of emergencies.
Five types of humanitarian action can be used by the international community at different stages of a crisis. To maximise their effectiveness, they should be adjusted to the severity of the crisis and state's conditions. Indonesia's recent experience is an example.
Emphasise humanitarian cooperation at the onset of an emergency: Responding to the displacement of 400,000 people in the Moluccan Islands in eastern Indonesia, the Indonesian government and the United Nations are working together to establish humanitarian resource centres.
The team is determining food, water and shelter requirements and working with donors to make sure that needs are met. Satellite offices are being set up to monitor population flows and organize an appropriate response if conflict escalates.
Initiate dialogue to address the root causes of conflict: Humanitarian cooperation should not be used as a substitute for political action. The UN should work with the country in crisis but not sidestep more active measures if conditions deteriorate. The United Nations is supporting Indonesia to strengthen local government, share natural resource revenues with the regions, promote cultural rights and encourage the country to crack down on corruption and prosecute army officials suspected of atrocities in East Timor.
Neutral mediators can also play a useful role during the transition to democracy by facilitating dialogue between the government and separatists in Aceh and Irian Jaya. Pressure governments to observe international standards: Political and economic reform can be encouraged by assisting political parties, independent media and civil society in emerging democracies. The United Nations can provide incentives or impose sanctions that deny visas and freeze overseas assets of individuals.
The rule of law is essential to democracy. If Indonesia cannot prosecute those responsible for atrocities in East Timor, the United Nations should set up a war crimes panel.
Encourage regional security solutions: When violence erupted in East Timor, Indonesia was pushed to invite a multinational force to stop the killing and enable refugees to return home. Police operation from countries in the region at the beginning of the violence, might have averted a broader conflict
Deploy a multinational force: Peacekeeping is needed when prevention fails and humanitarian conditions dramatically deteriorate. It is preferable for the country in crisis to invite a multinational force authorized by the United Nations.
But what should be done when the victimiser hides behind sovereignty? After Kosovo and East Timor, how would the international community respond in the event of a bloody crackdown in Aceh or Irian Jaya?
There are clear ways of assisting and protecting civilianians in armed conflict, but there are no clear parameters for appropriate humanitarian action. Preventive diplomacy requires constant improvisation.
However, there is one guiding principle. Humanitarian actions are justified when the emergency gets out of control in an affected country or when the state itself is responsible for the crisis. In today's increasingly interconnected world, territorial frontiers are a diminished defence against international action.
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