Mr President,
In conflicts all over the world, we are
repeatedly faced with double tragedies. Men, women and children, driven from their homes,
are also targets of inhuman treatment, brutal attacks and sometimes even massacres.
Recent internal conflicts pose new
challenges to the international community:
Victims of conflict are denied urgently
needed emergency relief, forced to walk hundreds of miles in search of safety and left to
die in remote wilderness.
And those who are there to help are
refused access to the refugees and are even themselves increasingly made targets of such
violence.
Large scale attacks on human security and
gross violations of human rights within states are the harbinger of threats to regional
and international security.
Thus, the Security Council is frequently
called upon to address important questions on how to protect refugees and humanitarian
assistance to refugees and others in conflict situations. Sweden welcomes this debate. It
should be a step towards concrete proposals and decisions by the Council in this field.
Mr President,
Governments bear the primary
responsibility for the security of all individuals under their jurisdiction. This
responsibility also entails that Governments should seek international support if they
lack the ability to provide such protection and assistance.
But individual perpetrators must always
be held accountable for violations of humanitarian law, also in areas where government
authority has broken down.
The role of the Security Council is first
and foremost to promote political solutions to crises, preferably even before a conflict
has turned violent. Peaceful conflict resolution or preventive diplomacy are certainly the
best methods of addressing the fundamental problems of refugees and displaced persons.
Action to be considered by the Security
Council in this field is, however, manifold. The Council has an essential role in ensuring
respect for international humanitarian law and human rights. Actions of the Council, in
each individual case, also contribute to the development of norms for the behaviour of
states, and even non-state entities.
Protection of humanitarian assistance is,
and should be, a task specifically mandated in connection with many peace-keeping
operations. But even in the absence of UN peace-keeping, the Security Council must ensure
that it is fully appraised of the humanitarian and human rights situation at hand and of
the requirements of humanitarian organizations.
Therefore, the Council should consult
closely on a regular basis with humanitarian organizations and seek their advice on how to
improve the security of refugees, displaced persons and the humanitarian relief workers
themselves.
From the outset of a crisis, the Council
should use its moral authority and political leverage to impress on leaders of parties in
conflict their personal accountability for crimes against refugees and displaced persons
as well as humanitarian personnel, in areas under their control. The need for humanitarian
access should be equally underlined.
Impunity should not be accepted. The
Council should consider ways and means to follow up on such crimes. Preferably, political
actors should know from the outset what kind of consequences they will have to face if
they take part in crimes against international humanitarian law, or refrain from bringing
the perpetrators to justice.
An International Criminal Court could be
a helpful instrument in this regard. International civilian police could be deployed in
crisis to monitor the situation, to help investigate crimes and to assist in the building
of national structures of justice.
Mr President,
Crises are invariably different in
nature. The protection of refugees and displaced persons may require different kinds of
arrangements. For example, a clear distinction should be made between protection measures
in an enforcement situation under chapter VII of the Charter and measures in the context
of other UN operations. Early consultations between the Council and relief agencies could
help define the proper response.
The UNHCR has a unique international
mandate to protect refugees and others in refugee-like situations. The complex conditions
in refugee hosting as well as returnee receiving areas call for a comprehensive,
situation-specific protection strategy. Sweden welcomes the close cooperation between
UNHCR and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and hope that useful lessons will be
drawn by the two agencies from their experience in the Great Lakes region.
The High Commissioner for Refugees has
called for a Rapid Deployment Force to assist, inter alia, in separating military
groups from bona fide refugees in mass displacement situations. There is good
reason to reflect upon this and other ways of achieving such a separation.
Protection of humanitarian action cannot
be isolated from protection of people in need. Protecting humanitarian assets and relief
workers may be essential for humanitarian operations to continue. But protection
mechanisms must also as their primary objective deal with shielding civilians from threats
to life and livelihood.
Assault on defenceless women and children
has been used as a weapon to demonstrate power and control and to disintegrate social
structures and communities. Protection of refugees must include special measures to ensure
the safety of women and children.
Humanitarian corridors, safe areas,
protected zones or any other form of humanitarian space can in some situations provide
protection. The UN should assess experiences so far of such mechanisms and the means to
protect them.
The role of UN-troops, civilian police or
guards in the protection of refugees and displaced persons should also be further
explored.
Mr President,
Humanitarian action must always be based
on need and on the principle of impartiality. Its integrity must be respected.
However, we cannot expect humanitarian
action to be a substitute for political resolve to deal with the conflicts themselves and
their root causes. It is increasingly recognized that complex man-made crises require an
international response, combining political, military, humanitarian and other civilian
action, that will create the conditions for peace, while protecting victims of armed
conflict.
The Security Council must shoulder its
responsibilities in this regard.
Thank you, Mr. President
Permanent
Mission of Sweden to the United Nations