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POLITICS: U.N. Chief Urges World Leaders to Protect Civilians

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 21 2004 (IPS) - Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once remarked that the tragedy of civil wars is that they are no longer civil.

With hundreds and thousands of civilians dying in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan, the current Secretary-General Kofi Annan is equally horrified by the devastation caused in intra-state wars, ethnic cleansings, terrorist bombings and civil strife.

"And it is by vigorously upholding international law that we can, and must, fulfill our responsibility to protect innocent civilians from genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," Annan told world leaders, as he addressed the 59th session of the U.N. General Assembly which opened Tuesday.

"As I warned this Assembly five years ago," he said, "history will judge us very harshly if we let ourselves be deflected in this task, or think we are excused from it, by invocations of national sovereignty."

Annan, who says that the "rule of law" should be the overriding theme of the new General Assembly sessions this year, appealed to the 80-plus heads of state and heads of government currently in New York to sign and ratify a slew of U.N. treaties and international conventions protecting civilians in the world’s battle zones.

As of Tuesday, more than 25 countries have agreed to either sign treaties or present their instruments of ratification for treaties already signed.

The treaties that are expected to be signed by visiting heads of state and foreign ministers – at special ceremonies from Sep. 21 to 24 – cover conventions protecting human rights and the rights of women, children and migrant workers.

Of the 27 conventions and protocols which directly or indirectly relate to civilians, the key treaties include: the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide; convention against torture; the Rome statute of the international criminal court; convention on the safety of United Nations and associated personnel; the optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child; and the protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms.

Asked how effective these treaties are in preventing civilian killings, the head of the U.N. Treaty Section Palitha Kohona told IPS that "the signing and ratify of instruments was only a first step".

"The real objective was to achieve implementation of the obligations taken on by becoming a signatory. That required cooperation of governments, civil society and the media to take the legal and other steps of implementation," he added.

Kohona said that the norms of international law were taken for granted over time. "The world noticed when a norm was violated and took action when the breach was unacceptable," he added.

Mark Bowden of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that civilians were now under greater threat than ever before.

"Situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Burundi showed sexual violence on the rise," he added.

Bowden said that millions of people had been displaced by conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes region, while humanitarian workers were themselves being targeted to disrupt delivery of assistance.

He also pointed out that the Geneva Convention of the early 20th century had been the first ever step to regulate the rules of war.

"Many governments were interested in protecting civilians but there was insufficient awareness about where responsibilities lay," he added.

The United Nations was growing ever more aware that protecting civilians was a core responsibility for it, including through the Security Council, Bowden said.

In his address to the General Assembly, Annan cited several examples of flagrant violations of U.N. treaties and conventions.

"In Darfur, we see whole populations displaced, and their homes destroyed, while rape is used as a deliberate strategy. In northern Uganda, we see children mutilated, and forced to take part in acts of unspeakable cruelty. In Beslan, we have seen children taken hostage and brutally massacred."

He also cited the number of civilians, including children, targeted in killings in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.

"And all over the world, we see people being prepared for further such acts, through hate propaganda directed against Jews, against Muslims, against anyone who can be identified as different from one’s own group," he said.

But some of Annan’s harshest criticisms were against the killings of civilians and humanitarian workers in the ongoing war in Iraq, where 22 U.N. workers were killed, including Under-Secretary-General Sergio Vieira de Mello.

"In Iraq, we see civilians massacred in cold blood, while relief workers, journalists and other non-combatants are taken hostage and put to death in the most barbarous fashion. At the same time, we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused," he added..

Annan, who has called the military invasion of Iraq "illegal", has also criticised the mounting number of civilian deaths caused by U.S. bombings.

The Iraq Body Count Project, which has been regularly monitoring the conflict in Iraq, says that between 12,800 and 14,840 civilians have been killed in that war-ravaged country since March last year.

"This is a human security project to establish an independent and comprehensive public database of media-reported civilian deaths in Iraq resulting directly from military action by the USA and its allies in 2003," says the Project website.

This includes civilian deaths resulting from a breakdown in law and order, and deaths due to inadequate health care or sanitation.

The United States has refused to keep a tally of civilian killings – whether in Iraq or Afghanistan. As one U.S. army officer said: "We don’t do body counts."