YouSaid · the spoken record

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18
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1997-05-21
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1997-05-21
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “That role could be more or less directly linked to the specific needs of refugees. For example, the absence of an immediate threat to peace in situations where the repatriation of refugees is delayed does not mean that the Security Council can remain idle. Its proper role should be sought in each of these types of circumstances. While the work of the Security Council is mainly situation-specific, a general discussion such as the present one can help in addressing broader issues and in providing guidance which will help in specific situations.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  2. “It is important that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has made considerable progress in integrating the concern for the special protection needs of these groups, especially those of children, into the planning and implementation of UNHCR's own programmes. Support for such programmes is a vital necessity. We believe that the Security Council and other United Nations organs should also continue to support the concept and practical programmes of the UNHCR's threefold strategy, a strategy which includes prevention, emergency assistance - including the encouragement of appropriate regional approaches to situations which generate refugee flows - and, finally, enabling the voluntary repatriation of refugees. In each of these three types of circumstances there is a role for the Security Council.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  3. “The reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to the General Assembly describe the efforts to protect particularly vulnerable groups, such as women and children, and the need to provide special assistance to them. Their health care and education deserve further effective assistance, and the Security Council should consider, in each situation, the most effective measures to make such assistance possible. Slovenia, which has been a country of first asylum for many refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, has made special efforts to satisfy the needs of refugee children in the fields of health care and education.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  4. “Peacekeepers and other personnel must be properly trained in matters concerning respect for humanitarian law and human rights. The expected directives on international humanitarian law for United Nations forces will be valuable in this context. And finally, the United Nations should not condone the abuse of human rights by its personnel. The cases of abuse of the rights of children described in paragraph 98 of the report by Ms. Graca Machel on the impact of armed conflict on children (A/51/306) must be a source of serious concern for the Security Council, and it is necessary to ensure that similar practices do not occur in the future.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  5. “And again, humanitarian action should not be allowed to become a substitute for political action. In the process of delivering humanitarian assistance and in the analytical work and decision-making of the Security Council, it is necessary to ensure that protection from violations of humanitarian law and human rights is seen as an integral part of humanitarian and military activity. As a minimum it is necessary to ensure that military and civilian field personnel are not made silent witnesses to grave violations of humanitarian law and human rights. Moreover, the experience of some recent peacekeeping operations has shown that quick action by peacekeeping forces can prevent gross abuses and can have a deterrent effect, and, perhaps most important, that such action is compatible with the role of peacekeepers.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  6. “Shifting from one objective to another within the same operation can have very serious negative consequences on both the military and the humanitarian components of the mission. Another basic question relates to coordination of humanitarian and political-military action. It appears that the experience of recent years has confirmed the need for a carefully coordinated approach. While it is necessary that humanitarian activities, especially those carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross and other non- governmental organizations, remain independent and that the requisite humanitarian space is respected, it remains equally important that the humanitarian aspects of a United Nations operation be properly placed within a comprehensive approach which includes political, military and humanitarian aspects of the operation.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  7. “The problem of timeliness and adequacy of response to an emergency situation continues to haunt the Security Council. Moreover, in situations in which military action is authorized or taken by the Security Council, it is necessary to ensure that military support for humanitarian action does not become a substitute for the necessary political action. In particular, the military should not be placed in the humiliating position of being expected to implement an expanding and insufficiently clear mandate and, at the same time, being inadequately mandated or equipped to confront gross violations of humanitarian law and human rights. There is a need to clearly distinguish between peacekeeping and peace-enforcement objectives.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  8. “And it is important to understand that the test of the effectiveness of a future international criminal court is not a matter for some distant future. The critical test for the United Nations and its Security Council is today, and it has to be passed now. The criminals must be transferred to the tribunals for trial, and the Security Council must demonstrate its ability and willingness to ensure the effectiveness of the tribunals it has created. Preventive action, while always preferable, is not always possible. The challenges involved in the protection of humanitarian action in conditions of active armed conflict need to be dealt with. Recent practice appears to give rise to several lessons which need to be taken into consideration in the future.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  9. “Most specifically, it must ensure the effective functioning of the organs it has created. The two ad hoc criminal tribunals created by the Security Council - established with the task of bringing to justice persons responsible for serious violations of humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda - vitally depend on the effectiveness that only the Security Council and its members can provide. Furthermore, the success or failure of these tribunals will be decisive for the establishment of the future international criminal court. It is not difficult to see the important preventive potential such an international court could have, provided that it is given the necessary effectiveness.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  10. “Above all, carefully targeted economic assistance and development aid can help prevent economic problems from degenerating into political or ethnic conflicts and the resulting humanitarian emergencies. A stronger and more effective human-rights machinery would expose, in a timely and objective manner, violations of human rights leading to armed conflict or humanitarian emergencies. An international criminal tribunal, once established and operational, would deter potential perpetrators and planners of crimes from such heinous acts as genocide and other grave breaches of international humanitarian law. While the Security Council cannot directly influence the evolution of the United Nations system as a whole, it has an important responsibility for the system-wide effects of its actions.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  11. “As suggested in the bi- weekly reports of the Secretary-General to the Security Council regarding that operation, the mere presence of the protection force has an important stabilizing and therefore preventive effect. This is important also because such a preventive effect makes it possible to avoid some of the more complex issues concerning cooperation between the military force and humanitarian operations - that is, the type of issues which would necessarily arise if the situation were allowed to escalate into an armed conflict. In a general, system-wide perspective, it is possible to discern a variety of further mechanisms that have considerable preventive potential which needs to be developed further.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  12. “Furthermore, the elements of enforcement action proved to be more effective and less risky in that situation than originally thought. Another lesson re-learned in the past few years is that prevention is always better than cure. Moreover, recent practice has showed that prevention is possible. In addition to preventive diplomacy, which is always the preferred option, albeit not always an available one, preventive deployment may considerably reduce the danger of complex emergencies. The multinational protection force for Albania, established in accordance with Security Council resolution 1101 (1997) of 28 March this year is the most recent example of such a preventive operation. Slovenia is among the Member States contributing troops to that operation. The multinational protection force has already provided important experience.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  13. “Its approach, its grasp of the issues, and the degree of unity among its members will determine the success or failure of missions. It could be added that it is essential that the mandates and objectives of United Nations military operations be defined with precision and coherence and that the fundamental distinction between peacekeeping and peace enforcement be kept in mind in the preparation of decisions. This does not mean that the Security Council should necessarily refrain from military enforcement in all situations. Quite to the contrary - as, most specifically, the experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina showed - peace enforcement may be the only effective response to the mounting problems of a complex emergency situation.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  14. “First, the responsibility of the Security Council remains a key element in the international community's response to humanitarian crises. In several cases which involved complex emergencies, the decision-making process of the Council did not often work well. For a number of reasons, some of the Council's decisions and resolutions have been weak, inconsistent, ambiguous, ill- timed and, in certain instances, too numerous. This flaw has had far-reaching implications for the operations in the field, both for the victims of the conflicts, and for others - in particular, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. Secondly, the Security Council defines the mandates and objectives of United Nations operations. It thereby determines the political framework for both military and humanitarian action.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  15. “It offers crucial but only temporary succour from often terrible circumstances. It is no substitute for action aimed at tackling the roots of a crisis". The basic question for the Security Council in its effort to protect humanitarian assistance to refugees and others in conflict situations is the question of a political framework for humanitarian action. Much has been said about this question in past years. It is useful to recall the opinions and recommendations put forward at a recent meeting - the most recent in the cycle of Singapore conferences - which discussed, at the end of February this year, the interface between humanitarian action and peacekeeping operations. The opening part of the concluding document of the Singapore Conference can be summarized in the following two basic points.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  16. “However, the terminology of complex emergency situations added little to the capacity to explain the principal causes of conflict or to the ability to devise adequate policies in response to emergency situations. Obviously, adding a sense of urgency to the search for solutions does not always guarantee the adequacy of the solutions proposed. The first, and perhaps the most important, lesson learned in these few years is, I believe, clear and simple: humanitarian action must not be used as a substitute for political or- where needed - military action. In his recent statement to the United Nations Association of Japan on 13 May 1997, the Secretary-General referred to this lesson by stating the following: "Humanitarian assistance is essential. But there is a growing recognition of the fact that emergency relief is only a palliative.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  17. “We believe that the present discussion should proceed from that body of opinion and attempt to take a step forward towards identifying the current priorities for the Security Council, or, as appropriate, towards drawing the necessary lessons which should guide future action. In the period following the end of the cold war, humanitarian crises and the resulting refugee flows proliferated at an unprecedented rate. For many Governments and other international actors, humanitarianism has occupied a central place. Most often humanitarian emergency situations reflected a variety of symptoms and causes, and were most often described as complex emergency situations - a term which has emphasized the need for an urgent and comprehensive response.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source

  18. “It gives us great satisfaction to see you, Sir, presiding over the Security Council's present discussion on protection for humanitarian assistance to refugees and others in conflict situations. The subject is vast and important, and we hope that this discussion will contribute to the quality of the future decisions and other activities of the Security Council. We commend you for your wisdom and perseverance, which made this discussion possible. Each year the General Assembly considers the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The recommendations adopted by the General Assembly relate to all aspects of the problems of refugees, as well as to specific areas of priority concern. As such, they represent a helpful contribution to the decision-making of the Security Council.”

    1997-05-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3778Resumption1 (1997) · source