AUTHOR Dogukan Cansin KARAKUS

Transcription

1 Questions of International Law: Responsibility to Protect Civilians in Armed Conflicts or Respect for the Territorial Sovereignty of other States? AUTHOR Dogukan Cansin KARAKUS "Mass atrocities cannot be universally ignored and sovereignty is not a license to kill (Gareth Evans) July 2014

2 2 S e i t e The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) concept consists of moral, political, legal, and ultimately of military dimensions that regulate its legal norm-setting in international law levels for the protection of civilians in war and conflict. The need to introduce such a norm into international law originated in the tragedies of several cruel civil wars in the Post-Cold War global era. Armed civil wars lead to failed states, failing state monopoly on security and lack of protection for civilians that caused genocide and crimes against humanity. Especially in the nineties, the international community witnessed cruel massacre in Srebrenica, Rwanda and Darfur (Gill/stain 2010:516). Thousands of civilians were killed in those conflicts before the eyes of the world community. Bloody civil wars and their fatal consequences have since enhanced the world community s responsibility for the need of a collective defense system assisted by humanitarian interventions. However, civil wars and the way to deal with them raise new contradictions and priority disputes in international relations between the existing norms of international law and the sovereignty of states and the Responsibility to Protect (Yousefi 2013:173). In general, humanitarian interventions in specific cases like the use of chemical weapons or ethnic cleansing should be enforced according to international law. A basic conceptualization and performance consulting for setting standards for the "R2P concept in international law was given by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) in The Canadian commission created a concept of responsibility to protect civilian populations in national conflict situations and humanitarian tragedies. Some of the most important steps regarding this concept of "responsibility to protect" were grouped into three sections: A. The responsibility to prevent: to address both the root causes and direct causes of internal conflict and other man-made crises putting populations at risk. B. The responsibility to react: to respond to situations of compelling human need with appropriate measures, which may include coercive measures like sanctions and international prosecution, and in extreme cases military intervention. C. The responsibility to rebuild: to provide, particularly after a military intervention, full assistance with recovery, reconstruction and reconciliation, addressing the causes of the harm the intervention was designed to halt or avert (ICISS 2001:XI). ICISS points out that humanitarian intervention requires the authorization of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). If a humanitarian action is blocked by a veto in the UNSC and no mandate is granted, Article VIII of the UN Charter is launched and the jurisdiction is transferred to regional organizations (Ibid. XIII). However, regional organizations are not

3 3 S e i t e always legally, economically or militarily capable of intervening and preventing humanitarian disasters. Statement by the President of the Security Council At the 7109 meeting on 12 February 2014, the President of the Security Council made the following statement in connection with the consideration of the item "Protection of civilians in armed conflict" in behalf of the Council: "The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to the protection of civilians in armed conflict and to the continuing and full implementation of all its previous relevant resolutions, including resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), 1674 (2006), 1738 (2006) and 1894 (2009), as well as all its resolutions on women and peace and security, children and armed conflict and peace and all relevant statements of its President (United Nations Security Council 2014). United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1265 and 1296 from 1999 to 2000 Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict" played a pioneering role in the process of the protection of civilians in armed conflicts. "The responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing has emerged as important to global principle since the adoption of the UN World Summit Outcome Document in 2005 (Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect 2014). The normative development of the Security Council s resolutions and decisions strengthened the procedure against such human disasters. Although the first approach of standard-setting on the "Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict" by Resolution 1973 of the UN Security is believed to have happened in the civil war in Libya (2011), the humanitarian intervention of NATO in Kosovo in 1999 had already set a precedent for the R2P. The UN Security Council Resolution 1973 was based on "R2P. In March 2011, due to a military intervention with UN authorization a no-fly zone was established in Libya to protect the lives of civilians there. However, Resolution 1973 could not stop Gaddafi from attacking the Libyan population systematically. After peaceful means had proved unsuccessful, a NATO-led military operation began on 19 March 2011 at the instigation of France and Britain and with the support of Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Gaddafi was killed shortly after the military intervention on 20 October 2011 (Bpb, Libyen 2011). Thus further human tragedy could be prevented. Although the preconditions of humanitarian intervention were fulfilled in the case of the civil war in Syria, the practice of standard setting "Protection of civilians in armed conflict" failed there because of various interest constellations in political, economic, security and international law. The Syrian Civil War is similar to the one in Kosovo and Libya, in which civilians suffered brutal warfare by government troops, needing immediate protection. The

4 4 S e i t e current humanitarian situation in Syria is extremely worrying, especially since it was reported in 2013 that chemical weapons were used against the Syrian population and many civilians were killed (BBC News Middle East 2013). The conflict parties in Syria vehemently deny having participated in the poison attack and blame each other for mass murder. According to Deutschland funk (2013) and UN statistics, more than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian Civil War. International observers have confirmed the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian population. Those reasons should suffice to justify a military intervention in Syria for "humanitarian reasons". There is no respect for the protection of human rights". It is a "crime against humanity" according to the legal basis of the International Criminal Court Rome Statute articles 6/7/8 (International Criminal Court ICC 1998: 3/4). The blockade of the UN Security Council by the veto powers, Russia and China, in the case of Syria seems to be an insurmountable obstacle. The UNSC is not able to agree in terms of a rapid sanction and intervention in Syria. While the UNSC is unable to act, thousands of people are being killed in Syria. The role of the Arab League and the United Nations is an inefficient means of conflict resolution in this case. The Arab League is basically ineffective and powerless because of Article 5, as they cannot interfere in the internal affairs of its members. It had even called the UN Security Council for intervention in the Syrian Civil War immediately (Green, 2012), but to no avail. The Syrian case represents an international and regional stalemate regarding peace and conflict resolution.

5 5 S e i t e Conclusion In the Middle East future conflicts will continue, due to resource shortages because of climate change, water scarcity, power struggle between populations and totalitarian regimes, religious fanaticism and territorial disputes. The ineffectiveness of some regional security organizations and stalemates in the UN Security Council are major obstacles to realize effective peace and sustainable conflict resolution, in particular in the Middle East. Therefore, a newly founded regional security organization or a basic reform of the Arab League would be indispensable in the Middle East, as the Arab League is not allowed to intervene in civil wars. Improving Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and being fully aware of potential sources of conflict in the future are of utmost importance. I therefore suggest: 1. "Responsibility to Protect (R2P)" civilians: The red lines for humanitarian interventions of the UN should have clearly defined qualitative and quantitative red lines for equitable humanitarian interventions to implement conflict resolutions, conflict prevention and peacekeeping even faster. An apt quote from former Foreign Minister and President Emeritus of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group Gareth Evans Australia's sums up the problem of responsibility to protect civilian lives in civil wars with the following words: "Mass atrocities cannot be universally ignored and sovereignty is not a license to kill 2. Reform of the UN Security Council: A structural change is urgently needed at the UN Security Council. The veto powers of the permanent members of the Security Council should be abolished and the Security Council should be constituted through democratic elections among the 193 members so that the decision-making process of the Security Council does not merely reflect the interest constellation of veto powers with regard to politics and business. The rresponsibility to protect civilian lives could thus be embraced even faster and more efficiently. It would not be hampered as it was the case in Rwanda, Congo, Darfur, Bosnia and still is in Syria. 3. A new security organization must be established under the leadership of Turkey and Iran in the Middle East in order to realize the standard setting of Responsibility to Protect Civilians : Iran and Turkey are geographically located in the vicinity of conflict areas. These two Muslim countries, one Sunni and the other Shia could both, in a joined effort, exert a peaceful influence on conflicting parties in the Middle East. Incidentally, the

6 6 S e i t e Arab League is because of their "non-interference" principle among their 22 members in the event of a civil war in the Middle East and North Africa ineffective and a new security organization should fill the present political vacuum. Possible causes of conflict in the future: 1. Scarcity of Resources: Water and food shortages as a result of radical climate change will drastically impoverish people. People will continually suffer and interstate wars will be inevitable. 2. Power struggle between the people and totalitarian regimes: Despots have always ruled the world and will likewise do so in the future. Mugabe, Idi Amin and Bocassa are excellent examples because they embody the typical characteristics of a despot: selfishness, unbridled pursuit of power, brutal repression in order to maintain power, spying, absolute unscrupulousness, material enrichment. Criticism, freedom of speech, or an alternative political system of government are strictly rejected or suppressed in those regimes. Moreover, a proper balance between ethnic or religious majorities and minorities might be at stake in the future. 3. Confessional fanaticism in the Middle East: Religious struggles might certainly increase in intensity between Shiites and Sunnis. Despite democratic elections, there might always be religiously motivated civil wars (e.g. Syria and Iraq). The present situation in Iraq shows how Shiites are brutally fighting against Shiites.

7 7 S e i t e Bibliography 1. BBC News Middle East (2013) Syria 'chemical' attack: France says force may be needed in: (Access ). 2. Deutschlandfunk (2013) Syrienkonferenz, Damaskus sagt Teilnahme in Genf zu. In: (Access ). 3. Gareth Evans (2008) The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. 4. Gill, Terry D.; Fleck, Dieter (2010): The handbook of the international law of military operations. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 5. Global Center for the Responsibility to protect (2014) About R2P in: (Access ). 6. Green, Niall (2012) Arab League calls for UN intervention in Syria. In: (Access ). 7. N24 (2013) Chemiewaffen in Syrien - Jenseits von Obamas roter Linie. in: (Access ). 8. ICISS (2001) "Responsibility to Protect" in: (Access ). 9. United Nations Security Council (2014) Schutz von Zivilpersonen in bewaffneten Konflikten in: (Access ). 10. United Nation Römisches Statut des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs (1998) Artikel 7 Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit. in: (Access ). 11. Yousefi, Hamid Reza (Hg.) (2013): Menschenrechte im Weltkontext. Geschichte - Erscheinungsformen - Neuere Entwicklungen. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.