PRESS BRIEFING BY ACTING DIRECTOR OF POLICY, ADVOCACY AND INFORMATION DIVISION IN OFFICE FOR COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

Press Briefing

PRESS BREIFING BY ACTING DIRECTOR OF POLICY, ADVOCACY AND INFORMATION DIVISION IN OFFICE FOR COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

Even after an open Security Council debate last February on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, it was ironic that the issue had been almost uninterrupted front page news worldwide since then, Martin Barber, the Acting Director of the Policy, Advocacy and Information Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Introducing the Secretary-General’s report (document S/1999/957) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, Mr. Barber recalled the terrible mutilations of civilians, including children, in Sierra Leone; the massive displacement of populations in Angola; the events in Kosovo; and most recently, the plight of the civilian population in East Timor. Therefore, since the Council had requested the report, four major new challenges to the Security Council had emerged.

He said the report contained five main chapters, including one outlining the threats and violence against civilians in armed conflict and describing the various types of attacks and abuses to which they may be subjected. The report also contained a section on the Security Council’s role in the protection of civilians. The Council was involved because abuse of civilians was so frequently linked to the breakdown of international peace and security and because it was clearly mandated to protect civilian victims.

The two substantive sections of the report outlined the recommended measures to strengthen legal and physical protections, Mr. Barber said. Those were a series of 40 recommendations indicating concrete measures which, taken together, the Council could use to build up an improved protection of civilians in armed conflict.

He said none of the recommendations constituted a magic solution. Thirty-nine of them could be helpful in preventing conflict, mitigating its impact on civilians or reducing the likelihood of renewed outbreaks of violence. The fortieth recommendation suggested criteria on the basis of which the Security Council might decide to take enforcement action in cases of outrageous breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights law.

Citing the Secretary-General’s observations in the report, he said the plight of civilians was no longer something which could be neglected or made secondary, because it complicated political negotiations or interests. It was fundamental to the Organization’s central mandate. The responsibility for the protection of civilians could not be transferred to others.

He said it was hoped that there would be a vigorous follow-up process with a Security Council resolution and further discussions in the coming months on the report’s specific recommendations.

Barber Briefing - 2 - 13 September 1999

Asked whether the recommendations would give new vigour to the consideration of safe haven or safe area policies in future conflicts, Mr. Barber said there was a specific recommendation on safe havens. It was suggested that they be referred to either as humanitarian zones -– mutually agreed by parties to the conflict to be inviolable – or as security zones, where it would be decided that force would be provided to protect people within a particular zone.

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