BOOKLET ‘FOCUS 2004: TREATIES ON THE PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS’ ISSUED; PREPARATION FOR SEPTEMBER HEADQUARTERS RATIFICATION EVENT

booklet ‘focus 2004:  treaties on the protection of civilians’ issued;

preparation for september headquarters ratification event

NEW YORK, 23 June -- Treaties on the protection of civilians -- the primary victims in today’s violent conflicts -- will be spotlighted in the annual event intended to encourage Member States to sign and ratify treaties, which will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 21 to 24 September, during the General Assembly’s annual general debate.

In preparation for the event, Focus 2004:  Treaties on the Protection of Civilians, the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs Treaty Section and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have co-produced a booklet, with the same title, which is being launched today.  It contains information on 24 treaties, including their States parties, if and when they “entered into force” and what they are intended to accomplish.

The emphasis this year on treaties on the protection of civilians reflects a key concern of the United Nations.  As previously noted by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “Civilians inevitably bear the cost of the complex and intractable conflicts that have led to the death or forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and which can only be addressed by a more integrated collective approach to their deepening protection needs”.

In the foreword, Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, describes today’s armed conflicts as “tragically characterized by the widespread displacement of civilians, grave human rights abuses, the use of sexual violence as a brutal weapon of war, the recruitment and use of child soldiers, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, severe restrictions on humanitarian access and attacks on humanitarian personnel -- all of which are committed within a culture of impunity”.  Thus, the book brings together the great human rights treaties -- the two International Covenants, the conventions on the rights of women, children, and migrant workers, and the racism convention -- with those more directly connected with armed conflict:  the Genocide Convention, the Convention against Torture, the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, and the United Nations Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel.

Also related to the protection of civilians are early conventions dating from the 1950s and 1960s on refugees and statelessness, and the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, recently entered into force, with its three protocols.  The third protocol, on the illicit manufacturing of firearms and their trafficking, is the only instrument in this year’s collection that has not yet entered into force.

None of these treaties has “universal participation”, however, and increased participation is a major objective of this Treaty Event.  Increased participation results in increased reach in jurisdiction for all treaties, because only parties to a treaty are required to enforce it.

The multilateral treaty framework, which underpins much of today’s international relations, has witnessed significant growth since the establishment of the United Nations.  Over 500 multilateral treaties are deposited with the Secretary-General.  At the five treaty events which have taken place since the first was established in 2000 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to promote broader participation, a total of 828 treaty actions have taken place. 

For additional information, please contact Ellen McGuffie in the Department of Public Information,
tel.:  1 212 963 0499, or Palitha Kohona in the Office of Legal Affairs, tel.:  1 212 963 5048.

See also the Treaty Collection on the Internet:  www.untreaty.un.org

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