ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 6 – 8 APRIL
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Geneva from Moscow in the afternoon of Tuesday, 6 April.
The following morning, 7 April, he addressed the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
“We must never forget our collective failure to protect at least 800,000 defenceless men, women and children who perished in Rwanda 10 years ago”, he began, after Commission delegates and spectators stood for two minutes of silence in memory of those Rwandans killed in a 100-day massacre that started on 7 April 1994.
“Such crimes cannot be reversed”, he said, “such failures cannot be repaired. The dead cannot be brought back to life.”
So what can we do? Start by acknowledging our responsibility for not having done more to prevent or stop genocide, he said in reply to that question. “All who were playing any part in world affairs at that time should ask ... what am I doing now to make it less likely there will be a next time?”
He added, ominously, “The risk of genocide remains frighteningly real.”
He then launched an Action Plan to Prevent Genocide, involving the whole UN system, which he laid out under five headings.
First -- preventing armed conflict. “We must attack the roots of violence and genocide”, he said, “hatred, intolerance, racism, tyranny, and the dehumanizing public discourse that denies whole groups of people their dignity and their rights.”
Second -- protection of civilians in armed conflict. “Wherever civilians are deliberately targeted because they belong to a particular community, we are in the presence of potential, if not actual, genocide”, he declared. “We can no longer afford to be blind to this grim dynamic.” He called for keeping the mandates and resources of UN peacekeeping forces under constant review, particularly with the threat of genocide in mind, in order to be able to reinforce them promptly when the need arises.
Third -- ending impunity. “We have little hope of preventing genocide”, he said, if people who have committed this most heinous of crimes are left at large. “It is, therefore, vital that we build and maintain robust judicial systems, both national and international -- so that, over time, people will see there is no impunity for such crimes.”
Fourth -- early and clear warning. “One of the reasons for our failure in Rwanda”, he observed, “was that beforehand we did not face the fact that genocide was a real possibility.” He went on, “If we are serious about preventing or stopping genocide in future, we must not be held back by legalistic arguments about whether a particular atrocity meets the definition of genocide or not. By the time we are certain, it may often be too late to act. We must recognize the signs of approaching or possible genocide, so that we can act in time to avert it.”
He referred to his decision to create a new post of Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, who would report through him to the Security Council, the General Assembly and to the Human Rights Commission. He or she would act as an early-warning mechanism for the early detection of not only genocide, but also mass murder and other large-scale human rights violations, such as ethnic cleansing.
Fifth -- swift and decisive action. “Too often, even when there is abundant warning, we lack the political will to act”, he said. “Anyone who embarks on genocide commits a crime against humanity. Humanity must respond by taking action in its own defence”, and humanity’s instrument for that purpose must be the United Nations.
In this connection, he cited the current situation in the Darfur region of Sudan where deliberate actions had been observed with the specific objective of the forcible and long-term displacement of targeted communities. “Mr. Chairman”, he warned, “such reports leave me with a deep sense of foreboding. Whatever terms it uses to describe the situation, the international community cannot stand idle.” He called for clear guidelines on how to identify such extreme cases and how to react to them.
Let us not wait until the worst has happened and “the only alternatives to military action are futile hand-wringing or callous indifference”, he said. Let us be serious about preventing genocide. “Only so can we honour the victims whom we remember today”, he concluded. “Only so can we save those who might be victims tomorrow.” (See Press Release SG/SM/9245-AFR/893-HR/CN/1077.)
The Secretary-General returned to New York on Thursday, 8 April.