Whose responsibility to protect? The implications of double manifest failure for civilian protection
2011; Routledge; Volume: 16; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13642987.2011.645538
ISSN1744-053X
Autores Tópico(s)International Law and Human Rights
ResumoAbstract Civilian protection has become an increasingly urgent issue with which humanitarian practitioners and policy-makers must contend, particularly in relation to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). In a number of recent crises, both the host state and the international community have failed to uphold their respective primary and secondary responsibilities to protect under R2P. In such double manifest failure settings, the actors to whom a disproportionate civilian protection responsibility is most likely to fall are humanitarian actors. This article explores the concept of manifest failure, examines Security Council responses, and analyses the implications for civilian protection. I argue that humanitarian actors cannot reasonably be expected to fulfill a tertiary responsibility to protect that aligns with the United Nation's civilian protection agenda goals, and conclude by discussing how humanitarian actors can work within the limits imposed by double manifest failure cases. Keywords: civilian protectionhuman rightsResponsibility to Protectmass atrocitiesmanifest failureSecurity Council Notes The terms 'mass atrocities' and 'mass atrocity crimes' are used interchangeably throughout this article to denote reference to any or all of these four classes of R2P crimes: genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs/Integrated Regional Information Network, Special Report: Civilian Protection in Armed Conflict (New York: OCHA/IRIN, April 1, 2003). Hereinafter OCHA/IRIN. Geneva Conventions of 1949, Common Article 3, http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/index.jsp. UN General Assembly, Implementing the Responsibility to Protect: Report of the Secretary-General (A/63/677), January 12, 2009, para. 3. Hereinafter A/63/677. UN General Assembly, 2005 World Summit Outcome (A/RES/60/1), October 24, 2005, paras 138–9. Hereinafter A/RES/60/1. Eli Stamnes, '"Speaking R2P" and the Prevention of Mass Atrocities', Global Responsibility to Protect 1, no. 1 (2009): 70–89; Gareth Evans, The Responsibility to Protect (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2008), 42. See, respectively, Alex de Waal, 'Darfur and the Failure of the Responsibility to Protect', International Affairs 83, no. 6 (2007): 1039–54; Johan Pottier, 'Roadblock Ethnography: Negotiating Humanitarian Access in Ituri, Eastern DR Congo, 1999–2004', Africa 76, no. 2 (2006):151–79; Simon Harriss, 'Humanitarianism in Sri Lanka: Lessons Learned?', Feinstein Briefing Paper (Medford, MA: Tufts University, 2010); and Rhoda E. Howard Hassmann, 'Mugabe's Zimbabwe, 2000–2009: Massive Human Rights Violations and the Responsibility to Protect', Human Rights Quarterly 32, no. 4 (2010): 898–920. The term 'international political community' includes states and intergovernmental organisations such as the United Nations (UN). It also includes organisations that may have a humanitarian mandate but which are not operational, such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It is used interchangeably here with the term 'international community'. John Harald Sand Lie and Benjamin de Carvalho, The Tension between UN HQ and the Field in Implementing Protection (Oslo: Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 2009), 3. The term 'international humanitarian community' includes mainly those actors with an operational focus in the field of humanitarian action and assistance. It does not include OCHA, which is not primarily an operational humanitarian actor. It does include UN bodies with operational humanitarian mandates (e.g., UNHCR, UNICEF), as well as human rights groups, and international and national nongovernmental organisations. Where appropriate, I classify these actors further into those with mandated protection roles (e.g., UNHCR, UNICEF and ICRC), and those that adopt protection as part of their organisational missions. Oxfam, GB, 'Protection of Civilians in 2010: Facts, Figures, and the UN Security Council's Response', Briefing Paper 147 (Oxford: Oxfam Great Britain, 2010), 4–5. Thomas G. Weiss, 'R2P After 9/11 and the World Summit', Wisconsin International Law Journal 24, no. 3 (2006): 758–9. See Marc DuBois, 'Protection: Fig-leaves and Other Delusions', Humanitarian Exchange Magazine 46 (March 2010): 2–4; and Sorcha O'Callaghan and Sara Pantuliano, Protective Action: Incorporating Civilian Protection into Humanitarian Response (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2007). Andrew Bonwick, 'Who Really Protects Civilians?', Development in Practice 16, nos 3–4 (2006): 274. Turid Laegreid, Protecting Civilians from Harm: A Humanitarian Perspective (Oslo: Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 2008), 9. See, for example, International Committee of the Red Cross (hereinafter ICRC), The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief (Geneva: ICRC, 1996); Sphere Project, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Geneva: The Sphere Project, 1997, 2004, 2011); and People in Aid, Code of Good Practice in the Management and Support of Aid Personnel (London: People in Aid, 1997, 2003). For example, UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (S/2009/277 and Annex), May 29, 2009; and UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (S/2010/579), November 11, 2010. Hereinafter S/2009/277 and S/2010/579 respectively. ICRC, Third Workshop on Protection, Background Paper (Geneva: ICRC, 1999). Lie and Carvalho, Tension between UN HQ and the Field. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (hereinafter OCHA), OCHA Glossary of Humanitarian Terms in Relation to the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (New York: United Nations, 2004), 26. For a comprehensive overview of protection standards, see ICRC, Professional Standards for Protection Work Carried out by Humanitarian and Human Rights Actors in Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Violence (Geneva: ICRC, 2009); and Hugo Slim and Andrew Bonwick, Protection: An ALNAP Guide for Humanitarian Agencies (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2005), 42–3. Laegreid, Protecting Civilians from Harm, 11. Sheilagh Henry, 'Mini-Evaluation: Protection Issues in Darfur', 9, http://protection.unsudanig.org/index.php?fid=darfur_protection (accessed June 12, 2010); and Bonwick, 'Who Really Protects Civilians?'. ICRC, Professional Standards; UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Safeguarding Humanitarian Space: A Review of Key Challenges for UNHCR, Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES/2010/01) (Geneva: UNHCR, 2010); InterAction Protection Working Group, Protection in Practice: A Guidebook for Incorporating Protection into Humanitarian Operations (Washington, DC: InterAction, 2005); and Slim and Bonwick, Protection: An ALNAP Guide. Alongside the Security Council, the General Assembly has engaged in extensive debate on civilian protection (and humanitarian access). See UN General Assembly, Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping (A/64/19), February 22–March 19, 2010, paras 123–31; 143–51 (hereinafter A/64/19). The secretary-general has, since 1999, issued perennial reports on civilian protection (e.g., S/2009/277; S/2010/579) featuring guidance notes and prescriptions for UN system actors. UN General Assembly, Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping (A/64/19), February 22–March 19, 2010, 2–3. For these and other UN and UN-related documents and information on protection of civilians, see http://protection.unsudanig.org/index.php. A/RES/60/1, para. 138. Ibid., para. 139. UN Security Council, Resolution 1674 (April 28, 2006), para. 26. Hereinafter S/RES/1674. See, for example, UN Security Council Resolutions 1265 (September 17, 1999); 1296 (April 19, 2000); 1502 (August 26, 2003); S/RES/1674; 1738 (December 23, 2006); 1888 (September 30, 2009); 1894 (November 11, 2009); and 1960 (December 16, 2010). See S/2009/277, paras 12–13. As of November 2010, the Expert Group has met 17 times to discuss eight ongoing civilian protection crises. See S/2010/579, para. 24. Paragraph 10(e) of S/RES/1289 (February 7, 2000) authorised the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to take all necessary action to protect civilians from imminent threat of physical violence. Evans, Responsibility to Protect, 198. Carsten Stahn, 'Responsibility to Protect: Political Rhetoric or Emerging Legal Norm?', American Journal of International Law 101, no. 1 (2007): 117. It is clear in practice, however, that a wide range of actors also play a role in shaping the Council's determinations of manifest failure in R2P cases. These include the General Assembly, UN specialised agencies, funds and programmes; the UN Human Rights Council, special rapporteurs, special envoys and special representatives of the secretary-general, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the ICRC, international and national NGOs, human rights groups, eminent personalities, and civil society representatives. Sheri P. Rosenberg, 'The Responsibility to Protect: A Framework for Prevention', Global Responsibility to Protect 1 (2009): 442–77; and Luke Glanville, 'The International Community's Responsibility to Protect', Global Responsibility to Protect 2 (2010): 287–306. Rosenberg, 'Responsibility to Protect', 447. See, for example, UN Human Rights Council, Report of the High-Level Mission on the Situation of Human Rights in Darfur Pursuant to Human Rights Council Decision S-4/101 (A/HRC/4/80), March 9, 2007 (hereinafter A/HRC/4/80); United Nations, Report of International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the Secretary-General (New York: United Nations, 2005); UN Executive Office of the Secretary-General, Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka (New York: United Nations, 2011); and UN Human Rights Council, Report of the International Commission of Inquiry to Investigate All Alleged Violations of International Human Rights Law in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (A/HRC/17/44), June 1, 2011. Rosenberg, 'Responsibility to Protect', 453–4, 470. John R. Bolton, Letter from the U.S. Ambassador of the United Nations, John Bolton, to the President of the UN General Assembly, Jean Ping, August 30, 2005. International Court of Justice, Case Concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgement, ICJ Rep. (February 26, 2007); and Glanville, 'International Community's Responsibility to Protect', 300. Rosenberg, 'Responsibility to Protect'. Eric A. Heinze, 'Humanitarian Intervention: Morality and International Law on Intolerable Violations of Human Rights', International Journal of Human Rights 8, no. 4 (2004): 471–90. International Legal Commission, 2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Intentionally Wrongful Acts, With Commentaries (New York: United Nations, 2008); UN General Assembly, Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (A/RES/56/83), December 12, 2001. Rosenberg, 'Responsibility to Protect', 471. Ibid., 461, 474–6. Glanville, 'International Community's Responsibility to Protect', 289, 298–302; Stahn, 'Responsibility to Protect', 117–8. Alex J. Bellamy, The Responsibility to Protect: The Global Effort to End Mass Atrocities (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009), 6. David Chandler, 'Unravelling the Paradox of "The Responsibility to Protect"', Irish Studies in International Affairs 20 (2009): 27. A/RES/60/1, paras 138–9. See, for example, the UK delegate's description of the Security Council's 'collective failure' to protect civilians in situations of armed conflict in UN Security Council, Provisional Verbatim Record of the 5209th Meeting (S/PV.5209), June 21, 2005, 12–13; the Lebanon delegate's comments on the failure of the Security Council to protect Lebanese civilians against Israeli attacks in UN Security Council, Provisional Verbatim Record of the 5577th Meeting (S/PV.5577 Resumption 1), December 4, 2006, 18; and the Panamanian delegate's critique of the UN's and the Security Council's failure to protect civilians in cases of sexual abuse and rape in armed conflict in UN Security Council, Provisional Verbatim Record of the 5781st Meeting (S/PV.5781), November 20, 2007, 11. This term is used by Aidan Hehir in the context of humanitarian intervention but it applies equally well in R2P cases. See Aidan Hehir, 'The Responsibility to Protect: "Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing"?', International Relations 24, no. 2 (2010): 231. James Pattison, Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 10. See A/63/677, paras 49–66, for the range of possible responses. Mary Gregor, ed., Kant: The Metaphysics of Morals (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 153. A/63/677, para. 29. Ibid., paras 49–66. Ibid., para. 50. BBC, 'Libya Protests: Defiant Gaddafi Refuses to Quit', February 22, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12544624 (accessed June 6, 2011). See, respectively, UN Security Council Resolution 1970 (February 26, 2011) and 1973 (17 March 2011). Permanent Council members, China and Russia, abstained, as did non-permanent members, Germany, Brazil and India. Thomas G. Weiss, 'RtoP Alive and Well After Libya', Ethics & International Affairs 25, no. 3 (2011): 287–92; and James Pattison, 'The Ethics of Humanitarian Intervention in Libya', Ethics & International Affairs 25, no. 3 (2011): 271–7. Catherine Lu, Just and Unjust Interventions in World Politics: Public and Private (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 10. The question posed by a reporter to Shelley (10 June 1994) was 'how many acts of genocide does it take to make a genocide?' Taylor B. Seybolt, Humanitarian Military Intervention: The Conditions for Success and Failure (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 183. UN OCHA, 'Civilian Casualties in the Vanni', March, 29, 2009 (internal document). UNEOSG, Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts. UN Security Council, Security Council Press Statement on Sri Lanka (SC/9659), May 13, 2009. For a timeline of Council consideration of the Sri Lankan case, see http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/site/c.glKWLeMTIsG/b.5116275/k.40D7/Sri_LankabrHistorical_Chronology.htm. The LTTE also failed to protect civilians from mass atrocities, including killing civilians fleeing from areas under LTTE control, recruiting child soldiers and using civilians as human shields. See UNEOSG, Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts, 65–6. ReliefWeb, 'Sri Lanka: The Largest Hostage Rescue Mission in the World Launched', http://reliefweb.int/node/304201 (accessed June 6, 2011). Stahn, 'Responsibility to Protect', 117. Herbert A. Simon, 'Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment', Psychological Review 63, no. 2 (1956): 136. UN Security Council, Provisional Verbatim Record of the 5703rd Meeting (S/PV.5703), June 22, 2007, 2. UN Security Council Resolutions 1556 (July 30, 2004), operative para. 6; and 1564 (September 18, 2004), operative para. 14. K.M. Bridges, 'Between Aid and Politics: Diagnosing the Challenge of Humanitarian Advocacy in Politically Complex Environments – The Case of Darfur, Sudan', Third World Quarterly 31, no. 8 (2010): 1265. UN Security Council Resolution 1564; United Nations, Report of International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the Secretary-General, 3–5; 133–43. Dave Benjamin, 'Sudan and the Resort to Regional Arrangements: Putting Effect to the Responsibility to Protect?', International Journal of Human Rights 14, no. 2 (2010): 233–45; and Linnea Bergholm, 'The African Union, the United Nations, and Civilian Protection Challenges in Darfur', Working Paper Series No. 63 (Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre, 2010). Luke Glanville, 'Darfur and the Responsibilities of Sovereignty', International Journal of Human Rights 15, no. 3 (2011): 462–80. UN Security Council Resolution 1593 (March 31, 2005). Stephen P. Marks and Nicholas Cooper, 'The Responsibility to Protect: Watershed or Old Wine in a New Bottle?', Jindal Global Law Review 2, no. 1 (2010): 120. UNEOSG, Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts, paras 154–8. Amnesty International, Unlock the Camps in Sri Lanka: Safety and Dignity for the Displaced Now (London: Amnesty International Publications, 2009), 12–13. IRIN News, 'Sri Lanka: Warning over Sphere Standards in IDP Camps as Monsoon Looms', August 24, 2009. Amnesty International, Unlock the Camps, 13–14. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre/Norwegian Refugee Council, Sri Lanka: Continuing Humanitarian Concerns and Obstacles to Durable Solutions for Recent and Longer-term IDPs, November 10, 2009, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4afa784b2.pdf (accessed January 4, 2010). Harriss, 'Humanitarianism in Sri Lanka', 9. Human Rights Watch, 'Letter to EU Foreign Ministers on IDPs in Sri Lanka Ahead of UN General Assembly', September 11, 2009, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/09/11/letter-eu-foreign-ministers-idps-sri-lanka-ahead-un-general-assembly (accessed September 23, 2009); and Human Rights Watch, 'Sri Lanka: World Leaders Should Demand End to Detention Camps', September 22, 2009, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/VDUX-7W5RS2?OpenDocument (accessed September 23, 2009). International Crisis Group, 'Sri Lanka: A Bitter Peace', Asia Briefing No. 99 (Colombo/Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2010), 16. Bridges, 'Between Aid and Politics', 1256. Sara Pantuliano, Susanne Jaspars and Deepayan Basu Ray, Where to Now? Agency Expulsions in Sudan: Consequences and Next Steps (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2009); Andrew Heavens, 'Expulsions Hit Darfur Rape Victims: Aid Groups', Reuters, November 11, 2009. Alastair Ager, Neil Boothby and Megan Bremer, 'Using the "Protective Environment" Framework to Analyse Children's Protection Needs in Darfur', Disasters 33, no. 4 (2009): 554–6. Bridges, 'Between Aid and Politics', 1261. Comments conveyed by a senior UNHCR staff member, Geneva, 3 December 2009. DuBois, 'Protection: Fig-leaves and Other Delusions'; Hugo Slim, 'Not Philanthropy But Rights: The Proper Politicization of Humanitarian Philosophy', International Journal of Human Rights 6, no. 2 (2002): 1–22. Thomas G. Weiss and Peter Hoffman, 'The Fog of Humanitarianism: Collective Action Problems and Learning-challenged Organizations', Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 1, no. 1 (2007): 47–65. DuBois, 'Protection: Fig-leaves and Other Delusions'; Bridges, 'Between Aid and Politics'; and Harriss, 'Humanitarianism in Sri Lanka. DuBois, 'Protection: Fig-leaves and Other Delusions', 3. Karl E. Weick, Sense-making in Organizations (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995). Max Stephenson, Jr. and Marcy Schnitzer, 'Exploring the Challenges and Prospects for Polycentricity in International Humanitarian Relief', American Behavioral Scientist 52, no. 6 (2009): 919–32. Ilya Prigogine, From Being to Becoming: Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences (San Francisco, CA: W.H. Freeman, 1980). Laegreid, Protecting Civilians from Harm, 8. Fabrice Weissman, '"Not in Our Name": Why Médecins Sans Frontières Does Not Support the "Responsibility to Protect"', Criminal Justice Ethics 29, no. 2 (2010): 194–207. DuBois, 'Protection: Fig-leaves and Other Delusions', 3. Laegreid, Protecting Civilians from Harm, 14. Bonwick, 'Who Really Protects Civilians?'; and Suzanne Jaspars, Sorcha O'Callaghan and Elizabeth Stites, Linking Livelihoods and Protection: A Preliminary Analysis Based on a Review of the Literature and Agency Practice (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2007). Slim, 'Not Philanthropy But Rights'. Henry, 'Mini-Evaluation', 4–5. Slim, 'Not Philanthropy But Rights'; and Hugo Slim, 'Sharing a Universal Ethic: The Principle of Humanity in War', International Journal of Human Rights 2, no. 4 (1998): 28–48. S/2009/277, para. 60. A/63/677, para. 50.
Referência(s)