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Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert: Iraq, World Humanitarian Summit

Atrocity Alert, No.  6 No Images? Click here

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

© UNHCR/Sebastian Rich

Iraq

On 23 May Iraqi Security Forces began a major offensive to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). While the government instructed thousands of civilians remaining in Fallujah to leave and promised safe passage, ISIL has prevented most people from doing so. Civilians have been trapped in the city and suffering from acute shortages of food and medicine, with no access to humanitarian aid, since December 2015.

With more than 60 million people around the world displaced by conflict, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened the World Humanitarian Summit from 23 to 24 May in Istanbul, Turkey. The Summit brought together delegates from more than 170 countries, as well as intergovernmental organizations and leaders within civil society, to discuss an “Agenda for Humanity.”

UN and humanitarian partners are currently responding to four “Level-3” emergencies – the most severe humanitarian crises – in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In each of these situations, as well as many others, the world is witnessing widespread and systematic mass atrocity crimes. As UN Deputy-Secretary-General Jan Eliasson noted in his opening remarks to a High-Level Roundtable at the Summit, “International humanitarian and human rights law are under assault… More than 150 years of achievements to protect the most vulnerable during conflict are unraveling. The Geneva Conventions seem to have been forgotten.”

During the Summit, Global Centre Executive Director Dr. Simon Adams moderated a side event, “Security Council Action in the Service of Humanity,” hosted by the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein, and also spoke at a number of other sessions.

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Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: R2P in Focus, Issue 2

R2P in Focus

R2P in Focus is a monthly publication from the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect designed to highlight recent events and political developments concerning the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

The Future of Civilian Protection in Peace Operations: Endorsing and Implementing the Kigali Principles

The Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians, adopted during 2015, are a set of eighteen recommendations to improve the implementation of protective mandates in UN peace operations. The Principles provide a blueprint to strengthen the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations conducted in volatile and violent situations.

On 11 May 2016 the Governments of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Rwanda, in association with the Global Centre, co-hosted a high-level event on “The Future of Civilian Protection in Peace Operations: Endorsing and Implementing the Kigali Principles” at UN Headquarters in New York. The meeting was launched by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, H.E. Mr. Albert Koenders, and the Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the UN, H.E. Mr. Eugène-Richard Gasana. Other speakers included the President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, and the Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, H.E. Ms. Samantha Power, as well as former UN Force Commander Lt. General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz and Executive Director of Security Council Report Mr. Ian Martin. The event was moderated by the Global Centre’s Executive Director, Dr. Simon Adams.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Adams urged all member states to support the Kigali Principles: “In far too many situations in the world today, peacekeepers in blue helmets are all that stand between civilians and those who prey upon their misery. The Kigali Principles recognize that the protection of civilians is at the heart of twenty-first century peacekeeping. They should be endorsed by all UN member states.”

The event was covered in the New York Times, Daily Telegraph (UK) and a number of other international media outlets.

For more information on this event see our Peacekeeping and Kigali Principles page.

World Humanitarian Summit

From 23 to 24 May the Global Centre is attending the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. Executive Director Dr. Simon Adams will be moderating a side event, “Security Council Action in the Service of Humanity,” hosted by the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein, and is also speaking at a number of other side events during the Summit.

In advance of the Summit, the Global Centre collaborated with The Elders and Amnesty International on a video message which calls upon the UN Security Council to take action to prevent and halt mass atrocities by agreeing to voluntarily restrain from using their veto and adopting a Code of Conduct.

Sixth Annual Meeting of the Global Network of R2P Focal Points

The sixth annual meeting of the Global Network of R2P Focal Points will be held in Seoul from 20 to 22 June 2016. The Government of the Republic of Korea is hosting the meeting in collaboration with the Global Centre. Topics of discussion will include how R2P Focal Points can influence the development of national human rights mechanisms and linkages between development aid and atrocity prevention, among others.

Any Other Business

  • Statement on the situation in Syria. The Global Centre responded to the recent airstrikes on displaced civilians and hospitals in Syria in a statement availablehere.
  • Glion Human Rights Dialogue. On 3 and 4 May Deputy Executive Director Ms. Savita Pawnday participated in the Glion Human Rights Dialogue in Switzerland. Ms. Pawnday presented on the role of the Human Rights Council in the prevention of mass atrocity crimes.
  • Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Prevent Mass Atrocities. The Global Centre co-hosted a workshop with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, bringing together practitioners from the Global South to address the ongoing gaps between early warning and timely action in responding to mass atrocity crimes. A summary is available here.
  • UN Perspectives: The Future of Civilian Protection and the Responsibility to Protect. Motivated by the need to address the unprecedented challenges facing the UN, the Global Centre, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, hosted a workshop on the “Future of Civilian Protection and the Responsibility to Protect.” A summary is available here.

Calendar Highlights

29 May 2016

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

20 June 2016

World Refugee Day

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Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: “When the Security Council fails, the United Nations fails”

“When the Security Council fails, the United Nations fails,” video message from The Elders, Amnesty International and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

In advance of the World Humanitarian Summit next week, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect collaborated with The Elders and Amnesty International on a video message calling upon the UN Security Council to take action to prevent and halt mass atrocities by agreeing to voluntarily restrain from using their veto and adopting a Code of Conduct.

The message features interviews with members of The Elders – including Jimmy Carter,  Kofi Annan and Mary Robinson –  as well as Secretary-General of Amnesty International, Salil Shetty, and Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Simon Adams.

On 24 May, Dr. Adams will moderate a high-level event organized by the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein on the sidelines of the World Humanitarian Summit on “Security Council action in the service of humanity:implementing the commitment to prevent or end genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

Note for editors: The video features Kofi Annan, Chair of The Elders; Jimmy Carter, Elder and former President of the United States; Salil Shetty, Secretary-General of Amnesty International; Simon Adams, Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect; Mary Robinson, Elder and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Martti Ahtisaari, Elder and former President of Finland; and Hina Jilani, Elder and Pakistani human rights advocate.

ICTJ: Debate Continues: Is Remembrance about Rights or Ideology?
Dear friends,

Our online debate is heating up with Pablo de Greiff and David Rieff’s rebuttals. We want to thank Sihem Bensedrine, President of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission, and all of those who already shared their valuable opinions in the comments section. We are looking forward to reading contributions from all of you. Your participation is key to this conversation.

We invite you to read Pablo and David’s responses to each other’s opening arguments. I am sure it will be hard not to jump in after you read their articles – and we hope you do!

Here is a taste of their rebuttal essays:

The Duty to Remember

“A blog is not the best place to lay the argument in favor of a duty. But let me try. Recalling that what is at stake here is not memory but the public acknowledgment of great violations of rights, a refusal to acknowledge them, to give them a place in our public space, involves a value judgment that there is no way to spin without demeaning the value of the victims or the importance of rights — not just their rights but rights in general for the value of the notion that these days rests to a large extent on their generalizability.

Aside from what it says about those who persist in the refusal to acknowledge the pain of others when the subject is the greatest atrocities known to human beings, at the limit, persisting in the refusal to acknowledge great harms in itself generates new harms. Recall, again, that the forms of remembrance at stake in this discussion are not private recollections but public manifestations of recognition.

To the extent that we expect others to be part of a shared political community, we owe them sufficient recognition for them to take the project to be truly shared. This is very clear in the case of our fellow citizens. “Fellow citizens,” however, does not refer to our compatriots only or those with whom we share a nationality. We are today fellow citizens of a community of rights. To the extent that we expect others to trust us in that capacity, we have the duty to remember everything that we cannot reasonably expect our fellow citizens to forget.”
Go to Pablo de Greiff’s Essay

Collective Remembrance is Ideological, Not Impartial

“Our disagreement largely centers on what happens later on, when those who have suffered the injury and, for that matter, their children and grandchildren, are no longer alive. Because while de Greiff is unquestionably right that for a victim of the military dictatorship in Argentina or the Ben Ali dictatorship in Tunisia, forgetting is not an option, those memories are as mortal as the people who retain them. To make an obvious point, there is in fact no such thing as collective memory but only individual memory.

Instead, what we are talking about when we invoke collective memory is the consensus about the past that societies develop and that evolve over time. It is that form of collective memory that I am so skeptical of, because, again, of my sense that it can be such a dangerous goad to resentment, hate, and war. From what de Greiff writes in his first contribution, I did not have the impression that he would necessarily disagree.

One final point, both de Greiff and Bensedrine appeal almost exclusively to the language of rights as if rights could be distanced from politics. As someone who believes that law is a fundamentally political artifact, I do not think this is possible. I would simply point out that, uncomfortable as many (though certainly not all) of its advocates are to admit this, human rights is an ideology just as surely as communism was or neoliberalism is today. Can a fundamentally ideological construct lay serious claim to being impartial? Perhaps it can, but I have to say I think it highly unlikely.”
Go to David Rieff’s Essay
Thank you again for all your contributions. Stay tuned for more upcoming guest contributors and closing remarks next week.

Sincerely,

Marcie Mersky
ICTJ Director of Programs

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert: Iraq, DRC, Nigeria

Atrocity Alert, No.  5 No Images? Click here

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

UNHCR Photos

Iraq

On 17 May the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) killed at least 77 people in three suicide bombings in Baghdad. This follows several bombings by ISIL in the Iraqi capital last week, killing at least 100 people around mainly Shia areas of the city, making these the deadliest series of sectarian attacks this year. The attacks are intensifying tensions, including among rival Shia armed groups, putting civilians at a greater risk of mass atrocities.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Amidst reports of violent repression of opposition supporters, the constitutional court in the DRC ruled on 11 May that President Joseph Kabila may stay in office beyond the end of his term in December if the country is unable to hold elections this year. As political tensions in Kinshasa grow, armed groups in the eastern DRC continue to perpetrate atrocities against populations. Allegations have emerged that officers within the Congolese army aided and/or abetted in massacres committed by the Allied Democratic Forces and other armed groups in Beni, North Kivu.

UN Photo/Clara Padovan

UN Photos

Nigeria

On 17 May in Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest a vigilante group – the Civilian Joint Task Force – reportedly rescued one of the more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a school in Chibok more than two years ago. This was the first Chibok girl to be rescued, but hundreds of other children abducted by Boko Haram from schools in Chibok, Damasak and other areas remain missing and the government has been unable to liberate them. Last month UNICEF reported that one in five suicide bombers used by Boko Haram is a child, including girls abducted by the group. It is imperative that the government strengthen efforts to rescue remaining abductees.

In case you missed it:

On 15 May the Global Centre published Issue 27 of R2P Monitor, featuring the crises in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Burma/Myanmar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Burundi, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Central African Republic and South Sudan.