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Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

Expected Council Action
The Council will hold an open briefing and is expected to adopt a third resolution on strengthening and enhancing the protection of civilians in armed conflicts which will pick up the language approved by Heads of Government at the September World Summit on responsibility to protect civilians. A report of the Secretary-General is due 28 November. An Arria formula briefing was hosted by the UK on 22 November 2005.

Key Facts
The growing need for enhanced protection of civilians in armed conflict was first addressed in detail in the report of the Secretary-General on the causes of conflict in Africa (S/1998/318 of 13 April 1998). The Secretary-General observed that a deterioration of the respect for international humanitarian norms had led in the preceding years to targeting civilians and also relief workers, thereby dramatically worsening their conditions in conflict situations. Therefore, he identified protecting civilians as a “humanitarian imperative”. At the initiative of Canada, the issue of the protection of civilians in armed conflict was first introduced to the Security Council on 12 February 1999. Following an open briefing, a presidential statement was adopted, requesting the Secretary-General to submit a report giving the Council insights on how it could improve the physical and legal protection of civilians. To date, the Secretary-General has issued four reports and the Security Council, in addition to holding semi-annual open briefings, has adopted two resolutions and six presidential statements.

Resolution 1265 of 17 September 1999 expressed concerns about the erosion in respect for humanitarian, human rights and refugee law and principles in armed conflict and strongly condemned deliberate targeting of civilians. It expressed Council’s willingness to respond through the consideration of appropriate measures to situations of conflicts where civilians were targeted and humanitarian assistance was deliberately obstructed.  Resolution 1296 of 19 April 2000 reaffirmed Council’s  concerns, affirmed its intention to ensure that peacekeeping missions be given  suitable mandates and adequate resources to protect civilians under immediate threat of physical danger, and focused on several operational areas of protection. It also requested the Secretary-General to bring to its attention situations in which civilians were particularly vulnerable and to address issues related to the protection of civilians in his periodic reports on the matters with which the Council was already seized.

In 2002, Norway, at the time an elected Council member, led the way in preparing in consultation with the Secretariat, an aide memoire that highlighted specific issues for consideration in addressing protection of civilians in armed conflict as well as listed previous Council resolutions and statements with reference to similar concerns. The document was adopted as an annex to a presidential statement and was meant as a practical tool assisting the Council in analysing and diagnosing protection issues as well as in drafting resolutions and designing peacekeeping mandates.

In December the Council, under the UK presidency, will consider a third resolution on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The text, a draft of which is already being circulated, will take up the language of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document with its provisions regarding the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. It is also expected to emphasize the unacceptability of impunity for such crimes; to condemn in strongest terms sexual and all other forms of violence against women and children in situations of armed conflict; and to deplore all acts of sexual exploitation, abuse and trafficking by personnel involved in UN operations.

Key Issues
One of the main issues for the Council has been not so much the adoption of generic lofty statements, but the practical challenge of systematically incorporating the principles related to protection of civilians from resolutions 1265 and 1296 in country-specific resolutions and in peacekeeping   activities and changing the realities on the ground. The record has been mixed, though, increasingly, the Council has been including provisions ensuring the protection of civilians in designing new mandates or modifying old ones.  However, much remains to be done to consistently implement those provisions.

Council Dynamics
There is a is broad consensus about the necessity to enhance protection of civilians in armed conflict, and the need for better implementation of Council resolutions on this matter. The lead supporters among current Council members have been the UK, France, Argentina, Benin, Denmark, Japan and Tanzania.

Options
There is a general agreement that a third resolution on the theme needs be adopted. 

• One option is to simply reiterate and update the previous texts and debates.
• However, a second option, reflected in the draft that is circulating, is for the Council to be more assertive with regards to particular fields of concern: respect for international humanitarian law, condemnation of sexual abuse against women and children, need for addressing sexual abuse by members of UN field operations, necessity to ensure safe access to conflict areas for humanitarian personnel, strengthening of DDR processes and, possibly, the use of force to protect civilians, drawing upon the concept of responsibility to protect.
• A third option is for the Council to revisit the recommendations of the Secretary-General in paragraphs 60-63 of his 1999 report which were not taken up at that time and which specifically address the issue of implementation in the field.

Underlying Problems
Despite significant progress to protect civilians since this issue first was raised by the Council, there is still a wide gap between the rhetoric and the actual ability of the Council to ensure that peacekeeping missions and UN agencies implement specific provisions to effectively protect civilians.

The absence within the UN system of standardised operational doctrine to disseminate to peacekeeping units the protection of civilians standards is a major problem.

Historical Background

Full forecast

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