Jahreskonferenz EDA Abteilung Menschliche Sicherheit AMS

Donnerstag, 17. Oktober 2013Kursaal, Bern

Conférence annuelle du DFAE, Division Sécurité humaine DSH

Jeudi 17 octobre 2013Kursaal, Berne

Conferenza annuale del DFAE, Divisione Sicurezza umana DSU

Giovedì, 17 ottobre 2013Berna, Kursaal

FDFA Annual Conference Human Security Division HSD

Thursday, 17 October 2013Bern, Kursaal

Schutz der Zivilbevölkerung in bewaffneten Konflikten

Protection de la population civiledans les conflits armés

Protezione della popolazione civiledurante conflitti armati

Protectionof Civiliansin Armed Conflicts

EDA JaKo 2013 Voravis V.indd 1 09.07.13 15:43

Protecting civilians in armed conflict

Civilians and armed conflictCurrently, the majority of the victims of armed conflict are civilians. To give just one example, most of the 100,000 who have died in what is now almost three years of the Syrian conflict were civilians. The conflict has also resulted in many injured and miss-ing persons among the civilian population and has forced more than 4 million people to leave their homes to seek refuge elsewhere in the country. More than 1.5 million have left Syria.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo more than 4 million Congolese, the large major-ity civilians, have died since the end of the 1990s in the different conflicts that have ravaged the country.

Civilians are often the direct victims of hostilities, but they can also be indirectly af-fected by the destruction of infrastructures that are vital for their survival such as healthcare and water distribution systems.

Civilians have frequently made up the large majority of the victims of conflicts. In most cases, the legal framework that regulates war was developed following particularly serious incidents. Thus the Fourth Geneva Convention concerning the protection of ci-vilians was only adopted after World War 2, which was marked among other things by the indiscriminate bombing of cities like Rotterdam, London, Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The fact that almost two thirds of the victims of this conflict were civilians finally provided the impetus to strengthen the legal framework.

Today, the main problem is not an absence of regulation but the failure of parties to conflicts to respect the rules. The international community woke up to this fact in the 1980s. The conflicts in the former Yugoslavia were sadly notorious for the sexual vio-lence and forced displacement that occurred (in Bosnia, it is estimated that more than 50,000 people were raped and 2.2 million forcibly evicted from their homes). During the same period, the conflict in Somalia and subsequent pillaging caused one of the worst famines ever to take place in this region of the world, costing the lives of 300,000 people and forcing hundreds of thousands into exile. Furthermore, humanitarian organisations were often prevented from assisting those in need. In the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, between 500,000 and 1 million people lost their lives. In none of these three contexts were peacekeeping missions in a position to influence the events, a fact which demon-strated the powerlessness of the international community to prevent genocide.

Protecting civiliansThese tragedies and failures produced a growing awareness of the importance of pro-tecting civilian populations; the first report by the United Nations Secretary-General was published in 1999.

For Switzerland, the protection of civilians in armed conflicts encompasses all activi-ties aimed at obtaining full respect for the rights of persons not participating or no longer

participating in hostilities, in accordance with the letter and spirit of the applicable law. By ratifying the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland and all of the other states have commit-ted themselves to respect and ensure respect for this law.

This involves not only protection against direct physical attacks but also making sure that civilians can continue to live in dignified conditions.

There has been a broad realisation that the protection of civilians can only result from global action with the involvement of all state and non-state actors. The state carries the primary responsibility for protecting populations and may not defer this responsibil-ity, even though some humanitarian organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UN-HCR) have a mandate to protect conferred on them by the international community.

In his recent reports, the United Nations Secretary-General has identified five core challenges:1. Enhancing compliance with international law.2. Enhancing compliance by non-state armed groups.3. Enhancing protection by United Nations peacekeeping and other relevant missions.4. Improving humanitarian access: Access is a fundamental prerequisite for humanita-

rian action.5. Enhancing accountability for violations: Fundamental to strengthening compliance

is the need to bolster accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, for both parties to conflict and individual perpetrators.

Switzerland’s responseThe protection of civilians is firmly anchored in Switzerland’s humanitarian tradition, alongside the promotion of human rights, peace policy and development cooperation. Furthermore, it is enshrined in Swiss legislation and is a central component of Swit-zerland’s foreign policy. In 2009, Switzerland was also the first country in the world to have adopted a strategy on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

This responds to Switzerland’s desire to enhance the protection of civilians in armed conflict through coherent use of the instruments at its disposal. As a state, Switzerland contributes to strengthening the normative framework, stepping up action in favour of those requiring protection and supporting the efforts of international peacekeeping missions. This commitment takes the form of a number of complementary efforts.

For example, in order to strengthen the normative framework, Switzerland has de-veloped a handbook on the normative framework underpinning humanitarian access in situations of armed conflict. Switzerland calls on other states to ratify the relevant trea-ties, for example during bilateral meetings or Universal Periodic Reviews. It also provides funding to international organisations which disseminate information about the norma-tive framework, for example Geneva Call, an NGO which provides information on inter-national humanitarian law to armed groups worldwide. In addition, Switzerland supports projects and initiatives that seek to identify better modes of dialogue with armed groups to encourage them to respect or pay closer attention to the legal framework.

Switzerland takes determined action to fight impunity through lobbying, for example with its letter, co-signed by 57 states, calling on the Security Council to refer the case of Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In addition to this, it supports mecha-nisms such as investigative committees and international tribunals.

To strengthen operations in favour of those requiring protection in armed con-flict, Switzerland provides funding to ICRC, UNHCR, UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (UNICEF). It also seconds specialists to these organisations. The consult-ant on displaced persons seconded to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York and protection specialists sent to the World Food Program (WFP) are two examples.

Furthermore, Swiss humanitarian aid helps to remedy the direct impact of conflict on infrastructures (in particular on water and sanitation), as is the case in South Sudan.

With a view to enhancing protection by international peacekeeping missions, Switzerland helps to fund United Nations peacekeeping missions and supports training centres such as the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. Switzerland seconds police personnel and civilian experts to peacekeeping missions, for example in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Finally, through its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, Switzerland seeks to ensure that the standards regulating peacekeeping operations better respond to the challenges of protecting civilians in armed conflict.