Special Issues in IHL:World Humanitarian Summit

Human Security Agenda & PartnershipGeneva-Manila Network

Philippine IHL Month – IHL TrainingAteneo Professional Schools, Rockwell

27 August 2015

Jesus S. Domingo MNSA LLM PhD

Assistant Secretary of Foreign AffairsOffice of Untied Nations & International Organizations

Department of Foreign AffairsRepublic of the Philippines

Word Humanitarian Summit

•  ”.. bring together governments, humanitarian organizations, people affected by humani-tarian crises and new partners including the private sector to propose solutions to our most pressing challenges and set an agenda to keep humanitarian action fit for the future...”

• Multi-sectoral process, organized by UN.

• Istanbul, 23-24 May 2016

World Humanitarian Summit

• Four Themes:– Humanitarian Effectiveness– Reducing Vulnerability &

Managing Risk– Transformation Through

Innovation– Serving the Needs of People in

Conflict

• Outcome: New Humanitarian Agenda

• National Consultations to be led by DFA-UNIO

Human Security Agenda

• Ratifications / Implementing Legislation for IHL and other HS Treaties

• Support to new HS Initiatives– Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence & Devt– Montreux Document on PMSCs– Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons– Autonomous Weapons– Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes

TREATY SIGNED DEPOSITED REMARKSConvention Relating to the Status of Stateless PersonsNew York, 28 September 1954 22 June 1955 22 September 2011

Needs Implementing Legislation

Convention on the Reduction of StatelessnessNew York, 30 August 1961

 

Convention Relating to the Status of RefugeesGeneva, 28 July 1951

--- 22 July1981 (acceded) Needs Implementing Legislation

Protocol Relating to the Status of RefugeesNew York, 31 January 1967

--- 22 July 1981 (acceded) Needs Implementing Legislation

Convention on Cluster MunitionsDublin, 30 May 2008

3 December 2008  

Arms Trade TreatyNew York, 2 April 201

25 September 2013

Anti-Personnel Mines Convention Oslo, 18 September 1997 3 December 1997 15 February 2000

 Needs Implementing Legislation

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Geneva, 10 October 1980

15 May 1981 15 July 1996

Party to Framework Convention & Protocols I (Non-detectable fragments), II (Mines, Booby Traps etc), III (Incendiary Weapons), IV (Blinding Laser Weapons); Need to Ratify Protocol V (Explosive Remnants of War), Needs Implementing Legislation

Kampala Amendments• Outcome of the RevCon of Rome Statute of the International

Criminal Court (ICC) held in Kampala, Uganda on 31 May - 11 June 2010.

• (1) Criminalizes use of certain weapons in non-international conflicts whose use was already forbidden in international conflicts. (2) Defines Crime of Aggression which had been included in the Rome Statute in 1998 but elaboration deferred.

• The ICC can exercise jurisdiction over the CoA (1) if the amendment enters into force for 30 States Parties or (2) the Assembly of States Parties votes in favor of allowing the ICC to exercise jurisdiction.

• 23 ICC Member States have ratified the Kampala Amendments. • PHL to conduct Inter-Agency Consultations in September 2015

Montreux Document• Intergovernmental voluntary framework re Private Military and

Security Companies (PMSCs) and IHL & IHRL observance in armed conflicts.

• Addresses status of PMSC personnel under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, individual accountability for misconduct in different jurisdictions, and the authorities’ duty to oversee and screen the actions of firms for potential misconduct.

• International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (ICoC): for private sector, complements MD. Requires that human rights- based requirements be placed directly in employment contracts.

• SE Asian Regional Conference, PHL, 9 -10 July 2013:– PMSC’s services include the protection of military assets,

weapons system maintenance and training of personnel.– Emerging Issues: Use of PMSC in the Extractive and Mining

Industries in the Philippines and Indonesia – Recalls that PMSCs are under States’ purview, States are under

the obligation to ensure respect for IHL and IHRL law by PMSCs and are responsible for investigating and prosecuting wrongful acts committed by PMSCs

– DFA-UNIO: Need to Continue engagements with foreign recruiting PMSCs and governments as well as ASEAN and to consider national legislation that would interface IHL and IHRL with the commercial and labour needs of recruiting companies.

Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development

• A diplomatic initiative aimed at addressing the interrelations between armed violence and development.

• Regional Review Conf for Asia & Pacific held in Manila 8-9 Oct 2014 “Ending armed violence for peace and development”– human security has a negative impact on development gains and

that unsustainable forms for development and irresponsible resource extraction may contribute to insecurity and violence.

– Areas afflicted by armed conflict and violence have remained consistently low on the human development indexes.

Agreed on following steps to achieve armed violence reduction and prevention (AVRP):1. The use of data is central to developing solutions and measuring

results;2. The participation of women, youth and local communities is

fundamental role for building peace, fostering dialogue and security, and preventing violence.

3. Security and justice providers play a central role for peace and development

4. The role of media in AVRP and development5. The region shows that a better forearms control rings about measurable

reductions of violence6. Providing clear priorities for peace and armed violence reduction within

the post-2015 agenda.

Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons

• A diplomatic process, introduced the concept of “unacceptable harm” and shifted the focus of the impact of NW on the human race rather than their perceived military advantages.

• The profile of the humanitarian impact of weapons has been highlighted due to effective advocacies, e.g., Princess Diana on landmines, or the recent nuclear incident in Fukushima.

• No significant progress has been recently achieved in the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the UN Disarmament Comm. (UNDC).

• The three conferences on the HINW in Oslo, Nayarit and Vienna have helped draw attention to the impacts of Nuclear Weapons and the “legal gap” in the WMD law. The conferences have also prompted the development of the Humanitarian Pledge.

Autonomous Weapons Systems• Defined as weapons that can independently select and attack targets,

i.e. with autonomy in the ‘critical functions’ of acquiring, tracking, selecting and attacking targets.

• Rapid progress in civilian robotics. But existing autonomous robotic systems have some key limitations: they are not capable of complex decision-making and reasoning performed by humans; they have little capacity to perceive their environment or to adapt to unexpected changes; and they are therefore incapable of operating outside simple environments. Increased autonomy in robotic systems will be accompanied by greater unpredictability in the way they will operate.

• There is recognition of the importance of maintaining human control over selecting and attacking targets, although there is less clarity on what would constitute ‘meaningful human control’.

• US policy states that “autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems shall be designed to allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force.”

• UK policy is that the “autonomous release of weapons” will not be permitted and that “…operation of weapon systems will always be under human control.”

• Development and use of autonomous weapon systems in armed conflict is governed by IHL including the obligation to undertake legal reviews in the study, development, acquisition or adoption of new weapons.

• There is acknowledgement that programming a machine to undertake the qualitative judgements required to apply the IHL rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack, particularly in complex and dynamic conflict environments, would be extremely challenging.

Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes

• GAAMAC is a state-led voluntary network of partners interested in atrocity prevention, Its objective is to provide an open and global forum to facilitate greater networking, exchange of experience, sharing of information and provision of expertise amongst States and Organization interested in operationalizing the prevention of mass atrocity crimes, namely: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

• GAAMAC intends to support States by developing their national architectures for the prevention of mass atrocity crimes.

• The Philippines is being invited by Switzerland to be a member of the core group of GAAMAC along with Argentina and Morocco.

States must adhere to the following principles:1. States have the primary responsibility to protect their population

under existing international law2. MACs can occur in any society, thus preventive efforts must be

made early, in manifold ways and at multiple levels.3. Understanding the roots and dynamics of mass atrocity crimes and

in keeping with the principle of inclusiveness, addressing them in a timely and manner at the national level within a constitutional and legal framework is the most efficient way to prevent MACs.

4. Committing MACs requires preparation and premeditation, thus preventive measures are necessary.

5. Dealing with the past and acting against impunity are essential to the non-recurrence of MACs.

6. Political will, knowledge, technical capacity and financial resources are essential to the non-recurrence of MACs.

Other Issues & Initiatives

• IHL in ASEAN ? Global vs Regional Approaches• IHL / International Disaster Law (IDL) Nexus• IHL and Migrants / Red Cross “Lifelines”• Adoption of IHL/IHRL Norms by Armed Non-State Actors • Gender-based Violence in War• Preventing Harm from Explosive Weapons on Populated Areas• Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack• Use of other Weapons of Mass Destruction (Chemical, Biological)• Use of Drones / Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)• Setting Aside UNSC Veto Re: Crimes Against Humanity / Genocide• Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

Human Security Partnership

• Diplomatic-Academic Community of Practice on Human Security (DACOP-HS)

• Wholistic approach to diplomatic advocacy for– Humanitarianism, Human Rights & Security– International Humanitarian Law & Policy– International Disaster Law & Policy– International Criminal Law & Policy– International Refugee and Migration Law & Policy

• Close cooperation with Swiss & other Governments, UN, ICRC/IFRC/PRC, IOM, ASEAN, Universities, et al.

IHL and Science Fiction

• Should “Humanitarian” be “Sentientarian” / “Sophontarian” ?– Alien Species, “Intelligent” Robots ?

• Genocide: Battlestar Galactica – Cylon Invasion, Star Trek – Borg Conflict, Terminator, Matrix

• Weapons of Mass Destruction: Star Wars – Death Star, Star Trek – Genesis Device

• Robots / Autonomous Weapons: Terminator, Matrix, Cylons• Time Travel Warfare ?• Model “United Galaxy” / “ Interstellar Committee of the Red xxx ?”

Simulation ?

Geneva-Manila Network

• Network / alumni assoc of “Ancien Genevois” & Geneva “Maison de la Paix”:– University of Geneva– Graduate Institute of International &

Development Studies– Geneva Academy of IHL & Human Rights– Geneva Center for Security Policy– GE Center for the Democratic Control of

the Armed Forces

• Promotion of “Humanitarian Geneva”

• Support to Geneva-based humanitarian initiatives

Thank You !

E: domingojs23 @ yahoo.comE: jesus.domingo @ dfa.gov.ph

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