Speech
03 June 2007
Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation
"The Responsibility to Protect in Africa"
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Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
Let me begin by thanking the Swedish UN Association for organising this seminar on the responsibility to protect in Africa. It is a great pleasure for me to participate, as this is an issue at the heart of my work as Minister for Development Cooperation, and a priority in the Government's Africa policy as a whole.
I also want to thank the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research) for your report, which puts the responsibility to protect in an African context and focuses on the responsibility to react, to protect populations in crisis. The relevance of your approach is painfully obvious in the case of Darfur, which I recently visited. Sudan's government is responsible for the security and well-being of its population, but the failure to protect people in Darfur also reflects on the international community.
It was a major achievement of the international community to agree on the principle of the responsibility to protect, at the UN Summit in September 2005. World leaders have acknowledged that the primary responsibility to protect a population lies with the state itself, and that the international community has the right and obligation to react when states are unable or unwilling to take on that responsibility.
So we have the commitment, but commitments are not enough.
In order to ensure sustainable peace, we need to put the principles into practise:
We need to develop more effective measures against atrocities and violations of international law.
We need to improve legal measures to bring perpetrators to justice.
We need instruments and strategies to make the responsibility to protect operational.
IPPR's analysis and policy recommendations are valuable contributions to this discussion.
Sweden is among those states that have worked hard to gain support for the principle that we have a shared responsibility to protect people from genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In a world where peoples and economies are brought closer together, the internal and external security of states become closely linked.
In today's world states cannot prosper, nor can they build security, in isolation. States and regions are increasingly dependent on effective multilateral systems such as the EU and the AU. A strong UN, well-functioning international institutions and a rule-based international order are in our common interest.
Security is a precondition for development. Conflicts and human rights violations do not only cause human suffering - they also cost. Conflicts destroy both physical and social infrastructure and make normal economic activity impossible. Societies that do not have democratic and accountable institutions, societies that lack peaceful means of dealing with crises, also lack opportunities for development and prosperity. Respect for human rights is necessary to achieve security and development, and these three elements are mutually reinforcing.
The responsibility to protect gives precedence to human dignity. It puts the rights of the individual at the core and makes human security a priority. It states a fundamentally new rule for international relations: that the security of every people is a common responsibility.
As a politician, I also recognise the challenge of putting the responsibility to protect at the top of our political agenda. Not just in seminars like this or debates in the UN, but bilaterally, with countries either involved in conflict or with powers to influence developments on the ground. We should speak to Beijing as well as Brussels, to Cairo as well as Kinshasa.
The link between security, development and human rights is particularily clear in Africa, where a number of countries and regions are caught in a vicious cycle of conflict, insecurity and poverty. The scars from the Rwandan genocide are a constant reminder of the shortcomings of the international community. In Darfur, the violations of human rights and international law continue.
And yet Africa is the continent of contradictions. The last few decades have presented serious drawbacks but also great progress. The number of armed conflicts has dropped. Democratic achievements and substantial economic growth are bringing new hope to many countries. Poverty is being reduced.
The African Union has rapidly grown into an important normative and executive actor, in both the political and security fields, ready to act on problems and conflict in partnership with the EU and the UN.
The developing and heterogenous Africa requires us to reconsider our approach to the continent. This will be reflected in the Government Communication to be presented to Parliament this year. It will underline the new phase in Africa's development - where we see Africa as an actor and as an arena.
African leadership is necessary to end African conflicts. Without it there can be no lasting peace. Our support to the AU must build on that understanding and include an intensified dialogue with African partners.
The international community must to a larger extent develop support for African-owned priorities and capacities for conflict prevention, conflict management and post-conflict situations. Such support must encourage an ownership based on leadership, accountability and responsibility.
The UN, the EU, Nato and the AU and African sub-regional organisations reinforce each other in the field of conflict prevention and management. But to achieve a truly effective international partnership for peace, stability and security in Africa it is important that we identify areas where the organisations can provide real added value.
The role of the AU in achieving peace, stability and security in Africa cannot be underestimated. However, there are also strong links to the AU's development agenda. The new threats and challenges to security and political stability are no longer purely military.
A central element of Swedish cooperation with the AU is capacity building. I am pleased that many of your policy recommendations also focus on this and specifically in relation to the situation in Darfur.
I went there to see the reality behind the statistics. I wanted to meet victims of the atrocities and listen to their stories and needs. And so I did.
Once there, the huge numbers of raped women, hundreds of thousands killed, millions of people driven from their homes, became real. I met women who had suffered rape. I met humanitarian organisations that are trying desperately to make life bearable for people in the refugee camps. They have all too often witnessed violations of human rights and been targets of violence themselves. These unacceptable violations must be brought to an end and those responsible brought to justice.
I am deeply concerned that Sudan is not living up to its obligations under human rights law and international humanitarian law. There are also clear rules regarding the conduct of hostilities. Rules that are constantly broken in Darfur. Civilians, mostly women and children, continue to pay a heavy price. All parties to this conflict must respect international law, including international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles.
If the Sudanese government is unable - or unwilling - to protect and assist its own citizens, it must provide for the unhindered and safe access of humanitarian organisations to civilians in need. At present humanitarian work in Darfur is seriously hampered by abuse and attacks on humanitarian staff, and by administrative restrictions imposed by the Sudanese authorities. This is totally unacceptable. The commitments made in the joint communiqué with the UN on facilitation of Humanitarian Activities in Darfur must be implemented by Sudan.
The victims of sexual violence and other forms of abuse must receive care and treatment, redress and remedy. It is a shared responsibility of donors and of UN bodies such as UNIFEM to support and protect the voice and empowerment of Sudanese women.
Sweden will continue to emphasise the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 within all aspects of its development cooperation in Sudan.
Sustainable peace in Darfur and in Sudan as a whole, can only be achieved through a political solution, within Sudan. The UN, the AU and the EU offer support. The Swedish Government fully support Jan Eliasson, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Darfur, and Salim Salim, the AU Special Envoy on Darfur, in their endeavours to revitalize the political process and move towards peace negotiations.
Still, the responsibility remains with the government of Sudan. It must live up to its commitments in line with the agreements in Addis Ababa and at the AU PSC in November last year, and in getting an AU/UN hybrid force on the ground in Darfur.
With the African Union Mission in Sudan, AMIS, in Darfur, the AU has demonstrated its determination to show leadership to end conflicts, in a dangerous and crucial task.
Sweden and Norway have offered a joint engineering battalion to the UN Heavy Support Package in support of AMIS in Darfur. (to be updated according to events)
Protection of populations is a key element in the mandates of all peacekeeping forces in Sudan.
Dear friends,
Today the international community is spending huge sums on humanitarian efforts in Darfur, resources that could be spent to help build a better future for Sudan.
I believe that the responsibility to protect is one of those good principles that will prove to be also a practical tool. It has three important elements: to prevent, to react and to rebuild. We must learn to act before a situation reaches the point of humanitarian catastrophe.
Darfur has rightly become the focus of many discussions on the responsibility to protect. But it cannot be the only focus. We need to look beyond Darfur, to identify and prevent the Darfurs of tomorrow. Where is prevention needed today? Where should reconstruction efforts be aimed specifically at protecting vulnerable groups from risks of future violence?
The international community has a responsibility to further develop the concept, to make it operational. Sweden will continue to work with other (UN) member states to make this happen.
In Sudan this spring, I met women and children who should have been protected a long time ago. We must not let our historic failures to act in time prevent us from acting now and in the future. On the contrary.
Safeguarding civilians is truly a common responsibility. As such it is ours and also mine. I look forward to listening to your presentation.
Thank you!
