Providing Security to Forced Migrants and Humanitarian Operations

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Providing Security to Forced Migrants and
Humanitarian Operations Lydia Mann-Bondat
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• An opportunity has been regained to achieve the
  great objectives of the Charter - a United
  Nations capable of maintaining international
  peace and security, of securing justice and human
  rights and of promoting, in the words of the
  Charter, "social progress and better standards of
  life in larger freedom".
• Boutros Boutros Ghali, An Agenda for Peace, 1992
• The 1990s is a decade of voluntary
  repatriation.
• UNHCR High Commissioner Sadako Ogata, June 26,
  1992

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Facts

• There are approximately 50 million refugees in
  the world today
• About 20 million fall under the responsibility of
  UNHCR, the UN agency with an international
  mandate to assist and protect refugees
• 30 million others, largely the internally
  displaced, have no international organization or
  international law mandated to protect and assist
  them
• Civil conflict, natural disasters, ethnic and
  political battles, breakdowns in public order,
  and individual persecution all cause civilians to
  flee their homes

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Characteristics of Conflict Zones

• Proliferation of non-state, armed actors
  (including UN)
• Civilians seen as legitimate targets of war
• Frequent mass movements of populations, both
  refugees and IDPs
• International political involvement
• Presence of large numbers of aid workers with
  many affiliations

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Responsibility

• The nation state is the actor most able to
  prevent or resolve armed conflict in another
  country or their own
• Nation states are responsible for protecting
  civilians and upholding standards of
  international humanitarian or human rights law on
  their territory

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International Intervention

• When governments are unable or unwilling to
  protect civilians on their territory,
  international and/or regional organizations have
  come forward to
• Provide humanitarian aid
• Dispatch peacekeepers or civilian police
• What governments have NOT done is to
• Develop and/or use conflict prevention measures,
  sufficient arms controls, norms setting, and
  early warning systems
• Create credible deterrents to or sanctions for
  attacks on forced migrants or humanitarian aid
  workers

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Public Security

• A breakdown in public security is the primary
  problem facing civilians during a humanitarian
  emergency
• Collapse of state structures
• Lawlessness, banditry, and crime
• Attacks on civilians and aid workers
• Diversion of aid for conflict purposes
• Civilian police are trained and qualified to
  maintain public security
• Military actors are ill-trained and ill-equipped
  for public security responsibilities

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Civilian Police (CIVPOL)

• Responsibilities
• Monitoring, training, and mentoring of local
  police forces
• Investigating human rights abuses
• Reforming and/or establishing local police forces
• Protecting UN staff
• Assisting in refugee return
• CIVPOL are traditionally unarmed and therefore
  rely on the force of example as an impartial,
  professional force to gain the respect of local
  communities, governments, and armed forces

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Challenges

• CIVPOL forces are
• Often not approved by UN member states
• Often ill-equipped and ill-trained
• Enter conflict with little background knowledge
• Experience cohesion problems
• Unarmed actors in highly dangerous situations

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Solutions

• Greater training in IHL and IHRL
• Provide clear, robust and enforceable mandates
• Sufficient resources and personnel
• Create standing UN police force

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International Military Actors

• UN peacekeepers
• Regional forces (ECOMOG, NATO)
• Coalitions of the willing (Afghanistan)
• Mercenaries/PMCs

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Critical Point

• When violence reaches a certain threshold,
  tactics of humanitarian actors, CIVPOL and
  diplomacy will be either insufficient to stop
  conflict or likely to take time

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Challenges

• Mandates
• Resources
• Military/Humanitarian Collaboration
• International Political Will

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Solutions

• Reform of UN Peacekeeping
• Strengthen Regional Peacekeeping Forces
• Regulation of Mercenaries or Private Military
  Companies (PMCs)
• Explore Use of European Constabulary Forces

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Role of Humanitarian Agencies

• Security of Forced Migrants
• Security of Aid Workers and Humanitarian Aid

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Security of Forced Migrants

• Sexual and Physical Violence
• Sexual Exploitation
• Do No Harm
• Small Arms

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Security of Aid Workers and Humanitarian Aid

• Comprehensive and Flexible Security Plans
• Cooperation and Coordination
• UNSECOORD
• UNHCR Humanitarian Security Officers
• Accountability
• International Criminal Court (ICC)
• Tribunals

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Major Recommendations

• Governments
• Greater Use of Conflict Prevention, Resolution
  and Management Tools
• Strengthen Support for the International Criminal
  Court (ICC)
• Understand and Separate Police and Military Roles
• Create a Standing UN Police Force
• Reform UN and Regional Peacekeeping
• Regulate Mercenaries/PMCs

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Major Recommendations

• Humanitarian Agencies
• Attention to Security
• Coordination and Cooperation
• Do No Harm
• Civilian Capacities