NEWS RELEASES
AXWORTHY OUTLINES CANADA'S UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY AGENDA
April 6, 2000 (4:20 p.m. EDT) No. 64
AXWORTHY OUTLINES CANADA'S
UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY AGENDA
Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy today outlined Canada's agenda during its April presidency of the
United Nations Security Council. The overarching theme for Canada's presidency is human security. Major
issues for discussion include the protection of civilians in situations of armed conflict; the effectiveness of
sanctions; sanctions against the rebel movement in Angola; humanitarian dimensions of conflict in Afghanistan;
and the Rwanda Report. The Minister will be in New York on April 7 and from April 14 to 20.
"The protection of civilians and human security have more broadly entered the peace and security discourse of
the Security Council. Our goals are to foster a recognition that threats to people are just as important as threats
to states, and to mobilize Council action on behalf of civilians who are increasingly targeted in today's conflicts,"
said Mr. Axworthy.
Afghanistan will be the topic for an open Council meeting on April 7, chaired by Minister Axworthy. During this
meeting, Canada would like to focus international attention on the continuing conflict in Afghanistan, particularly
the humanitarian and human rights situation and the plight of women.
On April 14, the Minister will chair an open briefing of the Council by former Swedish Prime Minister Ingvaar
Carlsson, who led the independent inquiry on the actions of the UN during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The
Council will discuss its role in addressing massive civilian suffering and avoiding catastrophes like the Rwandan
genocide in the future.
Sanctions issues will be the focus on April 17, with the launch of a Canadian-sponsored report, The Sanctions
Decade, a comprehensive study by the International Peace Academy of the last 10 years of Security Council
sanctions. The report, which proposes recommendations for making sanctions more humane and effective, will
be launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Minister Axworthy at a symposium in New York involving
Security Council members and outside sanctions experts. Mr. Axworthy will lead discussion on general
sanctions issues during an open meeting of the Council later that day.
At an open Security Council meeting on Angolan sanctions on April 18, Canada will lead discussion on the
Council's response to the recommendations contained in the March 2000 report of the Expert Panel on
measures to tighten sanctions against UNITA.
On April 19, Minister Axworthy will chair an open meeting on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, a
central event of the Canadian presidency. April will present a key opportunity both to consolidate and advance
this Canadian initiative, which has not only raised the profile of human security, but has also led to concrete
action, for example, by giving new UN peace operations in Sierra Leone and East Timor explicit mandates to
protect civilians. The meeting will seek to lock in the Council's commitment to the protection of civilians and
ensure sustained attention to this issue whenever the Council mandates peace operations, sanctions or other
actions where the physical protection of civilians is at issue.
Sudan will not be on April's formal agenda due to the fact that there was not sufficient support from Security
Council members to examine how the Council could provide additional support for the Sudanese peace
process and enhance humanitarian assistance to the civilian victims of this tragic conflict. Canada will ensure,
however, that the plight of the Sudanese people is raised at every opportunity, most notably during relevant
Council discussions, as well as within the wider UN system, including the Commission on Human Rights and in
other multilateral forums.
"Canada believes that the United Nations, and particularly the Security Council, has an important leadership
role to play in enhancing civilian protection and human security," said Mr. Axworthy. "An important aim of the
Council's work, and one that we are working toward attaining, must be to safeguard the security of the world's
people, not just the states in which they live."
At the start of its Council tenure Canada set three key policy objectives:
• to promote human security as a complement to the Council's traditional state-centred approach to
international peace and security;
• to reassert the leadership and effectiveness of the Council on key security issues; and
• to make the Council more open, transparent and responsive.
All events scheduled during Canada's April Security Council presidency are designed to work toward attaining
and supporting its stated objectives.
"Our objective was to ensure as many open meetings as possible to make our presidency an example of
transparency in practice," the Minister said. "I am pleased that much of the Council's work in April will be
conducted in the open and include the wider UN membership."
In addition to the Canadian initiatives outlined, during Canada's presidency the Security Council will also
consider Iraq, notably the operational plan for the new UN weapons agency, UNMOVIC, and the situations in
Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Backgrounders are attached
For further information, media representatives may contact :
Debora Brown
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
(613) 995-1851
Media Relations Office
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(613) 995-1874
Backgrounder
PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS
Canada believes that the United Nations, and in particular the Security Council, has an important leadership
role to play in enhancing civilian protection and human security. The Council's sustained attention is especially
critical since civilian casualties and displacement are not merely a byproduct of current conflicts, but often a
deliberate war aim of the combatants. Their actions are often carried out with impunity, in direct violation of
international law.
As a result of a Canadian initiative during its first presidency of the Security Council in February 1999, the UN
Secretary-General presented a report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which included 40
recommendations. He outlined key measures that the Council and the international community should take,
including efforts to promote adherence to international law and combat impunity; to improve conflict-prevention
capacity, including through the use of preventive deployments; to strengthen the UN's ability to respond rapidly
when a crisis breaks out; to impose arms embargoes; to make greater use of targeted sanctions; to underscore
the fact that civilians must have unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance; to authorize missions to close
down hate media outlets; and to consider the imposition of appropriate enforcement action in the face of
massive and ongoing abuses of human rights and humanitarian law.
Canada chairs an informal working group of the Security Council, and is currently leading negotiations on a
draft document aimed at locking in the Council's commitment to key recommendations of the Secretary-General's report. These include those directly related to the Council's mandate and instruments, such as
peacekeeping, sanctions and other areas in which the physical protection of civilians is at issue. The Canadian
document also calls for regular reports by the Secretary-General to help ensure that the issue of the protection
of civilians remains firmly implanted on the Council agenda. Canada is working to ensure that the document is
adopted during its April presidency in conjunction with a Council meeting open to participation by the wider UN
membership.
We are also exploring the possibility of developing a user-friendly "checklist" to help ensure that considerations
regarding the protection of civilians are factored in each time formal action is taken by the Security Council.
After April, Canada plans to broaden participation in the protection of civilians initiative beyond the Security
Council by creating a "Group of Friends" -- a working group involving the wider UN membership and input from
non-governmental organizations.
Backgrounder
SANCTIONS
As a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Canada's efforts on sanctions have
focussed on issues of effectiveness and humanitarian impact. During the last decade, the Security Council has
made unprecedented use of sanctions. The results, however, have been mixed, and pressure for sanctions
reform has been mounting. Canada has taken a comprehensive approach towards sanctions with both its
sponsorship of an independent study by the International Peace Academy (IPA) of the last decade of Security
Council sanctions, and via a case-specific study through Canada's chairmanship of the Angola Sanctions
Committee.
Canada believes that for UN sanctions to be credible, they must be enforceable and enforced, and must be
designed with a practical end objective. Sanctions must be targeted to hit where it hurts, to impair the effective
operation of the offender while avoiding negative humanitarian impacts.
In April, Canada is planning a Council discussion on general issues related to sanctions, with a focus on
promoting more targeted sanctions and avoiding collateral humanitarian impacts. Canada intends the meeting
to result in the creation of a Council working group to review the Council's approach to sanctions and to provide
a forum to discuss proposals for making sanctions more effective and humane.
As chair of the Angola sanctions committee, Canada will lead negotiations through April on the Council's
response to the recently released Expert Panel report on violations of the Angola sanctions. Towards the end of
the month, Minister Axworthy will chair a substantive discussion of the report which will also establish the
Council's initial response to its recommendations.
International Peace Academy Sanctions Study
Building on its analysis of the last decade of Security Council sanctions, the IPA report will make
recommendations for more humane and effective sanctions. The IPA report will be launched by Minister
Axworthy and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at a symposium in New York on April 17 involving UN
member states and outside sanctions experts. The IPA report is intended to stimulate further debate among
Council members and to build new momentum for sanctions reform.
Backgrounder
ANGOLA
Angola has been engulfed in civil war almost continuously since independence in 1975. After 15 years of
fighting between the Angolan government and the rebel movement UNITA led by Jonas Savimbi, Portuguese
mediation resulted in the signing of the Bicesse Peace Accords in 1992. The ensuing multiparty elections in
September 1992 were won by President Dos Santos. Although the UN declared the vote to have been
generally free and fair, UNITA rejected the results and returned to war. After protracted negotiations, the UN
brokered the Lusaka Protocol, which was signed in November 1994. Between then and December 1998 when
hostilities resumed, the country enjoyed an uneasy peace while the UN attempted to monitor the
implementation of the peace process.
Beginning in 1993, the United Nations Security Council imposed a series of sanctions against UNITA as a
means of pressuring the movement to implement its obligations under the Lusaka Protocol. In January 1999,
Canada assumed the Chair of the Angola Sanctions Committee as part of its duties as a non-permanent
member of the Security Council. As Chair, Canada has led efforts to improve the effectiveness of the sanctions
regime.
An important initiative undertaken by the Sanctions Committee was the groundbreaking creation of an Expert
Panel, charged with determining the sources and means of violation of the sanctions against UNITA and
recommending methods to make them more effective. The report of the Experts Panel, released in March 2000,
contained 39 recommendations, which are currently before the Council.
Canada's interest is to bring a sustainable peace to the Angolan people who have known only war for over 25
years. In April, Canada will encourage discussions on the Security Council's response to the recommendations
of the Expert Panel Report in order to further enhance the impact of the sanctions against UNITA. Canada will
also encourage a resumption of the political dialogue to achieve a durable resolution to the conflict.
Backgrounder
AFGHANISTAN
The human rights situation in Afghanistan is among the world's worst. The ongoing civil war is fought with
disregard for the safety and human rights of civilians. In 1992, an unstable coalition of mujahideen toppled
Kabul's communist regime. A patchwork of separate fiefdoms divided along ethnic, linguistic, tribal and factional
lines ensued. Due to the long-standing conflict in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran have, for more than 20 years,
been host to some two million refugees, while approximately 1.2 million Afghanis remain internally displaced
and in need of international humanitarian assistance and protection.
For the past two years, the radical Taliban faction has maintained control over most of the country. Taliban rule
controls 90 percent of the country and has brought gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
especially against women, and instances of ethnically motivated atrocities against civilian populations, including
their forced eviction.
Women's human rights began to deteriorate in 1992 when the mujahideen factions imposed village-based
social values on the cities. The Taliban have carried this regression to extremes. In particular, women have
been barred from employment and most girls from schools, restrictions have been placed on health care
available to women, and women are required to cover themselves from head to foot when venturing outdoors.
Under international pressure, the Taliban have recently shown some signs of easing restrictions on women's
access to education and medical care. For example, they have authorized the opening of a number of Taliban-run girls' schools in certain localities, and permitted the opening of a female nursing school and medical
college. This modest shift, while welcome, still falls far short of the minimal expectations of the international
community.
Canada remains deeply concerned about the continuing conflict in Afghanistan, particularly the humanitarian
and human rights situation. In April, Canada would like to focus international attention on the continuing conflict
in Afghanistan, particularly the humanitarian and human rights situation, and the plight of women. Canada will
chair an open briefing on Afghanistan, the result of which would be a presidential statement by the Council
reiterating its call for an immediate end to hostilities and to abuses against civilians.
Backgrounder
RWANDA INQUIRY
In December 1999, an independent inquiry led by former Swedish Prime Minister Ingvaar Carlsson released its
report on the actions of the UN during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Commissioned by Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, the report highlighted the shortcomings of the UN and the international community generally in the face
of massive civilian suffering, and the failure of the Security Council to show sufficient political will to give UN
peacekeeping missions the tools they need to act promptly and effectively.
The Secretary-General responded honestly and courageously to the report by accepting, on behalf of his
organization, a degree of responsibility for the tragedy. A similar reckoning has yet to be made by UN member
states that share an equal -- if not greater -- burden than the UN, which, after all, can do no more than its
constituent member states will it to.
Canada believes that the Security Council should build on the lessons of Rwanda in its response to new
security challenges, particularly those involving abuses against civilians. During its April presidency, Canada
will propose a forward-looking discussion among Council members of the key lessons and recommendations of
the Rwanda report. The objective of this initiative is to explore ways of avoiding humanitarian catastrophes like
Rwanda in the future. We hope to focus the discussion on the need to provide appropriate mandates to
peacekeeping operations to protect civilians, and to match those mandates with the resources needed to do the
job.
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