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<title>MR. GRAHAM - ADDRESS AT THE PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION24TH ANNUAL PARLIAMENTARY FORUM - OTTAWA, ONTARIO</title>
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<p><font size="+1"></font><font size="+1"><strong> <u>CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY</u></strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font size="+1"><strong>NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY</strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font size="+1"><strong>THE HONOURABLE BILL GRAHAM,</strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font size="+1"><strong>MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,</strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font size="+1"><strong>AT THE PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION</strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font size="+1"><strong>24TH ANNUAL PARLIAMENTARY FORUM</strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font size="+1"><strong>ON THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND </strong></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font size="+1"><strong>"THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT"</strong></font></p>
<p><font size="+1"><strong>OTTAWA, Ontario</strong></font></p>
<p><font size="+1"><strong>November 4, 2002</strong></font></p>
<p>I am especially pleased to be here today to open this parliamentary forum on the International Criminal Court and <em>The
Responsibility to Protect</em>. These are issues of vital importance, not only for Canada, but for a better global order.</p>
<p>I want to congratulate Parliamentarians for Global Action [PGA] and its members for their efforts, which are helping to
make the International Criminal Court [ICC] a reality. I would like to convey special thanks to Senator
Raynell Andreychuk, convenor of PGA's International Law and Human Rights Program. I would also like to thank PGA's
Canadian National Group, led by Irwin Cotler, my colleague and special adviser on the ICC.</p>
<p>I am delighted that you have also taken on the new challenge of addressing <em>The Responsibility to Protect, </em>the report of the
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.</p>
<p>From the tide of civil conflict in the 1990s to the deadly rise of terrorism today, we are living through times in which the
protection of individuals has risen to the very top of the security agenda. Whether as victims of war crimes, humanitarian
crises or terrorist attacks, civilians have been pushed to the front lines of modern conflict. It is therefore fitting that this
conference focus on a person-centred protection agenda.</p>
<p>Your discussions here will focus on a principle gaining broad international consensus. This is the principle that state
sovereignty involves a responsibility to provide people with justice and protection. When a nation is unable or unwilling to
exercise that responsibility, it must be assumed by the community of states. At stake here is not just a humanitarian concern
for others. In an interdependent world in which the danger posed by failed states can spread far beyond their borders, it is
also a concern for our own collective security. Collective security is supported by security for individuals. Stable,
prosperous and secure states flourish where there is good governance, democracy and respect for human rights.</p>
<p>The first part of the challenge we face is a political one. If you find this report as compelling as I do, we need to use our role
as parliamentarians to foster discussion of the report as widely as possible. Citizens of all our countries need to understand
what <em>The Reponsibility to Protect</em> is about, and they need to become engaged in its mission. Second, there must be ongoing
development of the principles advanced in the report. As these principles are refined and debated at the national and
international levels, they may become a critical guide for deliberation in times of crisis. In the past decade, the international
community faced humanitarian crises without much guidance or precedent, and in too many cases, timely and effective
action did not occur when it should have. </p>
<p>For that to change, a final challenge must be met. We must work to secure the legitimacy and effectiveness of international
institutions such as the Human Rights Commission, the ICC and the Security Council itself. Without a rules-based
international order, we are left with only "might makes right." That is why it is so important to strengthen international
institutions capable of making and enforcing timely decisions: decisions to prevent catastrophe before it happens, to
intervene when it does, to rebuild, to end impunity for crimes committed, and to deter future ones.</p>
<p>Building a strong and effective ICC is a crucial aspect of this process. It has been a fundamental aim of Canada's foreign
policy, and I am very proud of Canada's leadership in the Court's establishment. We have already adopted the necessary
legislation to incorporate the obligations of the Rome Statute into our national laws. As well, we have launched an ICC
campaign to help states ratify and implement the Rome Statute. We are pleased at the progress being made toward
establishing the Court, and we will continue to support it vigorously.</p>
<p>Last week I was in my riding of Toronto Centre-Rosedale, where I was moved when I met with victims of torture who
receive treatment and counselling at the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture. They impressed upon me the importance
that they attach to the establishment of an International Criminal Court. In their view, the issue of impunity is one of the
terrible aftermaths of torture that they live with. They want to see an end to impunity, to know that there is a system of
justice in this world on which they can rely, one that will help bring to term the suffering and deprivation they have endured
in their lives.</p>
<p>As parliamentarians, we all have a critical role to play in supporting the ICC. Within government, we can support the
legislative initiatives needed to ratify and implement the Rome Statute. We must be advocates in making the case for the
Court's ability to dispense truly impartial justice when national courts will not or cannot do so.</p>
<p>I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Ambassador Philippe Kirsch--who is here this morning--on his
outstanding service in the creation of the ICC. He served as chair of the Preparatory Commission, and also as chair of the
Committee of the Whole at the diplomatic conference where the Rome Statute was adopted. I am very pleased that
Ambassador Kirsch will be receiving PGA's Defender of Democracy award at tonight's ceremony.</p>
<p>This conference is not only a chance to carry forward the important work of parliamentarians on the ICC. It also gives an
opportunity to consider strategies for parliamentary action in support of <em>The Responsibility to Protect.</em> Your work will be
pivotal. Our efforts to build a rules-based multilateral system are futile if its institutions become paralysed when action is
needed. This report offers principles to guide national and international deliberation, so that we can react to crises before
thousands or millions of lives are lost. The more widely these principles are embraced, the more reason we have to hope
that there will be "no more Rwandas."</p>
<p>Let me take this opportunity to share with you Canada's own agenda bearing on <em>The Responsibility to Protect.</em> Our
involvement began at the Millennium Assembly, when the UN Secretary-General challenged member states to consider
how the international community should reconcile state sovereignty with the imperative to avert humanitarian atrocities.</p>
<p>In response to this challenge, Canada took the lead in establishing the International Commission on Intervention and State
Sovereignty. This independent Commission was composed of distinguished practitioners of international relations from
around the world. It consulted with experts on every continent. This scope of inquiry makes the consensus achieved in the
Commission's report all the more significant and deserving of attention.</p>
<p>Canada welcomes <em>The Responsibility to Protect</em> as an important step forward for the international community. Its purpose is
to find new common ground on the use of military force in response to genocide, ethnic cleansing and other mass atrocities.
Instead of talking about a "right of intervention," the report proposes a new principle: the responsibility to protect. State
sovereignty, it asserts, is not only a right but a responsibility, and the essence of this responsibility is human protection. The
report also reflects a growing consensus that while the responsibility to protect begins with sovereign states, it does not end
there. When states are unable or unwilling to protect people, the international community must play a role in doing so.
These positions closely follow Canada's own position on human rights and humanitarian obligations.</p>
<p>The Government of Canada has argued that human rights and humanitarian principles must be more prominent at the UN
Security Council. Given the massive civilian toll of today's conflicts, it is imperative that human security issues weigh
heavily in the Council's decisions on whether to use force or authorize action by others. <em>The Responsibility to Protect</em>
reflects a growing global consensus on this view.</p>
<p>Canadians also welcome the report's view that the Security Council bears primary responsibility and authority in
responding to humanitarian crises. We believe that the Security Council should be the first resort in situations requiring the
use of force to protect civilians. We agree with the report's insistence that any use of force to protect civilians should be
UN-sanctioned and multilateral in nature. Unilateral action even for humanitarian purposes lacks the legitimacy of
collective action through the UN.</p>
<p>Let me now turn to another key aspect of the report. The responsibility to protect includes three elements: the responsibility
to prevent, react and rebuild. Reaction, which includes the use of force, is declared to be a last resort when all efforts at
conflict prevention and diplomacy have failed. In stressing this principle, the report not only confirms the UN's mandate of
collective security, but suggests a way forward in realizing this mandate.</p>
<p>But the report serves as a warning that the Security Council must live up to its own responsibilities. It must enforce human
rights and humanitarian norms, using all persuasive and coercive instruments at its disposal. When necessary, sanctions and
the use of force must be authorized--although such measures are best taken in cooperation with regional organizations and
state coalitions. On all levels, there must be the political will to use these tools flexibly and creatively.</p>
<p>To be sure, <em>The Responsibility to Protect </em>does not provide all the answers. It leaves much to our collective political
judgment. Some might argue that it sets the bar too high by legitimizing forceful reaction only in the face of mass killing.
Others may say that its recommendations encroach too far on state sovereignty. As for the responsibilities to prevent and to
rebuild, we all know the political challenges involved in getting sustained commitments to development assistance and
rebuilding efforts. Nonetheless, I hope you will agree with me that this report offers important principles for our
consideration.</p>
<p>I am pleased to tell you that the Canadian government is leading an international follow-up to <em>The Responsibility to Protect.</em>
We will be working at the UN to promote discussion of the report. We will be encouraging other governments to put it on
their own national agendas. We will be funding non-governmental organizations, academics and others to hold public
events around the report. Today I invite all of you gathered here to join us in this project. </p>
<p>As we look ahead, we will need to consider how to assess our progress. In the short term, we may hope to promote a shared
understanding of principles regarding the responsibilities of states and the international community. In the longer term, our
efforts might result in formal undertakings by the UN giving expression to the principles of human protection.</p>
<p>On both of these fronts, there is reason to be optimistic. Who would have thought that innovations like the tribunals for the
former Yugoslavia and Rwanda could lead to a permanent international court with universal jurisdiction? Thousands of
years ago, the ancient Roman historian Plutarch captured a hope we can newly affirm:</p>
<p>Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield
themselves up when taken little by little.</p>
<p>Working little by little, then, we parliamentarians and policy makers will prevail.</p>
<p><em>The Responsibility to Protect</em> emphasizes that the political will to act is crucial. Parliamentarians play a key role in
mobilizing that will both domestically and abroad. This role is highlighted during humanitarian crises, when public outrage
and demands to "do something" are often channelled through parliamentarians. My Canadian parliamentary colleagues will
recall the debates in our own House of Commons during Kosovo and other crises, when we helped to shape Canada's
decision to commit our military to multilateral security efforts. </p>
<p>Parliamentarians have another avenue of influence through our reach into civil society. In trying to build wide support for
new norms of human protection, and for institutions such as the ICC, we can draw upon our daily work with citizens as
well as governments. Today parliamentarians are extending these activities internationally, through associations such as the
Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas.</p>
<p>There are also many opportunities for direct parliamentary action and diplomacy: through collaboration with our
counterparts abroad, as special envoys or delegates, and in advancing legislation to implement international standards at
home.</p>
<p>Today the legitimacy and relevance of our international institutions are in question. I do not believe I am overstating the
case in urging you to see these days as important ones for the global community and for the security of persons everywhere. </p>
<p>Two centuries ago, Thomas Paine wrote, "We have it in our power to begin the world over again." This may not be wholly
true. Past and present conflicts, and the deadly toll they have taken, cannot be erased. But by strengthening international
institutions of human security, we do have it in our power to build a better future.</p>
<p>I look forward to the ideas and initiatives that will come out of your discussions over the next three days.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
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