"Responsibility
to Protect" Does Not Apply to
Myanmar, UN's Expert Tells Inner City Press, But Older Rights Concepts
Do
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
May
12 -- Is the bleak situation in Myanmar following Cyclone Nergis a
crime
against humanity, which could trigger the doctrine of "responsibility
to
protect" as enacted in the UN in 2005? French Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner on May 7 said the concept should be invoked. France's Deputy
Permanent
Representative to the UN Jean-Pierre Lacroix on May 12 said that his
country
might "introduce a text" to that effect to the Security Council the
following day. But the UN's special advisor on Responsibility to
Protect,
Edward Luck, in an on-the-record written response to questions
submitted by
Inner City Press, diplomatically disagrees with Kouchner and France.
Inner City
Press asked, Does R2P apply to this case in Myanmar? Mr. Luck responded:
No, in my
view and based on my
limited knowledge of events on the ground there, it would be a
misapplication
of responsibility to protect (RtoP) principles to apply them at this
point to
the unfolding tragedy in Myanmar. As you
know, the Outcome Document of the 2005 Summit limited their
applicability to
four crimes and violations: genocide, crimes against humanity, war
crimes, and
ethnic cleansing. We must focus our efforts on implementing these
principles in
these four cases, as there is no agreement among the Member States on
applying
them to other situations, no matter how disturbing or regrettable the
circumstances."
Given
the arguments
advanced by France and others, Inner City Press asked, could
non-response to a
natural disaster rise to the level of a crime against humanity? Luck
responded:
"Whether
a non-response, or
in this case a partial response, to a natural disaster could qualify as
a crime
against humanity is a matter to be debated by legal scholars and
jurists. It seems to me, however, that
larger and
well-established human rights principles are at stake here. A state has fundamental responsibilities for
the welfare of the populations on its territory that have long preceded
the
development of the concept of a responsibility to protect."
Also in
light of France's and the U.S.'s allusion to food-drops, Inner City
Press
asked, where would a food-drop fit in? Luck's answer, less on R2P,
rebutted the
food-drops on five separate grounds:
"On a
purely practical level,
it is hard to see a food drop accomplishing much. One,
it could add to chaos on the ground as
people struggle over such aid drops.
Two, much of the area is now under water. Three, it
would do nothing in
terms of supplying the critical missing element of humanitarian and
medical personnel
on the ground. Four, targeting could be
a real challenge. And five, the violation of Myanmar's airspace could
well
increase the government's suspicion of the outside world."
![](fr1kouchner.jpg)
Bernard Kouchner: calling in airstrikes of
high-energy biscuits?
Since
some
have said, even in R2P applied, that force would be the "last step,"
Inner City Press asked, what would be the series of steps to apply R2P
in such
a case? Luck's response was shorter, and more telling: "We have yet to
develop a clear decision-making process or standard operating
procedures for implementing RtoP decisions."
Who the "we" is that will develop such standard operating procedures
is not yet clear.
Since the
official UN document announcing Luck's appointment says he would be
paid
"When Actually Employed," at the pro-rate hourly Assistant
Secretary-General
rate, but Luck has said he gets $1 a year, Inner City Press asked,
which is it,
and, since the appointment, what have you been doing under this
mandate? How
many hours? Luck did not answer the second part of this question, only
reiterating that "my letter of appointment says $1 per year." He has
joked, not without humor, that some people say he's overpaid at that
rate.
In terms of
credit, since French Ambassador Ripert on May 7 told Inner City Press
that Bernard
Kouchner "invented R2P 20 years ago," Inner City Press asked Ed Luck,
is that your understanding? Who else deserves credit? Luck replied
diplomatically
"I have
no comment on the
quote from Ambassador Ripert. However,
it is worth noting that the concept of responsibility to protect
represents a conceptual
evolution from the earlier notion of humanitarian intervention. The former was first coined as a term in the
2001 ICISS report, though it can trace its intellectual roots to the
concept of
'sovereignty as responsibility' developed by Francis Deng and his
colleagues at
the Brookings Institution in the mid-1990s and the 2000 Constitutive
Act of the
African Union."
To this,
we'll add a few more names, including Lloyd
Axworthy, Ramesh Thakur, and Mohammed Sahnoun of Algeria. Bernard
Kouchner?
Bonne chance, as they say. Watch this site.
* * *
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AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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