Providing Security to Forced Migrants and Humanitarian Operations Lydia Mann-Bondat

1. Providing Security to Forced Migrants and Humanitarian Operations Lydia Mann-Bondat

2. “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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

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

11. International Military Actors • UN peacekeepers • Regional forces (ECOMOG, NATO) • Coalitions of the willing (Afghanistan) • Mercenaries/PMCs

12. 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

13. Challenges • Mandates • Resources • Military/Humanitarian Collaboration • International Political Will

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

15. Role of Humanitarian Agencies • Security of Forced Migrants • Security of Aid Workers and Humanitarian Aid

16. Security of Forced Migrants • Sexual and Physical Violence • Sexual Exploitation • “Do No Harm” • Small Arms

17. 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

18. 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

19. Major Recommendations • Humanitarian Agencies • Attention to Security • Coordination and Cooperation • “Do No Harm” • Civilian Capacities