12 February 2008
International humanitarian law (IHL) never seems to have much meaning until you deploy somewhere, and then most of the time it’s all about your ROE, how you need to treat POW and how you should be treated if you’re unlucky enough to be one yourself. Some of you may even think about how the tenants of proportionality, distinction and limitation will affect your ability to achieve your tactical mission.
When you arrive in a country such as Sudan, where the NZDF currently contributes three officers to the United Nations Mission in Sudan, the context of IHL widens somewhat and you realise its value and importance in an environment that can best be described as a patchwork – of religions, races, ethnicities, regions, cultures and peoples. Overlay that with oil and water and you have a mix that is hard to define and even harder to manage at a tactical or strategic level.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the guardians of IHL through the Geneva Conventions, operate their largest mission in Sudan. Their priority is to ensure that people directly affected by armed conflicts are respected in accordance with IHL, receive emergency aid, medical care and basic assistance to preserve their livelihoods, and can re-establish their family links.
Only recently, with the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which bought Sudan’s north-south war to an end, has much of the country regained a sense of peace and stability after 20 years of internal conflict.
However the CPA did not bring an end to the fighting throughout Sudan. Since 2003, the Darfur region in the west of the country has been affected by violence and it remains the location of much of the country’s internationally provided aid assistance.
In Sudan, the ICRC targets its promotion of IHL towards the people and groups who determine the fate of victims. Even wars have limits and the essence of IHL is to ensure the rules are respected during conflict and internal violence. Quite simply it makes sense for those who carry arms to understand the aim of limiting and alleviating the consequences of war as much as possible as well as reconciling their military needs with the requirements set by humanitarian principles.
At a higher level, the Sudanese government has ratified the four Geneva Conventions and the two 1977 Additional Protocols – the main source of IHL. However, turning the rules into action remains the challenge.
Recently the ICRC has been able to reach an agreement with the Sudanese Armed Forces to include IHL in all its training courses. This is a huge step as the agreement has been many years in formulation and will play a significant role in further disseminating IHL throughout the military of over 100 000 members.
Targeting all those who carry arms is key, as they are bound by international law to respect humanitarian principles. In Dafur alone there are 21 recognised armed groups (this number changes frequently as alliances are formed or broken) who are targeted for training, along with troops from UNMIS, the African Union, police and other security forces. It is a hugely challenging but vitally important role.
What are the minimum standards that the civilian population caught up in conflict and violence can expect? Respecting civilians’ rights is a basic humanitarian principle. During clashes, civilians not taking part in fighting must not be attacked or otherwise harmed.
Frequent media reports from Sudan make it clear that more often than not civilians are harmed during the violence that continues to plague the troubled regions of Dafur. Ensuring the basic rights of the men, women and children caught up in the conflict must fall to those who have some effect and influence.
In the patchwork that makes up Sudan, despite the Government’s willingness to implement and spread knowledge of IHL, it falls to the ICRC to provide support, guidance, assistance and monitoring to ensure that civilians are treated in accordance with IHL.
It’s easy for us to forget the importance of a law that, thankfully, in New Zealand has little utility. Without such a law that provides limits for those who carry arms, civilians caught in the crossfire would be left with no hope, rather than the glimmer that the ICRC works hard to provide.
Major Denise Mackay, currently on LWOP from the New Zealand Army, has recently returned from a trip to Sudan hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross.