Issues Related to the Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping Operations in Sudan

"In the post-Cold War period, the international community has identified an overwhelmingnumber of cases of war crimes and related human suffering, including the brutal killing of civilians, torture, and sexual violence in the midst of internal armed conflict. As a result, the concept and norm of protection of civilians (POC) as well as “the responsibility to protect” and “human security,” has emerged as one of the efforts of the international community to prevent such serious breaches of international humanitarian laws. The application of POC to the mandate of UN peacekeeping operations was encouraged, particularly as a result of independent inquiries into the failure to prevent the crime of ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Srebrenica in 1994 and 1995, respectively. It was in February 1999 when the first debate on POC was held in the UN Security Council, which then adopted a presidential statement expressing grave concern over the civilian toll of conflict. Since then, the mandate of POC has been consistently used in UN peacekeeping operations: for example, in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL, 1999), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (MONUC, 1999), Liberia (UNMIL, 2003), Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI, 2004), Burundi (ONUB, 2004), Sudan (UNMIS, 2004 and UNAMID, 2007), the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad (MINURCAT, 2007) (See Table 1 below). However, even ten years after that first Security Council debate, the UN Secretary-General acknowledged that “further efforts to strengthen POC remain crucial” in his report in May 2009. He also identified “human suffering owing to the fundamental failure of parties to conflict to fully respect and ensure respect for their obligations to protect civilians.” Moreover, he accepted that action on the ground have not yet matched progress in words and the development of international norms and standards (UN 2009a, para. 4). The report pointed out five core challenges in conducting POC by external organizations, one of which was “enhancing protection through more effective and better resourced peacekeeping and other relevant missions.” Regarding this challenge, the Secretary-General stated that there remained a disconnect between mandates, intentions, expectations, interpretations, and real implementation capacity in the mission of POC in UN peacekeeping operations (UN 2009a,para. 51). This paper intends to identify the cause of delay in the process of effecting POC, and suggests a solution to bridge the gap between actions and norms, particularly in the activities of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS). UNMIS was established on March 24, 2005 in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1590 (2005), which had a broad mandate centered on helping to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The CPA ended the decades-long conflict between the Government of Sudan, based in the northern part of Sudan, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), supported mainly by people from the southern part of Sudan. Therefore, the responsibility of UNMIS included the monitoring and verification of troop redeployments, assisting with the formation of Joint Integrated Units (JIUs), promoting rule of law, and investigating CPA violations. It should also be noted that the UNMIS mandate also included humanitarian activities, such as promoting human rights and protecting civilians under imminent threat of violence (Center on International Cooperation 2011, 48). "