International Day of UN Peacekeepers: "Peacekeeping and the Protection of Civilians"

Thank you Sue [Ms Sue Boyd, President Australian Institute International Affairs (WA)] for your kind introduction.

It's good to be back at my old University, the University of Western Australia.

Today, I'm particularly pleased to welcome my Tanzanian friend and counterpart, Mr Bernard Membe, to Perth and to this University. Mr Membe and I were in Canberra on Monday this week for Africa Day. I took the opportunity then to speak about the Australian Government's determination to enhance our relationship with Africa to the level it requires and deserves. Here in Perth, we feel that very keenly. Minerals and petroleum resource companies have outpaced the Australian Government over recent years in their African engagement. It's time the Government caught up. Foreign Minister Membe visited Kalgoorlie yesterday to get a first hand look at one of our great gold mines, the Super Pit. Tomorrow he'll experience a uniquely Australian cultural event - a game of Australian Rules Football with the Fremantle Dockers at Subiaco Oval. I know the Dockers will put in a performance worthy of our honoured guest.

Today, on International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, we're fortunate to have Mr Membe here to share his views on peacekeeping operations in Africa. Africa is taking much more responsibility for peacekeeping operations through the African Union. Tanzania itself is making a significant contribution. Having contributed to peacekeeping operations in Africa over a long period of time, this is an area of great interest to Australia and I thank Foreign Minister Membe for his analysis.

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

Today, 29 May, marks the 61st anniversary of the first peacekeeping operation authorised by the United Nations Security Council. Its mission was to supervise the truce after the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948. This anniversary is a significant milestone, for the United Nations, for the international community and for Australia. Since inception, United Nations peacekeeping operations have brought hope to countries riven by conflict. They have saved lives, helped communities, helped societies and helped rebuild nations.

Australia has a long and very proud history of supporting United Nations peacekeeping operations. In fact, if we take into account the 1947 United Nations Consular Commission to Indonesia, during which Australia, then a member of the United Nations Security Council, helped monitor observance of the ceasefire between Dutch and Indonesian forces, it is arguable that we were the first nation state to have personnel on the ground in any modern peacekeeping operation. Geography alone, however, has not defined Australia's peacekeeping or security interests.

Since 1948, Australia has made contributions to United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa, Europe, Central America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As a considerable and significant nation, and as a good international citizen, we continue that noble tradition to this day. More than 30,000 Australians have served around the world as peacekeepers. They have come from all parts of our defence forces, federal, state and territory police forces, and other Australian government agencies. According to the Australian War Memorial, 13 Australians have died while serving with United Nations and non-United Nations peacekeeping operations. For a period in 1993, Australia had over 2,000 peacekeepers in the field, with large contingents in Cambodia and Somalia. Today we have Australians serving in peacekeeping operations from the Sudan to the Solomon Islands.

Peacekeeping has become a vital element in Australia's contribution to international peace and security. As well, it is now an essential and highly-valued skill for our military and police forces. These days, peacekeeping is no longer the exclusive domain of the United Nations. Non-United Nations led peacekeeping operations are now commonly undertaken by other multinational or regional groupings.

The non-United Nations peacekeeping operations to which Australia has contributed include the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Sinai, the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) and the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Regional arrangements such as these are increasingly finding favour at the United Nations, as our world body confronts the challenge of sustaining the large number of peacekeeping operations it has deployed around the globe.

The success of the missions in the Solomon Islands, East Timor, and Bougainville reflect the positive effect that regional groups can have and the importance of developing regional solutions to regional problems.

In this light, we welcome the continuing efforts of the African Union to join with the United Nations to help address conflicts in Africa. This is something Foreign Minister Membe, worked very hard at during Tanzania's chairmanship of the African Union in 2008.

Australia's national contribution to the United Nations' peacekeeping budget is the 12th largest of United Nations member states. Australia supports the efforts of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to strengthen the UN peacekeeping system. Our contribution to peacekeeping is a vital element of our contribution to international peace and security and a responsibility Australia embraces as a good international citizen.

This sense of responsibility and a keen realisation that an increasingly globalised world calls for global solutions underpins Australia's determination to renew its commitment to and support for the multilateral system, with the UN at its core. It is in this context that Australia is also putting itself forward to serve on the UN Security Council in 2013-14. We hope to contribute meaningfully and effectively, drawing on our unique insights, policy strengths, peacekeeping experience and a willingness to take into account the views of others.

Changing nature of peacekeeping

The challenge of ridding the world of the scourge of war, as the UN Charter puts it, is as great today as it ever has been. As the nature of armed conflict has evolved, United Nations and other peacekeeping operations have become more complex. Peacekeeping missions now integrate a wide range of activities including: the promotion of human security; confidence building; capacity building; the provision of electoral support; programs to strengthen the rule of law; and economic and social development. Part of peacekeeping's evolution has been the inclusion of an explicit requirement for the "protection of civilians" in an increasing number of peacekeeping mandates.

In 1999, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone became the first to be established with an express mandate to afford protection to civilians. Ten years later, "protection of civilians" is an important and maturing concept which deserves ongoing and serious interest. Today, eight of the sixteen current UN peacekeeping operations have explicit mandates for the protection of civilians. This reflects the very tragic fact that civilians continue to account for the vast majority of casualties in armed conflicts.

Understanding and implementing the mandate to protect

The events in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year, which saw such a terrible loss of life, have starkly illustrated the constraints and challenges faced by UN peacekeepers. The Security Council is to be commended for its decision to renew the peacekeeping mandate in the Democratic Republic of Congo and provide a clear political mandate to prioritise protection of civilians. On too many occasions in the past the challenge has been getting agreement, political agreement, around the Security Council table.

A great challenge remains, however, in implementation once that agreement is reached. Too often we have witnessed a gap between the political understanding reached in the Council, and the practical reality on the ground. At times, this has been due to capacity constraints. At other times, it is because we do not have a common understanding of the types of tasks permitted and required by the mandate.

This gap between strategic and operational levels on United Nations protecting civilians needs to be bridged. By so doing, we can help make certain that UN peacekeeping remains an effective instrument of international peace and security.

Australia believes that the international community, therefore, needs to ensure that as we increase the use of the mandate to protect civilians, we also ensure that we adequately resource and manage those operations in which it is employed. Australia is alive to these challenges and we've concentrated our diplomatic efforts accordingly. Over recent months we have worked hard in the United Nations to build international consensus on this sensitive but important issue. In January this year in New York, the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations co-hosted with Uruguay a very successful workshop on the implementation of protection of civilian mandates in UN peacekeeping operations. At the workshop we worked closely with a wide range of Member States, UN officials and NGOs to build consensus on a range of issues, including the need for clear and achievable mandates and unambiguous guidelines for peacekeepers, and the importance of a rapid response capability. The outcomes of the workshop continue to inform discussions in the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, a key UN peacekeeping policy making body.

Australia is not alone in recognising the importance of discussions on the protection of civilians. Tanzania has also played an important role in these discussions. Tanzania's Permanent Representative in New York, His Excellency Mr Augustine Mahiga, is the Team Leader of the study commissioned jointly by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the protection of civilians. The study is due for release around the middle of this year. We look forward to its release.

Later this year, Australia will co-host a peacekeeping symposium on the protection of civilians, in cooperation with the African Union. We believe this is an important area in which Australia and Africa can share our expertise and experience in peacekeeping. The protection of civilians in armed conflict is a fundamental principle of international humanitarian law. Australia will continue to work with nation states, regional organisations and the UN to take forward this important issue. I look forward in particular to progressing these issues with Foreign Minister Membe and our other African counterparts.

Responsibility to Protect

A related, but distinct, area in which the Government is strengthening our human rights commitment is the principle of the "Responsibility to Protect", or "R2P" as it has become known. The R2P principle was developed at the 2005 World Summit, a high-level meeting of the member states of the UN General Assembly, and was reaffirmed in 2006 by the Security Council. It holds that States are responsible for the protection of their own civilians from heinous mass crimes such as genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Further, it enunciates the international community's responsibility to use diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means to help protect populations. In appropriate circumstances, the R2P principle provides for the Security Council to mandate decisive action to prevent mass atrocity crimes.

Australia strongly supports the R2P principle. Along with Tanzania, we are members of the Friends of R2P grouping at the United Nations. At this critical stage of the development of the R2P principle, Australia is supporting efforts to clarify the concept and consolidate its authority.

To help do this, the Government has established a $2 million Responsibility to Protect Fund. The Fund will be administered by the Asia-Pacific Centre for R2P as part of a joint initiative between the Centre and the Australian Government. The fund is available on a competitive basis to institutions, NGOs and academia in Australia and overseas, for projects or research which will contribute to making the responsibility to protect principle a factor in international crisis handling. As part of the Joint Initiative, AusAID will contribute $1.8 million over four years to the Asia-Pacific Centre to undertake its own research and outreach on R2P. The Government will also extend support to the Global Centre for R2P to assist its important work in advocating R2P among UN member states in New York. UN Secretary-General Ban's recent report on R2P was an important step towards the operationalisation of the principle. We look forward to working with the Secretary-General and other member states of the United Nations in taking forward this important principle.

Conclusion

In the 61 years since the first peacekeeping operation authorised by the United Nations Security Council, Australia has participated in over half of the United Nations-led peacekeeping operations. Our reputation for professionalism and competence has allowed us to project a strong voice on peacekeeping. It has allowed us to make a positive, practical difference in the lives of people affected by conflict.

Australia now wants to share that experience with our African colleagues. As well, the Australian Government is determined that we now use that voice to make a strong contribution to developing humanitarian norms that will better equip peacekeepers and better protect civilians.

Our contribution in this area is one example of the practical approach we would bring to the UN's pre-eminent body on international peace and security, the UN Security Council, if elected for the 2013-14 term. It's also a contribution that reflects Australia's deeply held values, our commitment to peacekeeping, and our determination to greater protect civilians exposed conflict.

Thank you.

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