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Human Security and Canadian Foreign Policy

 
Notes for an address by Hon. David Kilgour, Secretary of State (Latin America & Africa)
to Globalization 2000: Convergence or Divergence
University of Calgary, Sept. 25, 1999
Note: This address was delivered by Senator Nick Taylor on Mr. Kilgour’s behalf

In keeping with the theme of your conference, my remarks today will focus on the government’s international human security agenda. Many of you will be aware that Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy has made human security a primary thrust and focus of Canada’s international agenda. The minister’s personal drive and commitment on this front has made the past several years particularly interesting and, as I said, exciting ones for Canada’s international role and activity.

Our experience in advancing the human security agenda has been marked, not surprisingly, by the challenges and occasional frustrations that are an inevitable part of taking on a substantial new initiative on largely uncharted territory. But I think Canadians have reason to be very proud of the significant successes we have been able to achieve. I admit in fact to being surprised at the extent to which the human security focus has begun so quickly to permeate the way critical international issues are assessed and dealt with. I would not claim that this is solely our doing. In many ways it is a question of timing. But of course a large share of greatness and genius comes down to good timing.

Today I would like to outline for you the underpinnings of our human security initiative, and some of the concrete manifestations and results of our efforts.

The changing nature of insecurity

The end of the cold war was hailed as the beginning of an era of peace and prosperity. There was a widespread optimism that with the easing of the grip of the ideological divide, the world community would be freer than at any time in the past to turn its attention to global problems such as under-development, poverty and the environment. The reality of the past decade has been more sobering: we have seen a wide range of new security threats emerge. These include problems such as transnational crime, pollution, international drug trafficking and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and small arms.

At the same time, armed conflict has taken on a different shape, often rooted in religious or ethnic discord. While the number of armed conflicts between states has declined over the last 25 years, the number of intra-state conflicts has increased dramatically. Of the 103 wars since the end of the cold war, 97 have been fought within rather than between states. The crises in the Great Lakes region of Africa, in Bosnia and Kosovo and most recently in East Timor are only some of the more noted examples in a series of conflicts with tragic implications for the affected populations.

A hallmark of the changing nature of violent conflict and the "new generation" of transnational threats is that they have increasingly put people at the centre of world affairs. Human security is more central than ever to national security, regional stability and global peace. Yet for so many, that security has never been at greater risk.

Individuals are increasingly the principal victims, targets and instruments of modern war. The forced exodus, the appalling brutality, the state-sponsored murders and disappearances perpetrated against thousands of innocent people -- all of this underscores the fact that in our world, civilians suffer the most from violent conflict.

It is a situation with which ordinary people from Sierra Leone to Sudan to central Africa to Angola are all too familiar. Casualties from armed conflict have doubled in just the past 10 years. About one million people lose their lives each year. And whereas during the First World War only 5 percent of casualties were civilians, today that figure is closer to 80 percent.

Civilians are paying the heaviest price, from the rise in intrastate conflict and from failed states. They bear the brunt of the new practices of war -- for example, the deplorable use of child soldiers or savage paramilitaries. And they suffer most from the inexpensive yet all-too-readily-available weapons of modern war, such as landmines and military small arms and light weapons. As minister Axworthy said recently, civilian casualties and mass displacement are no longer mere by-products of today’s conflicts, but often explicit in the strategy of combatants.

Threats to individual security are not limited to situations of violent conflict. For all its promise, globalization has also shown a dark underside. Transnational phenomena -- terrorism, illicit drugs and crime, environmental degradation and infectious disease, financial and economic instability -- put all of us at risk. Indeed, they have already caused tremendous suffering, especially for the most vulnerable.

Instantaneous communications, rapid transportation, increasingly porous borders, and rising business, cultural and academic ties have undeniably and unalterably merged all our lives into a common destiny. In this world. The security or insecurity of others has become very much our own security or insecurity. As a result, we have both a responsibility and an interest to act when the safety of others is imperilled. Canada’s human security agenda is an effort to respond to these new global realities.

Human security and national security

Questions have been raised about the relationship between human security and state security. Contrary to some claims, the two are not mutually exclusive. The security of the state is not an end in itself -- it is a means of ensuring security for people. In this context, state security and human security are in fact mutually supportive. Building an effective, democratic state that values its own people and protects minorities is central to promoting human security. At the same time, improving the human security of its people strengthens the legitimacy, stability and security of a state.

Where human security exists as a fact rather than an aspiration, that situation can be attributed, in large measure, to the effective governance of states. For this reason, peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts that focus on building open and stable societies are an important element in enhancing human security.

Sometimes, however, when states are externally aggressive, internally repressive or too weak to govern effectively, they threaten the security of people. In the face of massive state-sponsored murders, appalling violations of human rights and the calculated brutalization of people, the humanitarian imperative to act cannot be ignored and can outweigh concerns about state sovereignty.

Canada has worked to move human security forward through different means based on negotiation and co-operation, building coalitions with other like-minded governments and civil society. These techniques have come to be called "soft power". Canada is well-placed to be a leader in a world where soft power is increasingly important. Our "middle-power" diplomacy has always emphasized the importance of coalition-building and consensus. Canada’s image abroad as an open, tolerant and strongly democratic society is a huge asset for us as we wield these new tools.

This is not to argue that hard power -- even military force -- is sometimes needed to achieve human security goals. Pursuing human security involves using a variety of tools. Some rely more on persuasion -- as with the campaign to ban anti-personnel mines, or with peacebuilding initiatives -- while others are more robust, such as sanctions or military intervention. Similarly, support for military force does not mean abandoning human security. In Kosovo, clearly the opposite is true. The decision to pursue the military option was made precisely to ensure the security of Kosovo's population. Our support for the UN mission currently being deployed to East Timor is based on the same logic.

Canada’s human security agenda

Human security has been the impetus behind efforts to create the international criminal court, thereby strengthening the arm of international justice; it is behind the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel landmines [APMs] -- a novel, people-based approach to disarmament; and it is behind the movement to expand international legal norms -- for example, to protect children in armed conflict. It has also helped shape the concept of peace-building, as a natural outgrowth and extension of peacekeeping.

The criminal court

The promotion of human security also requires the means to hold accountable those responsible for violating human rights and humanitarian law. There can be no lasting peace without justice. The international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, as well as a similar tribunal for Rwanda, were established to prosecute individuals responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Investigators from the Yugoslavia tribunal are now gathering evidence on the atrocities committed in Kosovo, so that the perpetrators do not go unpunished. Canada and other NATO allies are assisting the tribunal in this task.

These tribunals provided an inspiration for the creation of the International Criminal Court [ICC]. In June of 1998, the international community adopted the statute of the international criminal court. This achievement will help deter some of the most egregious breaches of international humanitarian law -- not only in the Balkans or Rwanda, but everywhere. Negotiations on the details of the court's operations are moving forward. In that regard, I am encouraged by the participation of the United States. I hope that country will eventually be able to give the ICC the same strong support it has given to the existing tribunals once in place, the court will ensure that justice is done by prosecuting offenders wherever national systems are unable or unwilling to do so.

Landmines


The wide-spread use of anti-personnel mines has a direct impact on the security of individuals. These weapons last for decades after conflicts end do not distinguish between soldiers and civilians. The use of these weapons has created a humanitarian crisis in dozens of countries -- impeding the return of refugees after conflicts end, preventing the use of productive land in some of the poorest countries on the planet and killing or injuring as many as 24,000 innocent civilians each year.

In December of 1997, the majority of the world’s countries joined Canada in our determination to do something about this human security crisis by signing the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction -- the Ottawa Convention. On March 1, 1999, the Ottawa Convention entered into force and by September 1, 1999, 84 states had agreed to be legally bound by the convention.

The Ottawa Convention serves as a major step forward in addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by anti-personnel mines. However, now that the convention has entered into force, the real work begins. The convention must be implemented in an effective manner to ensure that mined land is cleared and returned to communities, that mine victims receive assistance and rehabilitation services and that the global ban on anti-personnel mines is universalized. Canada is doing its part through the Canadian Landmine Fund, by supporting mine action activities in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Central America, Peru and Ecuador. In addition, we’re supporting the on-going advocacy efforts of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Mines Action Canada.

As graduate students interested in the policy implications of a human security agenda, you too can help in the effort to ensure the full and effective implementation of the Ottawa Convention by participating in our mine action research program. As part of this program, in exchange for $500 and a chance to be published, up to 20 students will be selected to write policy-oriented research papers on one of three themes related to the implementation of the Ottawa convention. I encourage you to visit the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade web site or to contact conference organizers for more information.

Protecting war-affected children

The welfare of the world's children merits special priority in Canada’s human security agenda. In the new global environment, it is the most vulnerable -- but especially children -- whose security is most at risk, who pay the highest price and who consequently demand close attention. Nowhere is this more true than in situations of armed conflict. The record of the past decade is grim: close to 2 million children killed; more than 4 million children disabled; over 1 million children orphaned; over 300,000 girls and boys serving in armies and rebel groups as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies, labourers and sex slaves; and over 10 million children psychologically scarred by the trauma of abduction, detention, sexual assault and witnessing the brutal murder of family members.

Canada is working both to improve international legal instruments and to ensure compliance with existing humanitarian standards and norms that protect the rights of children. One of the most notorious practices in conflicts is the recruitment of child soldiers. It is a barbarism that defies all standards of moral behaviour. We have been vividly reminded of this during the fighting in Sierra Leone. Outlawing this appalling activity has been a long-standing objective for many of us. To that end, Canada strongly supports the work under way in Geneva to develop an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which would raise the age of recruitment and participation in hostilities.

Raising the international bar against the exploitation of children in conflict is important. We also need to redouble efforts to ensure the respect of existing humanitarian norms in conflict situations. Internationally accepted standards already exist for a number of practices, including the targeting of children, child abduction, sexual exploitation, access to humanitarian assistance, respect for sanctuaries, and ending impunity. Countries need to be actively encouraged to ratify and then adhere to relevant international agreements.

Promoting children's security is indispensable to promoting human security. Protecting children from the traumas of armed conflict is inescapably linked to our broader objective of building peaceful and stable societies. We cannot possibly hope to build a secure world without due regard to those who will inherit it.

Peacekeeping to peacebuilding

When Lester Pearson was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his leadership in developing the concept of peacekeeping, Canadians felt pride, self-confidence, and a sense of ownership of the peacekeeping process. This has been reflected over the years in broad support in Canada for continued positive responses to calls for us to provide peacekeepers around the world. Peacekeeping has become an indelible part of our international image and, I believe, of Canadians sense of who we are. This by the way is an example of how our international involvement contributes to an ongoing process of nation-building at home.

Given this history, it was natural that Canada should take a leadership role in the evolution of thinking about how the international community could and should expand its role in protecting civilians in intrastate conflict, and how we can act in the critical period after fighting has stopped to help steer countries toward long-term peace and stability.

Peace-building consists of an ensemble of initiatives to develop social and human infrastructure to help break the cycle of violence. It includes such things as civilian policing, free and vibrant media, and an impartial judiciary.

In 1996 the government created a Canadian Peacebuilding Fund to support these activities. The fund has grown to 30 million dollars over three years in CIDA programming, and three million dollars in funding annually for DFAIT programming.

With the support of the government, the Canadian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights (Canadem), an NGO, has put together a roster of Canadian human rights experts available for rapid deployment. The roster currently comprises 815 Canadians with a wide variety of critical skills in the areas of human rights and peacebuilding. This will ensure the United Nations and other international organizations can quickly access expertise in times of crisis. This initiative helps to foster activities where Canadians -- in NGOs and government -- are already taking action in support of human security.

There are a number of concrete instances where peacebuilding has been used on the ground to support longer-term solutions. Following the restoration of democracy in Haiti, Canadian support for police training has been a key part of efforts to build an infrastructure for peace. The situation remains delicate, but our ongoing efforts give hope that a sustainable democracy can be realized. In Bosnia, we are supporting the development of free media and the institutional infrastructure for free elections.

The focus on peacebuilding does not signify a diminishment of our traditional emphasis on peacekeeping. Monitoring truce agreements provides the interim stability that makes the realisation of long-term peace possible. We continue to take a leadership role in peacekeeping through contributions to international missions and by strengthening the capacity of the UN to undertake peacekeeping missions.

In 1995 Canada prepared a study on the United Nations rapid response capacity. The study urged the UN and its members to develop a rapid deployment capability which could be swiftly mobilized to respond to crises and humanitarian disasters. A number of the study’s recommendations have been adopted and are being implemented. The events in East Timor underline the need for the international community to have the capacity to respond rapidly.

Towards a new diplomacy

An emphasis on human security determines not only the objectives of our foreign policy, but also the manner in which we pursue those objectives. While this so-called "new diplomacy" is not exclusively linked to our human security agenda, the mixture of powerful ideas, persistent persuasion, public advocacy and partnership with civil society has proven remarkably effective. Developing innovative global partnerships linking countries, institutions and non-governmental organizations with like-minded objectives. Such coalitions between governments and civil society helped make the campaign to ban APMs a success and were instrumental to progress in adopting the statute of the international criminal court. They are harbingers of the future, demonstrating the power of good ideas and pooled resources.

This is not to suggest that traditional foreign policy priorities such as strong effective multilateral institutions are any less important. Fostering human security has likewise been the motive behind efforts to adapt existing global and regional institutions in order to integrate human concerns into their activities. This is particularly important at the United Nations Security Council. Rather than avoiding engagement, the council, as the legitimate decision-making body for peace and security, should be actively involved in setting the rules -- and limits -- for international involvement in the new, admittedly more complex, situations of modern armed conflict. As a Security Council member, Canada has been trying to integrate the human dimension into council activities. For example, last February we proposed, and other members accepted, examining concrete steps the council could take to focus attention and action on protecting civilians in armed conflict.

Conclusion

At its core, the human security agenda is an effort to construct a global society in which the safety and well-being of the individual is an international priority and a motivating force for international action; a society in which international humanitarian standards and the rule of law are advanced, woven into a coherent web protecting the individual, where those who violate these standards are held fully accountable; and finally, a society in which our global, regional and bilateral institutions -- present and future -- are built and equipped to promote and enforce these standards.

These are indeed grand objectives, and while the international community has made impressive progress in recent years, daily reports from East Timor, Angola, Colombia or Afghanistan indicate that we are far from achieving these objectives. Much remains to be done, and Minister Axworthy and I welcome the interest of Canada’s next generation of intellectual and political leaders in the notion of human security. We wish you every success over the course of the next two days.

 
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