Naujienos

Statement by Rita Kazragienė, Deputy Permanent Representative,
Chargé d’affaires ad interim of Lithuania to the United Nations
at UN Security Council open debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict

New York, August 19, 2013

Madame President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me thank Argentina, Presidency of the Security Council for the month of August, for holding this important debate and the honourable briefers for their valuable input.

Lithuania aligns itself with the statement delivered by the representative of the European Union.

As today we are commemorating the tenth anniversary of the deadly attack against the UN Mission in Iraq, let me stress importance and our shared responsibility to ensure safety and security of all those – UN personnel, humanitarian aid and medical workers, who serve protecting peace and security.

I would like to focus on two issues, namely compliance with, and strengthening accountability for, violations of international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law.

A state party to all international humanitarian law instruments, including the Geneva Conventions, its Additional Protocols and treaties limiting or prohibiting the use of certain types of weapons, Lithuania strongly shares the view that international humanitarian law is an indispensable tool to protect all persons affected by armed conflict. The Lithuanian Commission on the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law, established in 2001, coordinates promotion and dissemination of international humanitarian law to military, police personnel and general public. As part of their effort to ensure protection of civilians, Lithuanian Armed Forces focus not only on constraining military actions in the area of operation, but also on being proactive in enhancing the situation of civilians by providing medical care, demining activities and gender-related training to local populations. Lithuania regularly supports projects related to the destruction of small arms, antipersonnel mines, cluster munitions and unexploded ordnance.

Lithuania believes that the Arms Trade Treaty will contribute to reducing human suffering by ensuring a more responsible arms trade. We are glad to have joined successful efforts advocating for strong norms that would preclude arms transfers that could be used to commit or facilitate violations of international humanitarian law, in particular, attacks directed against civilians, gender-based violence and violence against women and children.

Madame President,

Lithuania strongly believes that accountability is not only about dealing with consequences in situations where the compliance with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law has failed. It is also about securing the compliance by sending a deterrent message to all potential perpetrators that such violations will not be tolerated.

Credible information on violations of international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law should be both a pre-requisite and a trigger for accountability. Lithuania attaches great importance to timely recourse and consistent reliance on various fact-finding mechanisms. Given an independent and permanent nature of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, we call on all States to consider accepting its competence, as well as making use of its good offices, including in cases of non-international armed conflicts.

There is no doubt that primary obligation to ensure the accountability - just like the compliance - lies with the national jurisdictions, and thus investment in strengthening capacities of national jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute individual perpetrators is a key in the long run, while international justice and reconciliation mechanisms were designed to support and complement them in bridging the immediate gaps. The Security Council would benefit from consistent and coherent practices in its response to alleged violations of international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. Lithuania reiterates its confidence that power vested on the Security Council to refer to the International Criminal Court situations presents a unique opportunity to make the accountability work truly universally.

The role and essential rights of victims must not be overlooked, when considering accountability. Lithuania welcomes the trends in modern international criminal justice that empower the victims and bring retributive and restorative justice closer together. Again, we see the Rome Statute as an example how the traditional approach of retributive justice might be supplemented by two distinct forms of victim redress, namely reparations ordered by the Court and support provided to victims independently by the Trust Fund.

Madame President,

Lithuania welcomes the work of the Informal Experts Group on the Protection of Civilians as an important forum for keeping the Council informed of protection developments on the ground and encourages this practice to continue and explore the ways to make greater use of the Group.

Civilians still represent the vast majority of victims in armed conflicts, and in the changing nature of protection of civilian concerns the Security Council has to play a role in finding adequate solutions. There will always be some disagreement within the international community on how to respond to a given situations, but when tens of thousands of civilian lives are threatened the world expects the Security Council to unite and act.

I thank you, Madame President.