Preventive Action for Refugee Producing Situations

224 Chapter 6
grounds for developing innovative and daring approaches, which
recall Dag Hammarskjold, moving preventive diplomacy into new
lights and perspectives, written down in his 1992 "Agenda for Peace".
Most noteworthy is the heavy demand on peace-keeping, peacemaking
and peace building, which States still tend, however, not to follow up
sufficiently with the necessary funding. An emerging combined
approach of humanitarian, political and peace-keeping efforts bring
new significance in refugee prevention work. The analysis of UN
conflict prevention experience and perspective shows potentials but
also limitations for preventing new and recurring refugee situations.
Even though the mandate to maintain international peace and security
is respected and undisputed, the procedures and facilities often depend
on ad-hoc decisions and arrangements. This limits effectiveness and
result.
While during the Cold War the two super powers retained their
sphere of influence through containment policies, often at the cost of
refugees and displaced persons, political will of states remains the
crucial ingredient for any action with preventive purpose.
After long and intensive negotiations among interested
governments during 1991, the General Assembly finally resolved to
strengthen coordination of humanitarian action. States decided that a
coordinator working directly under the Secretary-General was best
suited to carry out this task, including undertaking mediation and
conflict resolution efforts. Chapter four provides an initial assessment
on the first few months of operation of the Department for
Humanitarian Affairs at UN Headquarters, which indicate the
complexities involved. The unprecedented humanitarian crisis in
Yugoslavia and Somalia, have no doubt placed unexpected challenges
to the preventive actions of the United Nations system as a whole.
It was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees whom the
Secretary-General appointed, however, to lead the operations in
former Yugoslavia. Considering that there are more than three million
refugees and displaced persons inside and outside the former
Yugoslavia UNHCR was found most suited UN body to deal with the
situation. The expertise and experience of UNHCR, gained over the
last forty years of existence, with the leadership of Mrs. Ogata in
handling the crisis have earned her support and credibility worldwide.
In this context concepts and activities on country of origin work have
gained new momentum. The establishing of a new section specifically
for this purpose is only one proof of it. An in-house early warning
working group, operating since 1989, has also evolved into a more
institutionalized mechanism: the UNHCR Early
Concluding Remarks 225
Warning Taskforce. Out of this activity is developing UNHCR's
active participation in the United Nations interagency working group
on early warning, established in 1991.
Preventive protection, which the UN High Commissioner defines
as prevention of circumstances which force people to leave as another
aspect of solutions, would have been unthinkable even four years ago.
Of course, for the time being, the concept and actions of preventive
protection are understood essentially in the context of the situation in
former Yugoslavia. Senseless war and killing naturally makes
preventive protection a different option. Nevertheless, the notion is
developing, allowing for application when circumstances permit. This
in itself is progress compared to previous times, and could evolve
eventually into a more broader acceptance and implementation
elsewhere. Action in the country of origin to address circumstances of
cross border movements is thus slowly emerging as an accepted
practice.
The issue of sovereignty is slowly gaining new light and
interpretation in the direction which was already indicated in the first
edition. The states of the international community can no longer
ignore the victims of specific practices (which amount to persecution
and massive human rights violations) only because they are still in
their countries of origin. The call to respect human rights and
humanitarian law can no longer be considered merely as lipservice,
but rather figures now prominently on international agendas. That the
Security Council is functioning again, and able to adopt such
resolutions as concerning Iraq and former Yugoslavia, would have
been unthinkable just a few years ago. They did perhaps not stop
refugee movements. But is is unclear what exactly would have
happened without them. Evidence shows, however, that without them
the human suffering could have been much worse.
Of course, there is still war in several parts of the world.
Preventive action, now and in the next few years, is likely to be more
effective, only in small specific situations. It is only known when
preventive action has not prevented refugees and war. Seldom are
reports publicly available of preventive actions' failures or successes.
Still, the approach to prevent rather than to cure is gaining acceptance
as the most desirable course of action. Consequently, the preventive
course is advancing towards a more proactive approach to promote
human rights, democracy and peace. Preventing circumstances forcing
people to flee is a part of mat process.