 |
| Picture Credit: Misha Japaridze/ AP |
By Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
With reports of renewed violence and continued attacks on ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, international and local NGOs have repeatedly called on the United Nations to respond by sending peace-keepers to the scene to deter violence. Reports from observers in Osh say that locals believe even a small number of armed foreign troops would help prevent escalation of the unrest.
Yet ultimately, for structural as well as geopolitical reasons, like many other humanitarian crises in the world, some with far higher numbers of persons affected, the situation on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is likely not to be addressed by the UN Security Council or UN Human Rights Council effectively or even at all, and as many similar situations, it will be left to agencies like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to respond directly to the more narrow issue of immediate care of refguees.
The chances of the 15-member UN Security Council being able to negotiate and pass a resolution in favor of such an international peacekeeping force are very slim, and not only due to the double veto anticipated on such actions by permanent members Russia and China. Both these partners of Kyrgyzstan routinely vote against UN action in their regions but they and other elected members also repeatedly reject on principle action regarding situations they believe do not rise to the test of "a threat to international peace and security" (such as in Zimbabwe). It is also unlikely the Security Council will form any kind of hybrid operation between the Department of Peace-keeping Operations (DPKO) and a regional body such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CST), as one recent attempt to do this in Sudan between the African Union and the DPKO was hobbled by the challenges of dual command and gaps in political will and complementarity.
There remains another type of passive action, which is a failure to pass a condemnation of an intervention by a regional body, thereby giving it a kind of tacit approval, and setting up measures to receive regular reports on the situation. This is what was done with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs called for the urgent creation of humanitarian corridors for aid to be delivered in Kyrgyzstan. The UN agencies, while doing what they can to help Uzbek displaced persons, can be slow to approve such actions, however, due to a history of the failure of similar corridors that actually led to increased assaults on civilians by militants, as in Srebrenica and Goma.
In April, just as former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was being toppled, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon made a visit to Kyrgyzstan as part of a trip to Central Asia where he openly called for better human rights commitments, breaking with a long trend of silence on this region, leaving it regional bodies such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russia attempted to block his report on his trip to the Security Council, on the grounds that it was a regional matter, but other members said similar kinds of reports had been heard from other world regions still not on the Security Council's agenda, and Ban's report went forward, but without any follow-up.
As the crisis has evolved in Kyrgyzstan, the Security Council has not considered any resolution, for peace-keepers or observers or a commission of inquiry into possible crimes against humanity (an option used for the situation in Guinea, for example), and did not even pass a formal "presidential statement," which is a negotiated text read out by the rotating president.
Instead, Ambassador Claude Heller of Mexico made informal remarks to the press reflecting the discussion at the Security Council, saying that "members" had condemned the violence and urged a return of the rule of law. His remarks were not a formal press statement although the UN Press Centre characterized the ambassador as having "issued a press statement."
The gesture, shy of a formal UN response, was still misleadingly picked up by the media, particularly in Russia, as a united condemnation of the violence.
Even when a humanitarian crisis becomes very severe, as it has in Kyrgyzstan with estimates of those killed as many as 2,000, and some 400,000 displaced, the tendency of the Security Council is to leave the matter to the UN Human Rights Council, the body that is supposed to handle massive human rights violations.
At the 14th session of that body this month, the U.S. and other countries had already been attempting to get some action to respond to the April violence in Bishkek before the current conflict. On June 18th, the Human Rights Council was finally able to pass a resolution on Kyrgyzstan tabled by the United States, but in order to make the action succeed, the motion had to be put under an agenda item entitled "technical assistance," usually reserved for educational work and study trips, and not "country situations" -- a category that has been increasingly hard to fill with critical resolutions on individual countries, with the exception of Israel.
According to the summary record of the session, the text of the resolution, which is still not finalized and posted, "strongly condemns the human rights violations committed during the protests surrounding the change of government"; "calls for a full and transparent investigation that holds perpetrators accountable for the loss of life of 7 April 2010"; and "urges the Government of Kyrgyzstan to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms and to promote respect for democracy and the rule of law."
Russia immediately objected to the maneuver, saying the text, essentially a country resolution, was politicized by being put under the "technical assistance" agenda item. Vladmir Tcheglov said in an explanation of his vote before the vote:
the resolution contained almost no elements which related to providing technical assistance to Kyrgyzstan - on the contrary, the document was ripe with political declarations and called for action, going far beyond the agenda item, which was on technical assistance and capacity building.
Kyrgyzstan cooperated in the resolution, which brought pledges of assistance from some countries such as Brazil, which offered $300,000 in aid. In a speech in support of the resolution referenced in the summary record, Muktar Djumaliev of Kyrgyzstan
said:
This text had been discussed over much time and Kyrgyzstan wished to thank its country partners. Kyrgyzstan had undertaken to respect certain obligations despite the difficult situation that still prevailed in the country today. Kyrgyzstan upheld this resolution and said all comments made had been taken on board and incorporated. Kyrgyzstan expressed hope that country partners would be able to adopt the draft resolution.
In May, the interrim government went through the scheduled Universal Periodic Review process at the Human Rights Council and made assurances that it would address the request by fellow members "to return the country to democratic governance and the rule of law and to overcome cronyism and tribalism in the public administration system."
The U.S. has continued to call for an independent investigation of the events in April as well as in June but has not defined which international body might undertake this job. In an interview with CNN, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake responded to a reporter's challenge that the U.S. might be reluctant to criticize the interim Kyrgyz government because of the presence of the U.S. base in Manas supplying the war in Afghanistan. Blake replied:
I wouldn't say that. It's clear there has to be an investigation if we are ever going to secure the safe and secure return of these refugees. It will be very important to understand what's happened, that we can prevent this kind of violence from happening in the future.
Asked if he was seeking any assurances from the Otunbayeva government, given the allegations that Kyrgyz military themselves were involved in the violence, Blake said:
Indeed, it's a very important element, a very substantial investigation, but that the perpetrators be held accountable, that will be part of the conditions to ensure the safe return of these refugees.
Blake said he was satisfied with the response of the interim government so far, which he characterized as "very quick, very responsible" and with the response of the UN, as a lot of international assistance would be needed to help the Uzbek government cope with massive influx of refugees.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on local and national authorities "to take swift and decisive action to protect citizens, irrespective of their ethnic origin, and curb the violence." She condemned the "shoot to kill" orders give to police and urged the avoidance of unnecessary force.
It seems indiscriminate killings, including of children, and rapes have been taking place on the basis of ethnicity. This is a very dangerous situation, given the ethnic patchwork in this part of Kyrgyzstan, as well as in neighbouring areas of Uzbekistan. It has been known for many years that this region is a potential tinder-box, and for that reason it is essential that the authorities act firmly to halt the fighting - which appears to be orchestrated, targeted and well planned - before it spreads further inside Kyrgzstan or even across the border into neighbouring countries.
The UN independent expert on minority issues, and the special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions and racism also condemned the violence but have not yet been issued invitations by the interrim government required to investigate the situation.
Secretary Ban has appealed for $71 million in relief aid to be granted for the refugee crisis.
