EPIIC panel captures horror of violence filled regions

A slide presentation from the internationally-acclaimed anti-war photographer James Nachtwey began Saturday night's panel on "Humanitarian Intervention and Human Rights: The Responsibility to Protect," part of the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) symposium on Sovereignty and Intervention which took place last week.

The slides, which captured images of crimes against humanity, set the mood for the evening, portraying the horror of violence-filled regions around the world.

Three Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Awards were presented to speakers at the panel. Recipients included Lt. General Romeo Dallaire of Canada, the former force commander of the UN Mission in Rwanda, the Honorable Gareth Evans, president and chef executive of the International Crisis Group, founder of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and former foreign minister of Australia, and Dr. Mary Robinson, director of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, former UN high commissioner for Human Rights, and former president of Ireland. Before the speakers took the stage, they were commended for their support of humanitarian works.

Speaking to a crowd of roughly 150 who filled Alumnae Lounge plus the audience of a closed-circuit simulcast in Jackson Gym, Dallaire recalled firsthand his experiences of the horrifying events of the Rwandan genocide.

He explained that areas seemingly of no strategic value to the international community are of importance simply when human lives are at stake. Failure to protect human lives, as was the case in Rwanda, cannot be forgotten and "should be a reference when people say 'never again," Dallaire said. "Those who do not use their capabilities [to intervene in times of humanitarian crisis] will carry the guilt of their self-interest into history."

Evans supported Dallaire's words, arguing that the language we use to debate such conflicts makes a difference. "This is no longer a debate about the 'right to intervene' but of the 'responsibility to protect'," Evans said.

Panelists discussed the difference between intervention in such cases as Kosovo and the lack of regard for Rwanda. "Are all humans human or are some more human than others?" Dallaire asked. "Is the international community racist?"

Panelist member and former US Ambassador to the Czech Republic John Shattuck agreed that inaction in Rwanda can be blamed on a lack of political will and also a lack of international understanding "of the forces of disintegration powerfully at work in our world," which according to Shattuck, "all people are vulnerable to."

But if international will to intervene is based largely on public opinion and the will of the people to sustain casualties, as Dallaire said, there are further complications to stirring efforts. "We don't have the stomach for enormous amounts of casualties, even when our security is at risk," he said.

Shattuck said that during the crisis in Rwanda the US was hesitant to intervene due to the closeness to the 1993 US Special Forces raid in Somalia where 18 US soldiers were killed. "We have to get over that," Shattuck said. "It was completely irrelevant to what was going on in Rwanda at the time."

Dallaire agreed that Americans are particularly reluctant to commit to intervention to prevent human rights abuses. "The last people I want under my command in a peace keeping mission are Americans," he said.

Former EPIIC student and panelist Nick Birnback ('92) said he would "like to see human rights made a standard in peace keeping missions." Birnback is a political officer in the Asia/Middle East Division for the Office of Operations and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the UN.

Panelist Frank Fountain, who served in a senior position in the US Senate staff suggested the use of private military forces. Private forces are more efficient with common training and a single commander, while government forces have "leaders who are reluctant to commit the blood and treasure of their nations," he said.

Many panelists used the speech topic to express their hesitancy about going to war with Iraq. "I have no confidence in single nation efforts," Dallaire said. "They're ultimately not altruistic."

Action must be made through the UN, many panelists said, to maintain the body's credibility and respect.

Shattuck explained that intervention must be multilateral, with no risk of wider war, with regional support, and a limited risk that more lives will be lost than saved. Iraq is "mini-lateral at best," he said. "It may trigger the very thing we're trying to stop"

According to Robinson, proportional means should be taken to ensure that the scale and duration of intervention be the minimum necessary to achieve the objective. "I want to stress the importance of avoiding civilian casualties and that there needs to be an accountability if there are casualties disproportionate to what would have been necessary," she said. "I would hope that out of your EPIIC symposium would come... an apprehension of military acts," she said.

"I am troubled by the US administration using the language of war [to combat terrorism]," Robinson said. "It has put us now in a position where it becomes easy to shift attention to a focus on Iraq."

The panelists agreed that Iraq is a very different case, since it does not meet the qualification of humanitarian crisis as did Afghanistan. "However horrible Saddam is, what he's doing now is not such as to require military action," Evans argued.

The panel opened up to a question and answer series following the speeches which was rushed to avoid going much further over time. Sophomore Pon Souvannaseng said that the event was one of the strongest panels she's seen, but the questioning period was too brief. "Unfortunately the moderators are good at their jobs," she said.

Running over time is usual for the panels, senior EPIIC student Victoria Hartanto said. "But this one in particular has drawn the largest crowd because it has probably the most prestigious panel members," she said.

The audience members praised the experience of the panelists, especially Dallaire. "It's impossible to describe the significance to be able to relate to the lessons he's learned," sophomore EPIIC student Laura Gutierrez said. "I think most people feel that."