World leaders vow to stamp out genocide

September 17, 2005 –
theage.com.au

A vow by world leaders to stop genocide – one of the few tangible
outcomes of this week’s United Nations World Summit – was the
brainchild of former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans.

Presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from more than 150 countries
agreed this week to commit to a doctrine of responsibility to protect
populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crime.

But there was little movement on ending world poverty, and weapons of
mass destruction issues – including disarmament and proliferation –
were left out completely after diplomats could not negotiate a
compromise on the wording.

Prime Minister John Howard told the UN General Assembly he was
disappointed at the lack of action on disarmament and warned nations
receiving overseas aid that they needed to cut out corruption and
clean up their laws.

“I have sensed in the discussions I’ve had and in the atmosphere of
the meeting that there is a greater willingness to talk rather more
directly about that, because it is an important thing for the domestic
populations of donor countries,” Mr Howard told reporters as he
prepared to leave the summit.

“There is a desire on the part of the Australian population to give
assistance to poverty-stricken countries but a deep anger if any of
that money is wasted in corrupt practices.

“Unless that issue is properly addressed, support for aid will dwindle
very significantly.”

But both Mr Howard and opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd
said the agreement on responsibility to protect was an important step
forward.

The doctrine is the UN’s response to the Rwandan genocide, where the
international community failed to act in time to stop the slaughter.

Mr Rudd said the doctrine established a way to authorise the
international community to intervene in countries where there is a
risk of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“This is an important step forward and I take the opportunity to pay
tribute to Gareth Evans,” Mr Rudd told reporters.

“Gareth Evans invented this doctrine … so in the future, if we face
another Rwandan situation, let’s hope the UN acts early enough … and
let’s remember that Gareth Evans has made an important contribution to
the body of international law which will enable the UN to do its job
in the future.” Aid group Oxfam said while the genocide decision was
welcome, world leaders had done nothing to end poverty.

Nicola Reindorp, the head of Oxfam’s New York office, said if current
trends continued it would take 100 years instead of 10 to meet the
internationally agreed poverty reduction targets, the Millennium
Development Goals.

“World leaders agreed to stop future genocides but failed to provide
life-saving aid to millions trapped in poverty,” she said.

“This has been a tale of two summits. The historic agreement to stop
future genocides stands in stark contrast with the lack of progress on
ending poverty.”

But Mr Howard said there did appear to be a greater willingness to
talk about the importance of breaking down trade barriers as a way to
help people out of poverty.

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