UNESCO held a Colloquium on the Right to Humanitarian Assistance, in Paris, on 25, 26 and 27 January 1995. Taking part were intergovernmental, governmental and nongovernmental jurists, theoreticians and workers active in the provision of humanitarian assistance.

I

The participants declared that the situations of extreme distress, the massacre of entire populations, famine and ethnic cleansing occurring in today's world were unacceptable and represented assaults on humanity. They emphasized that the rejection of despair, the necessity of more effective and more rapid action, and the urgent need to prevent future conflicts should make us think about improving existing legal and operational mechanisms and consider the possibility of establishing new ones. The participants welcomed the fact that consideration was also being given to these same issues within UNESCO, the intellectual organization of the United Nations system and an organization which had contributed to the spread of international law and the development of the content of humanitarian assistance by carrying out educational and cultural activities and action to promote independent media within the framework of United Nations peace-keeping operations.

II

The Colloquium reviewed existing legal provisions in the area of humanitarian assistance. It examined the body of law consisting of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which made an invaluable contribution to the protection of the victims of armed conflicts and to the provision of material assistance, particularly through their provisions concerning the obligation to permit the free passage of aid to victims.

It also noted the limits to the field of application of that law and the extent to which it was not observed - something that was unhappily noted too frequently in conflicts. It tackled the essential problem of the conflict between the requirement for effective assistance and access to the victims and, on the other hand, regard for the sovereignty of the States concerned.

The participants emphasized the existence of causes of distress unconnected with the situations covered by the so-called Law of Geneva, such as natural disasters and situations of that kind, and internal disorders involving massive violations of human rights by a de jure or de facto authority. They also noted the development of new forms of radical confrontation which were of increasing concern to public opinion (which was also shocked by the tragic consequences of the failure to take protective action or by delays in organizing such action)

The Colloquium included among the factors of distress the role that poverty and backwardness in development played in amplifying the impact of natural disasters and in the emergence of many situations of internal or international tension.

III

The participants in the Colloquium took note of the adoption by the United Nations of resolutions on matters of principle and on specific cases that could contribute to the development of custom that would broaden the scope and content of humanitarian law.

The participants noted with satisfaction the progress that international humanitarian assistance had been making for some years, owing mainly to the perseverance of representatives of the Red Cross movement, the commitment of non-governmental organizations, the efforts of United Nations agencies and the implementation of large-scale actions carried out by the United Nations itself or by States with United Nations authorization. They welcomed the great progress made in the range of services provided, particularly with regard to food, medical care, sanitation, housing, the treatment of polluted water, mineclearing operations, psychological assistance and the continuity of basic services such as education.

The participants in the Colloquium paid tribute to the enormous human and financial effort made to maintain assistance in certain countries, especially Cambodia, Somalia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, under particularly dangerous circumstances, even though resources were still, overall, inadequate. They paid tribute to all those men and women who were devoting their energy to easing the suffering of others, many giving their lives in doing so e.g. 'Blue berets' and members of multinational forces, ICRC delegates, members of national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, NGO expatriate workers, and representatives of the various component parts of the United Nations, not to mention the local helpers of those various people.

They also stressed the role played by the media in sounding the alert and in helping to get assistance actions under way, and paid tribute to the memory of journalists who had lost their lives in dangerous missions in areas where humanitarian assistance was being provided. They assessed the scale of involvement of the public, which had taken the form of the collection of considerable sums of private money in many countries, and welcomed the development of a culture of international solidarity, a vital element of the culture of peace.

IV

Nevertheless, the participants also raised questions regarding certain malfunctions and ways of promoting further progress.

It was stressed that certain major humanitarian assistance operations met with little understanding on the part of the general public, particularly on account of the ambiguity about the very concept of humanitarian assistance that was caused when humanitarian operations were carried out by armed forces entrusted with a non-military mission.

The Colloquium also noted the danger inherent in certain potentially equivocal rallying cries such as 'ingérence' (the right or duty of intervention).

V

The Colloquium explored the possibility of responding fully to the problem of people in distress, more specifically through the concept of a subjective right of all victims to assistance, whether or not those victims were covered by the Geneva Conventions or instruments relating to refugees. Consideration was given to the possible substance of such a right, to the services to be provided and to ways of delivering such services to victims. The Colloquium also focused its attention on the problem of determining the active and passive participants in such a right, the de facto conditions which should trigger its implementation at the international level, and effective ways of ensuring that such a right was respected.

VI

The participants in the Colloquium urged UNESCO:

1. to reaffirm the need to meet, with humanity, neutrality and impartiality, the needs of victims, whatever the cause of their distress, not only by delivering emergency aid, but also by providing them with educational, intellectual and cultural assistance which was in keeping with their human dignity, proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

2. to draw the attention of the international community to the urgent need to reduce the time-lag between the initial disclosure of an emergency situation which could not be dealt with at the national level and the launching of aid operations;

3. to insist on the vital necessity of allowing the direct access of aid to victims, as stipulated by United Nations General Assembly resolutions 43/131 and 45/100;

4. to call upon those States which had not already done so to ratify the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols thereto;

5. to remind States of the obligation, contained in Article 1 of each of the 1949 Conventions, for them to respect and to ensure respect for the provisions of humanitarian law in all circumstances;

6. to continue examination of this matter, in particular from the point of view of the right of victims to receive assistance;

7. to organize shortly a colloquium on the reduction of humanitarian risks, and more especially on the prevention of armed conflict, taking due account of the Agenda for Peace of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.