A Humanitarian Strategy to Ensure A Continuation, Coordination and Accountability for Safe Evacuation/Delivery of Humanitarian Services in Afghanistan – A Proposal through UN Charter
As time and morality are of the essence, the evacuation needs to continue until every international and Afghan who served with the US and other international embassies can safely depart. The Taliban, however, insist that they will not extend the 31 August deadline. According to the UN Council on Human Rights Council “summary executions” and serious violations by the Taliban have taken place. Further, humanitarian organizations, which will remain, already need supplies to continue their service in hospitals. People are stranded all over the country. We recommend innovative diplomatic strategies for a humanitarian safe evacuation process with international accountability, relying on the UN Charter.
We recognized the sanctity of territorial integrity, which is a firmly protected in law and in the UN Charter under article 2, which calls inter alia for equality among all sovereigns para. 1; refraining from the threat or use of force,(para 4) and non-intervention in domestic natters of another state (para 7).[1] Further, the UN Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with UN principles, proclaims that “no State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly,” into the territorial integrity of another State, on a basis that is inconsistent with the principles of the UN Charter.[2] There are possibilities, however, for overriding territorial integrity when it comes to self defense, UN Charter article 51. The US presumably applied this article on October 7, 2001 when it went into Afghanistan to go after Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, following the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001.
The protection of territorial integrity, however, should not prejudice the application of enforcement measures to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN. For example, the preamble of the Charter affirms faith in fundamental human rights. The charter justifies human rights, derived from the inherent dignity of the human person, as a state value by linking it to peace and security. In terms of the critical humanitarian evacuation in Afghanistan, the exigent considerations apply through both international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
To this end, we would like to propose a strategy for the international community to implement a comprehensive evacuation coordination effort through a UN Charter Chapter VII,[3] for a limited intervention/extended involvement based on human rights and humanitarian exigencies. Due to the fact that armed forces are already in the country, this limited adoption of Chapter VII would focus on ensuring the unobstructed evacuation of internationals and Afghans, who can prove their affiliation to one of the international groups leaving the country. In this sense, it could be considered more of extended involvement than an intervention to achieve moral humanitarian goals – saving lives.
Through an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, perhaps a Permanent Member could introduce a very limited use of the UN Charter Chapter VII, for an intervention or extended involvement for coordinated evacuation – in case the Taliban will block further evacuations. For the Security Council to approve Chapter VII, it must consider inter alia the threats to peace and security, and the extent the threats are internationalized. This use of Chapter VII should include explicit instructions for the Taliban to allow for safe evacuation of foreign nationals and of Afghans whose lives are at risk. This use of Chapter VII should have an explicit expiration time and should have a mission to be firmly limited to humanitarian evacuation. The legality of a humanitarian intervention would rests on the purpose of the mission, with the execution being limited to a timely and consistent manner. Also, the intervention cannot violate human rights law. In this regard, we are firmly not calling for any further intrusion or intervention and no steps toward state building.
In terms of international law and the application of Chapter VII, the notion of sovereignty is critical. Sovereignty, however, does not necessarily provide a shield from human rights abuses or from the compelling need for humanitarian intervention. This would be a guraranteeing mechanism, even with Taliban promises, with the Taliban accepting this limited use for humanitarian exigencies, it could demonstrate its seriousness about being a legitimate sovereign rather than a terrorist state. Although respect for sovereignty remains an essential obligation among states, sovereignty is increasingly viewed as a matter of responsibility toward its citizens.
Yvonne Lodico
[1] UN Charter at art.2
[2] UN General Assembly, Declaration on Principles of International Law Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. October 24, 1970.Accessed at https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/3dda1f104.pdfUN Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States
[3] UN Charter. Chapter VII, arts 39-40. The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance.