GPPi publishes commentary to mark 10-year anniversary of Sergio Vieira de Mello’s death
In an online opinion piece published by Deutsche Welle on 19 August 2013, GPPi Director Thorsten Benner marks the 10-year anniversary of the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was chief of the UN mission in Iraq. Benner argues that Vieira’s death should serve as a reminder to improve the conditions for peacekeepers and humanitarians.
Together with 21 UN colleagues and local staff from 11 countries, Vieira de Mello was killed in a terrorist attack in Baghdad on 19 August 2003. To honor “those who have lost their lives in humanitarian service and those who continue to bring assistance and relief to millions,” the UN designated August 19 “World Humanitarian Day.”
The anniversary of Vieira de Mello’s death coincides with Samantha Power assuming the role of US ambassador to the UN. Journalist, academic and human right’s activist turned Obama administration official, Power in fact wrote a book on the Brazilian-born UN official, with lessons learned from his career in the trenches of peacekeeping, humanitarian action and diplomacy. Benner argues that Power should use this opportunity to translate words into action.
Shaping concrete political initiatives to improve the conditions of humanitarians and peacekeepers is more important than ever, writes Benner. Due to extreme attacks on its staff, Médicins Sans Frontières had to close all its programs in Somalia after 22 years of continuous presence. In Mali peacekeepers and humanitarians risk becoming the victims of attacks as insurgents seek retaliation for the actions of the French counterterrorism forces. In the Congo, the UN’s new aggressive stance with the unprecedented deployment of a UN “intervention brigade” raises the stakes for the peacekeeping and humanitarian presence. Benner urges powerful members in the Security Council to assume their duty to contribute resources, troops and equipment to support UN missions.
At the same time, Benner suggests that Power should work towards broadening the consensus on contested norms such as the Responsibility to Protect, known as R2P. Rather than employing nationalist rhetoric to placate her right-wing critics, Power should engage with the “principled pragmatism” and self-criticism that she herself admired in Vieira de Mello.
The principle of humility that Vieira de Mello advocated should apply to UN bureaucracy and key UN member states alike. Benner says that, as many in the US and Germany are getting tired of engaging with the Syrian civil war where all mediation efforts have failed so far, we should resist the temptation to simply turn the page. We owe it to those who have given their lives in the line of duty – in particular Sergio Vieira de Mello, who argued as early as 2000 that until now the UN as well as national bureaucracies have “proven more adept at repeating mistakes than at learning lessons. Time to change.”