New York, 19 October 2006 – His statements over the past year indicate that UN Secretary-General-designate Ban Ki-Moon is a proponent of both the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). Civil society groups will be monitoring for demonstration of his commitment as Ban takes office in January 2007. Preliminary indications of his human rights positions are less concrete, however, and observers have suggested that he will need to prove his willingness to defend human rights.

While heading the six-party talks over North Korea’s nuclear program, Ban was muted on reported human rights abuses in North Korea. In a response to comments made by United States Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow that North Korea was “very repressive” and a “criminal regime,” Ban sought to protect the ongoing multinational talks by stating, “Countries need the wisdom to control themselves when making comments on dialogue partners.” In June 2006, Ban told reporters that South Korea “is trying to take a realistic approach” to helping North Korea overcome hunger, disease, and economic difficulties, and he stressed humanitarian assistance is one way to overcome the human rights situation. This approach appears to be ineffective rather than “realistic” as, according to an international expert familiar with the situation in North Korea, over 6 million people are still in need of food assistance.

Ban’s willingness to address human rights abuses as Secretary-General, especially when it may affect diplomatic relations, is still unclear. Civil society groups would welcome him raising the issue of human rights in North Korea after a long silence.

The Responsibility to Protect, which was endorsed in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, affirms that states have a primary responsibility to protect their own populations and that the international community has a responsibility to act when governments fail to protect their populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The following excerpts trace references to the R2P norm in Ban Ki-Moon’s speeches and statements.

• In his address to the 60th Session of the General Assembly in September 2005 Ban stated, “The principle of the responsibility to protect, as discussed during the High-Level Plenary, underscores the responsibility of the international community to lend assistance to states in upholding their solemn obligations to protect their citizens. We support the continued deliberation by Member States to reach agreement on the responsibility to protect. This would certainly form the backbone of a preventive mechanism against gross violations of human rights.”

• In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations on 31 May 2006 Ban said, “the concept of the international community’s responsibility to protect, as endorsed by the World Summit last year, should be further substantiated.”

• In a telephone interview on 18 October 2006 Ban suggested, “When a country is not able to protect its own people from crimes against humanity and genocide and prevents the international community from intervening on the excuse of sovereignty, the international community has a responsibility to protect those people from genocide.”

• At the International Peace Academy on 27 September 2006 Ban “vowed to speak out in favor” of R2P.

Human rights groups have pointed to the importance of Darfur, and how the incoming Secretary-General will handle the situation, for the responsibility to protect. Whether Ban will go beyond stating a principle to having the political will to apply it, will be seen as a key question of his tenure.

According to a representative of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, the ICC is also in its early stages and “cannot succeed without close and constructive cooperation with the United Nations, which requires firm leadership and support from the Secretary-General.”

Ban has stated in interviews that he is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court, particularly in his capacity as Foreign Minister. He has emphasized the important role the Republic of Korea played at the Rome Conference which created the ICC treaty in 1998 and the Republic of Korea’s continuing support for the Court: “[the] Korean delegation had a lot of contributions in drafting [and] finally agreeing to a comprehensive convention. Korea was one of the countries to ratify this [the ICC treaty] and the ICC is enforced in Korea and we have one distinguished judge sitting in the ICC,” he told the Center for UN Reform Education earlier this year.