UN General Assembly
1994

vulnerable are threatened and victimized. When peace collapses - and the more fragile it is the more violent is its collapse - war quickly becomes total, and civilian populations, especially the poorest, are rarely spared. The international community, pained and overwhelmed, can only resort, in desperation, to humanitarian assistance. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda are the most striking examples of this. Most often, this humanitarian assistance comes in response to tragic situations and complex political circumstances that make it difficult to deliver and, despite all the haste and the efforts made, render its benefits uncertain. Bearing in mind the decisions taken by the Security Council in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a view to protecting the civilian populations, and inspired by the courageous and generous initiative recently undertaken by France in Rwanda with the support of Africa and the United Nations, should not the international community adopt a convention-based instrument that would meet this challenge? For such challenges could face it again in the future. Through such an instrument, States parties would