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Report of the Secretary-General on the protection of civilians in armed conflict (S/2009/277)

Attachments

I. Introduction

1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the request contained in the statement of the President of the Security Council of 27 May 2008 (S/PRST/2008/18).

2. The year 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of the consideration by the Security Council of the protection of civilians in armed conflict as a thematic issue. As with most anniversaries, there is cause for celebration but also for a critical review of progress made. The protection of civilians has come to occupy a prominent place on the Council's agenda, as manifested in the biannual open debates and the Secretary- General's periodic reports. Most importantly, the protection of civilians has increasingly permeated the country-specific deliberations and decisions of the Council. This has resulted in concrete proposals and decisions intended to improve the situation of countless men, women, girls and boys affected by the horrors and indignities of war. It has also contributed to the increasing awareness among Member States and the broader international community of the need to respond to protection issues.

3. A decade ago, members of the Security Council questioned whether situations of internal armed conflict constituted a threat to international peace and security, and thus a matter for Council consideration. Currently, based on the experience of conflicts in such places as Afghanistan, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and the Sudan, the regional dimensions and destabilizing effects of internal conflicts have been firmly recognized and the Council is progressively more willing to address the protection needs of civilians in such situations.

4. Nonetheless, further efforts to strengthen the protection of civilians remain crucial. While the last 10 years have seen peace come to some of the world's major conflicts, others have continued to smolder and burn and new ones have broken out. Common to old and new ones alike are persistent and sometimes appalling levels of human suffering owing to the fundamental failure of parties to conflict to fully respect and ensure respect for their obligations to protect civilians. Actions on the ground have not yet matched the progress in words and the development of international norms and standards.

5. This is a failure that demands a reinvigorated commitment by the Security Council, Member States and the United Nations to the protection of civilians and to the promotion of respect for the principles of international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law on which the concept is founded. In practical terms, it requires determined action to meet the five core challenges outlined in the present report: enhancing compliance by parties to conflict with international law, in particular in the conduct of hostilities; enhancing compliance with the law by non-State armed groups; enhancing protection through more effective and better resourced peacekeeping and other relevant missions; enhancing humanitarian access; and enhancing accountability for violations of the law.