UN security council: Conflict parties must respect, protect civilians

With civilians now routinely targeted and subjected to indiscriminate brutality in most current conflicts, the U.N. Security Council joined senior U.N. officials Wednesday to once again urge greater protection for the countless men, women, and children caught in the crossfire of war. Holding its first open debate on the topic since the release of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s most recent report, the Security Council sounded the alarm on behalf of desperate civilians and examined the core challenges the international community faces, from enhancing compliance with civilian protection regimes by non-state actors to improving humanitarian access to people in need. A presidential statement adopted by the meeting will, among other aims, reaffirm the council’s commitment to its range of civilian protection measures approved since 1999, and also reaffirm that parties to armed conflict bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians. The council will urge such conflict parties to meet the “basic needs, and give attention to the specific needs of women and children, refugees, internally displaced persons, as well as other civilians who may have specific vulnerabilities.”