Statement by Hansjoerg Strohmeyer to the UN SC on respect for international humanitarian law

Mr. President,

Excellencies,

On behalf of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to address the Council during this debate on respect for international humanitarian law.

Sixty years after the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, ensuring respect for international humanitarian law remains as critical as ever. From Afghanistan to the Horn of Africa, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Middle East, tens of thousands of ordinary men, women and children continue to be killed, maimed, starved, raped, or imprisoned and forced from their homes. And they are suffering these horrors not because of gaps in the law but because the law is not respected or enforced. The real test for international humanitarian law lies in its daily application on the ground.

The Council has a critical role to play in changing this dynamic. In the ten years since the first debate on the subject-matter, in February 1999, you have taken significant steps towards enhancing the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The four thematic resolutions on the protection of civilians and those relating to women, peace and security and children affected by armed conflict, the establishment of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the adoption just two weeks ago of the revised Aide Memoire, and the convening of a dedicated Security Council expert group on the protection of civilians are crucial steps in ensuring that more systematic attention is given to the rights and needs of civilian populations under threat.

The Expert Group, in particular, provides a unique opportunity to match commitments with action by identifying the most appropriate means of enhancing respect for international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law in the Council's resolutions and actions - for each conflict situation specifically, and based on best practice and lessons learned.

We all know, however, that more is needed - more systematically and more consistently, and most importantly more tangibly on the ground.

We must, among other things, ensure that the perpetrators of the appalling sexual violence in Eastern DRC and other conflict areas finally face justice, including through strengthening national courts; that denying access for humanitarian workers and prolonging the suffering of civilian populations will have consequences; that atrocities will prompt commissions of inquiry and war crimes are being investigated and prosecuted; and, that belligerents conduct hostilities in a manner that grants civilians the protection to which they are entitled under the cardinal principles of distinction and proportionality - attacks must exclusively be directed against combatants and military objectives and never against civilians and civilian objects.

The Council's referral of the situation in Sudan to the International Criminal Court, its earlier establishment of the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and its support to the hybrid mechanisms for Sierra Leone or Timor-Leste are critical examples of the Council's proactive approach to promoting and enhancing respect for international humanitarian law and accountability. They are essential to enforcing respect for international humanitarian law and need to be repeated elsewhere, including by supporting national institutions and justice mechanisms.

And, most critically perhaps, the Council holds the key to ensuring adequate and effective peace-operation mandates. There has been major progress since 1999: protection priorities and language enabling more robust engagement of peace-keeping troops have entered the mandates of a number of peace-operations. But as Under- Secretary-General Holmes noted in his recent statement on the protection of civilians, the potential of such missions is still not being fully realized, in part because they are not being provided - on a consistent basis - with the capacities, capabilities, and resources required to discharge their protection mandates. Coherent protection strategies involving all parts of a mission, doctrine development and training of troops, and rules of engagement reflecting protection priorities are additional indispensable elements to help enhance respect for international humanitarian law on the ground.

Mr. President,

The Security Council has a central role to play in the establishment and enforcement of all these measures. However, we believe that ensuring respect for international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law needs to start by systematically condemning its violation, demanding the immediate cessation thereof, and calling for respect for the law by all parties to armed conflict in the resolutions of this Council, without exception.

Much has been achieved over the past ten years since the Secretary-General's first report on the protection of civilians and the Council's landmark resolution 1265. We have the knowledge, the knowhow and equipment to protect civilians more effectively. With the adoption of the Aide Memoire and the establishment of the expert group on the protection of civilians, the Council now also has the tools to give more systematic and effective meaning to the letter of international law.

Je vous remercie, monsieur le président.