India has underlined the need for the UN Security Council to address critical areas arising out of armed conflict including providing humanitarian assistance to civilians, saying the UN body’s responsibility to protect citizens does not end with mere military response.
“The Right to Life is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitutions of a vast number of UN member-states, including my own. Unfortunately, situations of armed conflict continue to wreak havoc and put lives of innocent civilians at risk,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said at a UNSC open debate on ‘Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict’ here yesterday.
He stressed that the Security Council’s responsibility to protect civilians does not end with a military or police response. “Civilians require humanitarian wherewithal for survival... Security Council’s efforts should therefore address multiple dimensions of a conflict in a comprehensive and proportionate manner,” Puri said. He noted that ensuring protection of civilians in armed conflict should involve multiple stakeholders and not just the military.
“An engagement between warring factions in a conflict situation in a nationally owned and inclusive political process is of paramount importance. This inclusive approach to national reconciliation, anchored in state sovereignty, is the only way to move forward to ensure the protection of civilians in an effective, pragmatic, and enduring manner,” he said.
“Civilians have always suffered the most in conflicts. Even more unfortunate is the fact that civilians or non- belligerents suffer a disproportionate share of the casualties as compared to belligerents. It is they who bear the brunt of violence in conflict and post-conflict situations,” Puri said.
He said while UN peacekeepers have played a key role in protection of civilians from the scourge of war, protecting civilians life is primarily a national responsibility and requires institutions and conditions in which the institutions can function.
“Peacekeepers, in spite of their best efforts, cannot possibly protect everyone from everything. To do that, it is necessary to strengthen the capacities of the States and their national institutions to enable them to fulfill their responsibility to protect their populations,” he said.
Protecting populations needs sufficient personnel, proper equipment and suitable capacities, he said, adding political will of the international community and its ability to provide adequate resources is also critical to the success of peacekeeping missions in fulfilling their protection mandates.
“We firmly believe in accountability of those who mandate. Their responsibility does not end with the generation of mandates. They should be held accountable if unachievable mandates are generated for political expediency or if adequate resources are not made available. It is equally important that the principles of protecting civilians must be applied in a uniform manner by all parties to a conflict,” he added.