We thank the briefers for their presentations today. Our particular thanks go to USG Lowcock – thank you for your work on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and keeping this steadily in the Council’s focus as a priority over the past years.
Mr Chair,
It is our second annual discussion on this topic during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put a magnifying lens both on the suffering of the civilians in conflict as well as our shortcomings as states and the Security Council in ending and preventing them. As the Secretary-General’s report testifies, conflicts are increasingly protection crises with the most vulnerable and marginalised – including women, children, refugees and displaced persons – most at risk. COVID-19 has added to these risks while limiting means to protect and assist them.
This includes the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, with allegations of mass killings, sexual and gender-based violence, destruction and looting as well as abductions and forced displacement. It is demonstrated by the risks faced by the civilians in Afghanistan, which saw i.a. a 43 per cent increase in civilian deaths from non-suicide IEDs in 2020.
In Syria, millions of people have been deprived of their homes and livelihoods as a result of a decade-long conflict. Schools, hospitals and other protected objects have been indiscriminately and deliberately attacked, violating international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Cross-line humanitarian assistance remains dysfunctional, irregular, and unreliable. This underscores the importance of a sustainable long-term cross-border humanitarian response to ensure that all Syrian people receive necessary food items, medicine, and Covid-19 vaccines.
Attacks against civilians also include violence against medical care. Five years on from the Security Council resolution 2286(2016) medical personnel continue to be abducted, threatened and killed, facilities and transports destroyed. The wounded and sick are denied access to care. The ICRC has counted 3780 attacks against health care workers in an average of 33 countries per year between 2016 and 2020. This violence includes an attack on the maternity ward in Kabul, which resulted in the death of 23 civilians, including 19 women and 3 children.
Attacks on health care deny assistance to those most in need and can have long-term repercussions for states and communities. We appreciate the good practices and recommendations put forward by the Secretary-General as well as the guidance by the ICRC on the protection of health care.
We are deeply concerned about the attacks and killing of journalists in situations of conflict and reiterate the need to ensure their safety. The safety of journalists is among the focus areas of the annual conference of the Media Freedom Coalition organised this year by Estonia.
We fully stand by the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire as well as the implementation of the Council resolutions 2532 and 2565. We also underline the importance of following up on the SG’s Call to Action for Human Rights to create a credible agenda for protection, making use of the tools the UN has across all of its three pillars.
Peacekeeping and special political missions continue to play a key role in the protection of civilians and their resources to do so need to be sufficient. The risks to civilians need to inform the transitions of the UN presence to ensure that the UN protection capacity is sustained throughout these processes.
Estonia reiterates its call for compliance with international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law. We underline that the existing international law also applies in cyber space. This is of crucial importance as we have seen cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure, including healthcare.
We echo the Secretary-General’s call to make accountability for the violations of international law – through national and international mechanisms, as well as services for victims and survivors – a priority. Along the steps taken at domestic levels, we welcome the continued contribution of the ICC in this regard.
