UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday (May 23rd) denounced the "failure" of the international community to "protect" civilians from armed conflict, with the number of victims of fighting and its humanitarian consequences having increased by more than 50% between 2021 and 2022.

"The truth is terrible: the world is failing to fulfill its commitments to protect civilians, commitments enshrined in international humanitarian law," the UN chief told the Security Council.

The council met on Tuesday, at the request of Switzerland, which chairs it this month, to discuss a report by Antonio Guterres on the "protection of civilians in armed conflict".

According to the document, "in 2022, the United Nations recorded at least 16,988 civilian deaths in 12 armed conflicts, an increase of 53% compared to 2021". "In Ukraine alone, the United Nations has recorded 7,957 civilians killed and 12,560 wounded, although these figures are probably higher," Guterres said.

Sitting next to Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, whose country has been waging war against Ukraine for 15 months, the UN chief was outraged by the use of "explosive weapons" in conflicts, of which "94% of victims in populated areas are civilians".

"Hell"

Speaking to the 15-member Security Council, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, said that "right now, countless civilians are living hell in conflicts around the world." "At any moment, the next missile can destroy their home, their school, their clinic and everyone there. Every day, their loved ones can be assaulted, raped, arrested, tortured. Every week, they may run out of food or medicine," the diplomat said.

As a humanitarian consequence of wars, Antonio Guterres estimated that "last year, more than 117 million people suffered from acute hunger".

At his side, the president of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset, whose country is "depositary of the Geneva Conventions (of 1949) and seat of the ICRC", warned: "Willfully starving civilians is a war crime". The Swiss leader denounced the fate of civilians caught up in armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, the Sahel, Somalia, Burma, Afghanistan or "in other situations of violence, for example Haiti".

For France Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, "the balance sheet is overwhelming" and "the very sharp increase in 2022 in the number of civilians killed in armed conflicts is very worrying". He slammed "violations of international humanitarian law" such as "committed by Russia in Ukraine and (...) by the Wagner Group, particularly in the Central African Republic and Mali".

"Civilians have suffered for too long from the deadly consequences of armed conflict. It is time we kept our promise to protect them," Guterres said.

With AFP

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