More than 20 million people in conflict situations, as the Secretary-General notes in his latest report, and more that 1.4 million children, are on the brink of famine. The plight of the vulnerable, including women and children, remains particularly acute. The current level of preventable suffering is, indeed, horrifying and, as Pope Francis has repeatedly stated, it is utterly “unacceptable that so many unarmed persons, including many children, have to pay the price of the conflict.” Taking into account the atrocities committed in Syria and in the remote villages of the Borno State in Nigeria, the famine and severe food insecurity ravaging South Sudan and Yemen, and the attacks deliberately targeting innocent civilians in many parts of the world, the Secretary-General rightly speaks of a global protection crisis. This Council sadly must listen regularly to testimonies of the most brutal, barbarous and premeditated instances of the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure as a tactic of war. Yet, despite those safeguards, one can safely affirm that it has never been as perilous to be a civilian in the middle of armed conflict as it is today. The 1977 Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions significantly improve the legal protection covering civilians and the wounded. The Fourth Geneva Convention puts the protection of civilians at the heart of international humanitarian law. The Holy See would like to thank the Polish Presidency for organizing today’s important and very welcome debate. Protection of civilians in armed conflict United Nations Security Council Open Debate on Archbishop Bernardito AuzaĪpostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the
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