Chapter I: International peace and security John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that the debate was taking place in the shadow of the conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, and the Council’s focus should be on the conduct of hostilities and the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian law. The situation in southern Israel and Gaza was pressing and desperate. Civilians in southern Israel had long lived under the constant threat of rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants. Considering the number of rockets and mortars fired, civilian casualties had been limited, but the frequent and indiscriminate nature of the attacks inflicted severe psychological suffering. While those attacks were contrary to international law and must cease, Israel’s response must itself comply with international humanitarian law. In the conduct of military operations, Mr. Holmes said, constant care must be taken to spare civilian populations from the effects of hostilities. For those launching attacks, that included doing everything feasible to verify that the objectives were neither civilians nor civilian objects and refraining from indiscriminate attacks. For those in defence, it meant removing civilians and civilian objects from the vicinity of military objectives and avoiding locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas. Looking at what had been happening in Gaza in the past three weeks, neither Israel nor Hamas had come close to respecting those rules. Other situations raised profound concerns over the degree of respect for those rules and for international humanitarian law. A catastrophic situation had unfolded in August 2008 around Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where civilians had found themselves in the worst of all worlds: subject to attacks, displacement, sexual violence and forced recruitment perpetrated by advancing rebel forces; and to acts of violence, rape and looting carried out by members of the armed forces and rebel militias. Civilians were at risk in southern Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. If the international community was serious about sparing civilian lives, obtaining access to those in need and ensuring the safety of humanitarian workers, humanitarian actors must have sustained dialogue with all parties to conflict, be it the Taliban, Hamas or Al-Shabaab. It was simply not sufficient to oppose such engagement for fear that it would confer a degree of recognition on those groups. Representatives of 45 Member States addressed the ensuing debate. At the end of the debate, Mr. Holmes gave the latest figures regarding Palestinian casualties and injured in Gaza, as provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health: 1,013 dead, including 322 children and 76 women.
51 SECURITY COUNCIL ACTION
On 14 January [meeting 6066], following consultations among Security Council members, the President made statement S/PRST/2009/1 on behalf of the Council: The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to the full and effective implementation of its resolutions on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and recalls previous statements on the issue made by its President. The Council remains committed to addressing the impact of armed conflict on civilians. The Council expresses its deepest concern that civilians continue to account for the majority of victims of acts of violence committed by parties to armed conflict, including as a result of deliberate targeting, indiscriminate and excessive use of force, use of civilians as human shields and of sexual and gender-based violence, as well as all other acts that violate applicable international law. The Council condemns all violations of international law, including international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law, committed against civilians in situations of armed conflict. The Council demands that all relevant parties immediately put an end to such practices. The Council reaffirms in this regard that parties to armed conflict bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians and to meet their basic needs, including by giving attention to the specific needs of women and children. The Council recalls the obligations of all States to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, including the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and once again emphasizes the responsibility of States to comply with their obligations to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity or other serious violations of international humanitarian law. The Council recognizes the needs of civilians under foreign occupation and stresses further, in this regard, the responsibilities of the occupying Power. The Council condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, however and by whomever committed. The Council underlines the importance of safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel and of the timely, safe and unhindered passage of essential relief goods, to provide assistance to civilians in armed conflict in accordance with applicable international law. The Council stresses the importance of upholding and respecting the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. Recalling that on 15 March 2002, the Council first adopted the aide-memoire annexed to the statement by its President as a means to facilitate its consideration of issues pertaining to the protection of civilians and recalling further that in the statements by its President of 20 December 2002 and 15 December 2003, the Council expressed its willingness to update the aide-memoire regularly in order to reflect emerging trends in the protection of civilians in armed conflict, the Council adopts the updated aide-memoire contained in the annex to the present statement by its President.