News

Marking the 15th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) Security Council engagement on protection of civilians in armed conflicts, Lithuania, as the president of the UN Security Council for the month of February, organized an open debate on protection of civilians with particular focus on effective implementation of protection of civilians’ mandates in UN peacekeeping operations.

“The primary responsibility to protect civilians rests with the national Governments. Peacekeepers can assist the host state but they cannot substitute for the State”, - speaking in her national capacity stressed Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaitė, Lithuanian Permanent Representative to the UN.

The Ambassador pointed out that after 15 years of the UN engagement in protection of civilians, there is still a gap between the normative base and the reality on the ground while implementing the mandates of protection of civilians. Civilians continue to suffer from conflict-related violence, increasingly intentional and brutal.

In her statement, the Lithuanian Ambassador noted that due to the changing  nature of peace-keeping, an in-depth look at how best to  implement protection mandates, and  what works  best in any specific situation must be addressed.

She also underlined the linkage between protection of civilians and ending impunity. “Ensuring accountability is an important deterrent in itself, and thus a contributing factor to the success in protecting civilians”, - said Ambassador Murmokaitė. She also noted the importance of institution building, strengthening the rule of law and developing local judicial capacities to address the issues of justice and accountability.  "The Council must place a special emphasis on ending to impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights.  Perpetrators of those crimes, as well as those who attack and kill humanitarian and medical workers, journalists, and peacekeepers must know that there is no escaping justice”, - she said.

A Presidential Statement on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, which contains an updated Aide Memoire, was adopted as an outcome of the open debate. The Aide Memoire is based on a compendium of the Security Council’s agreed language and identifies key protection of civilians concerns and illustrates how UN Security Council has addressed them in relevant resolutions and presidential statements.

Currently, 9 of 15 UN Peacekeeping operations have explicit mandates to “protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence” and to uphold other protection measures, accounting for over 95% of peacekeepers currently deployed.

During the debate over 60 UN member states exchanged their views on implementation of protection of civilians’ mandates in the UN peacekeeping missions. The participants were briefed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and Director-General of  the International Committee of the Red Cross.