UN / PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS

Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya told the Security Council that “the harm and suffering caused to civilians in 2023 signals an alarming lack of compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law” and indicates that “the Council's protection of civilians’ resolutions of the last 25 years remain largely unheeded.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:02:29
• Production Date: 21 May 2024
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: RADHIA MSUYA; ALICE W. NDERITU
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS - ICRC; SECURITY COUNCIL; OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA; OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE - OSAPG
• Subject Topical: GENOCIDE PREVENTION; CIVILIAN PROTECTION; INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
• Geographic Subject: GAZA; DARFUR; PALESTINE; SUDAN
• MAMS Id: 3209799
• Parent Id: 3209799
• Alternate Title: unifeed240521a

Description

STORY: UN / PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS
TRT: 02:47
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 21 MAY 2024, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

1. Various shots, lowering of the UN flag in honour of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials killed in a helicopter crash
2. Various shots, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Under-Secretary-General, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide:
“I would like today to raise my alarm in a clear and unequivocal away about the ongoing situation in Sudan. The situation today, bears all the marks of risk of genocide, with strong allegations that is crime has already been committed. Civilians are far from protected. Civilian populations are targeted on the basis of identity. In Darfur and El Fasher, civilians have been attacked and killed because of the colour of their skin, because of their ethnicity, because of who they are.”
4. Pan right, Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“About 75 percent of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced. A man-made famine is looming. Thousands of children have been killed and injured in what UNICEF colleagues have called a war on children. An estimated 130 people remain hostage with ongoing concerns for their humane treatment.”
6. Med shot, delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“The harm and suffering caused to civilians in 2023 signals an alarming lack of compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It also indicates that the Council's protection of civilians’ resolutions of the last 25 years remain largely unheeded.”
8. Wide shot, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric addressing Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC):
“I urge the Security Council to recall parties to uphold international humanitarian law and resolution 2474 to prevent people from going missing in the first place, and to clarify the fate of those who have. Amidst hostilities and as an integral part of any plan for reconstruction, states must make certain that human remains are recovered, identified, and returned to their families in a timely and dignified manner. They must ensure that persons detained are systematically accounted for and their families informed.”
10. Wide shot, Council

Storyline

Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya, today (21 May) told the Security Council that “the harm and suffering caused to civilians in 2023 signals an alarming lack of compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law” and indicates that “the Council's protection of civilians’ resolutions of the last 25 years remain largely unheeded.”

The Council held its annual open debate on the protection of civilians (PoC) in armed conflict, as 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 25th anniversary of resolution 1265 of 17 September 1999, which first established PoC as a matter of international peace and security and introduced it as an item on the Council’s agenda.

The Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu raised an “alarm” about the situation in Sudan, telling the Council that it “bears all the marks of risk of genocide, with strong allegations that is crime has already been committed.”

Nderitu said, “civilians are far from protected. Civilian populations are targeted on the basis of identity. In Darfur and El Fasher, civilians have been attacked and killed because of the colour of their skin, because of their ethnicity, because of who they are.”

Msuya for her part said, “about 75 percent of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced. A man-made famine is looming. Thousands of children have been killed and injured in what UNICEF colleagues have called a war on children. An estimated 130 people remain hostage with ongoing concerns for their humane treatment.”

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger urged the Council “to recall parties to uphold international humanitarian law and resolution 2474 to prevent people from going missing in the first place, and to clarify the fate of those who have.”

“Amidst hostilities and as an integral part of any plan for reconstruction,” Egger said, “states must make certain that human remains are recovered, identified, and returned to their families in a timely and dignified manner,” and must ensure that “persons detained are systematically accounted for and their families informed.”

In the Secretary-General’s annual report on PoC, dated 14 May, the UN observed a significant increase in civilian casualties, with at least 33,443 recorded deaths, constituting a 72 percent rise from 2022.