More than half a million people have been uprooted by conflicts in the first five months of this year, the vast majority in Africa, and thousands of civilians have been killed from Darfur and Gaza to Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.N. humanitarian chief said.
John Holmes told the U.N. Security Council that while peace is being consolidated in Ivory Coast, Nepal and East Timor and there have been some other positive developments, "millions of ordinary people are still trapped in the horror of war and conflict, hoping desperately to rise from the chaos that surrounds them into more peaceful times."
"The stark reality remains that in conflicts throughout the world, countless civilians continue to see their hopes shattered by violence and displacement; their lives blown apart by suicide bombers or ground down by physical and sexual violence, deprivation and neglect," he said.
Holmes spoke at a day-long meeting of the council focusing on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, an issue that has produced four council resolutions but no real solution. A statement adopted by consensus and read at the end of Tuesday's meeting reaffirmed the council's commitment "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 conflicts, including as a result of deliberate targeting, indiscriminate and excessive use of force and of sexual and gender-based violence," the statement said.
It condemned all violations of international law and demanded that "all relevant parties immediately put an end to such practices."
Holmes stressed the "collective responsibility" of the U.N. and individual nations to prevent war, secure peace and protect civilians, citing varying degrees of progress.
Mediation in Kenya reduced post-election violence, he said, and the full deployment of peacekeepers in Chad, the Central African Republic and Darfur "has the potential to augment significantly efforts to protect and assist those caught in the turmoil of violence in the region."
"But the risks of deterioration are currently very great," Holmes warned, urging that the three missions receive all the required troops and resources.
Painting a grim picture of the perils facing civilians, Holmes said, "In just the first five months of this year, more than half a million people have been displaced by conflict, both within and across borders."
"In Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia and Sudan, over 337,000 civilians have been forced to flee violence this year, some of them not for the first time," he said. And in Congo, the fruits of a conference in January on peace, security and development have yet to be felt by those sheltering in camps and public buildings, including 175,000 people newly displaced this year.
"In Iraq, sectarian violence, as well as armed confrontations around Basra and Sadr City, have forced more thousands from their homes," Holmes said. "In Afghanistan, conflict-induced displacement continues to undermine the gains made in the return or resettlement of those previously displaced."
The U.N. humanitarian chief lamented that civilians account for the majority of casualties in armed conflict, in violation of international humanitarian law govering the conduct of hostilities.
In January and February, aerial bombings and ground attacks on villages in Sudan's West Darfur region left 115 civilians dead, including elderly and disabled people, women and children, he said.
In April, hundreds of civilians were killed or injured in Somalia and thousands were forced to flee their homes because of fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, between government-supported Ethiopian troops and armed groups, he said.
Holmes said hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured in Sri Lanka this year, 300 civilians were killed in the first four months in Afghanistan in attacks by "anti-government elements," and suicide bombers struck "with chilling effect" in Iraq.
He called for greater adherence to international law, "robust action" to prevent and respond to sexual violence in armed conflict, a treaty to ban cluster munitions which have a devastating impact on civilians, and unhindered access for humanitarian workers. This is "fundamental to our efforts to protect civilians and assist those in need," he said.
While outside the scope of the council's debate, Holmes noted that humanitarian access "can of course be an issue not only in situations of conflict but also in the aftermath of natural disasters, as we have seen most recently following Cyclone Nargis" in Myanmar.
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert warned that if the situation for cyclone survivors does not improve quickly, France will demand that the Security Council intervene to force the delivery of humanitarian assistance, as it has in the past in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda and elsewhere.
Myanmar's U.N. Ambassador Than Swe said it was "highly objectionable" that some countries tried to use the debate to politicize the humanitarian issues caused by a natural disaster.
