2023: Grave Violations of International Law
Briefing by Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, during the 9632nd meeting of the Security Council.
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.
Msuya 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.”