The treatment of the protection of civilians in armed conflict is multidimensional and cuts across the 23 work of the various United Nations bodies, in particular in the context of the General Assembly and the work of the Third and Sixth Committees through various resolutions, among which those on the “Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts”

It is important to emphasize that the common positions on the protection of civilians agenda, which have been developed by the international community over the past decade, need to be upheld and further enhanced.

We can think of no better way to keep civilians out of harm's way than to prevent conflict before it breaks out. Prevention is infinitely better than cure. We therefore urge the international community to lend greater support to the preventive diplomacy initiatives of civil society and regional and subregional bodies and efforts, such as the Economic Community of West African States Observation and Monitoring System.

When conflict erupts, its major victims are civilians, mainly women and children. My delegation therefore welcomes the Secretary-General's latest report (S/2010/579) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which provides contemporary guiding principles on the matter.

Sexual violence is no longer a simple by-product of armed conflict. It is being used as a weapon of war, aimed at dehumanizing and instilling fear in civilians in situations of armed conflict. Whether carried out by non-State armed groups or Government security forces in conflict and post-conflict situations, it is to some extent designed to achieve political and military objectives.

However, continual cases, such as those involving the mass rape of women and children by rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are stark reminders that action to stop such violations needs to be taken now.

The ability of the Security Council to enforce accountability for the protection of civilians, especially women and children, must be further strengthened. In that regard, we expect that the monitoring, analysis and reporting arrangements on conflict-related sexual violence requested under resolution 1960 (2010) will be operational as soon as possible.

There is no avoiding mention of the Libyan crisis, also in the light of the important results obtained at the second meeting of the Contact Group on Libya, held in Rome on 5 May. With repeated attacks on civilians, including women and children, the situation in the country had deteriorated so drastically that international action to protect the population was the only viable option.

The violence perpetrated against populations, even women and children in some cases, in Côte d'Ivoire, Libya, Yemen and, more recently, Syria is a tragic reminder of the importance of protecting civilians. Italy calls on all States and non-State actors to abide by international humanitarian and human rights law and has always been ready to help all parties to a conflict to exercise their responsibility to protect civilians.

We have remained at the cutting edge of many United Nations operations in places where civilians were under threat. Today, we have a female formed police unit — the first such formation composed entirely of women — in the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Thus, India brings to this table a quantum of experience in actually protecting civilians in peacekeeping missions that is unique in its relevance, variety and depth.