Thirdly, the Council must receive regular reports on the protection of civilians and be informed as soon as possible of situations where there are human rights violations against civilians.

The challenges we face remain numerous. There have been serious breaches, notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo this summer, when massive sexual violence was perpetrated while our forces were present in the zone. But the Council and the Organization assumed responsibility for the failure and immediately took measures to strengthen its early warning and prevention capacities.

Recent months have brought important developments on two points: peacekeeping operations and the fight against impunity.

France welcomes the content of our presidential statement, which indicates the progress made by international justice and application of the Rome Statute, as confirmed at the Kampala Conference. We welcome the intervention of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Guinea, where it is contributing to efforts to prevent crime at this historic time for Guineans.

As for the fight against impunity, France welcomes the publication of the mapping report of the Secretary-General on crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1993 to 2003. We commend the resolve of the authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to prosecute the perpetrators of the abuses committed at that time and of those committed today.

The Movement reiterates its condemnation of the increasing attacks on the safety and security of humanitarian personnel, and urges the Governments of United Nations Member States to ensure respect for the protection of the personnel of humanitarian organizations, in conformity with the relevant provisions of international law.

Moreover, the Movement raises doubts regarding a number of the recommendations of the November 2009 independent study, entitled Protecting Civilians in the Context of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, jointly commissioned by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Department for Peacekeeping Operations.

In that regard, the Non-Aligned Movement believes that due priority should continue to be given to promoting knowledge of, respect for and observance of States' obligations assumed under the United Nations Charter and international, international human rights and international humanitarian law, in particular the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their 1977 Protocols.

In that context, the role of peacekeeping missions as protection actors needs more clarification, including from the conceptual and operational aspects. Further in-depth political discussion on how to enable peacekeepers to better fulfil their protection tasks is needed, bearing in mind that peacekeepers cannot protect everyone everywhere.

Furthermore, in the peacekeeping context, the Non-Aligned Movement stresses that the protection of civilians under imminent threat of physical violence is the primary responsibility of each host country of any peacekeeping operation. It further stresses that relevant peacekeeping missions with such a mandate should conduct their tasks without prejudice to the primary responsibility of the host Government to protect civilians.