Implementation

The Secretary-General's report (S/2010/604) on the implementation of resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009) lists a series of acts that can only be described as atrocities committed against women in various conflict situations currently on the Council's agenda.

My country would like to congratulate the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Margot Wallström, on her appointment and the work she is doing.

We note the significant risks inherent in any initiative that seeks to operationalize the protection of civilians, especially in the light of the coexistence of divergent, mutually exclusive conceptual approaches to the problem and of the individual nature of each armed conflict.

The protection of civilians in the context of peacekeeping operations is one of many tasks established in Security Council mandates. It is related to other equally important tasks and its implementation is viable only within the regulatory framework that sets out the guiding principles for such operations: the consent of the parties, impartiality and the non-use of force.

There is a world of difference between the will of the Council and the effective implementation of protection, not only in terms of the geographic separation between Headquarters and the areas of conflict, but also because of the lack of understanding and coordination that may exist between those who establish mandates and those who implement them, given the difference between our desires and expectations here and the reality of scarce resourc

Similarly, we reiterate that all humanitarian responses must be sustainable and take the development perspective into account so as to ensure the required capacity-building at the national level in this critical area.

On the one hand, we should avoid the premature withdrawal of missions when we have yet to effectively stabilize the security conditions. On the other hand, we must reconcile this with the principle of the consent of the host State, which has the primary responsibility to provide such protection — a crucial aspect that constitutes one of the pillars of the legitimacy of this system and sets it apart from other alternatives.

We recognize the importance of the collective efforts by the political, peacekeeping, human rights, humanitarian and development components of the United Nations to ensure proper protection from the horrors of war. We have seen the impact the United Nations and its partners have made in such places as Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Timor-Leste and other countries shaken by armed conflict.

Thirdly, we must ensure that the Council is not being selective in its application of protection principles. We are encouraged by the work of the informal Expert Group on the Protection of Civilians. We call for its focus to expand to consider crosscutting protection concerns and to monitor progress on the benchmarks and indicators being developed by the Secretary-General.

The progress of the United Nations is the result of years of hard work at Headquarters and in the field. Resolution 1894 (2009) was a landmark in the global effort to better protect civilians in conflict zones. So, too, is this year's report from the General Assembly's Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (A/64/19). Both documents called for mission-wide planning, better predeployment training and stronger protection strategies.