Implementation

Israel's aggressive behaviour means that this country is able to achieve what no other country or usurper in history has ever achieved. This aggressive behaviour violates the legal legacy and heritage of all humankind, straightforwardly without exception, and enjoys, despite all that, some sort of protection. The occupation of the Syrian Golan is similar to the picture that I have just drawn.

Despite this progress, Uruguay believes that there is a wide gap between the legal developments that have taken place in recent years with regard to the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, and the real situation of civilian populations affected by such conflicts, including in those places where the United Nations is represented by peacekeeping operations.

Secondly, humanitarian access remains a crucial element for all protection and aid activities relating to people affected by armed conflict and violence. Switzerland expresses its concern with regard to the growing restrictions on access granted to humanitarian actors in conflict zones. We also wish to reiterate that it is the primary responsibility of States to provide their people with protection and aid.

Over the past ten years, the activities of the Security Council have been increasingly influenced by the issue of the protection of civilians. Encouraging progress has been made, especially in terms of establishing general standards, as well as in taking into account the specific protection needs of women and children.

However, the impact of those developments will have little value if they are not transformed into a tangible improvement in civilian protection on the ground. We therefore encourage the Security Council, and in particular its informal group of experts on the protection of civilians, to take that into account in their work.

Ultimately, the protection of civilians is the responsibility of individual States themselves. Therefore, we should improve the capacities of the concerned States so that they can assume their responsibilities ably, rather than weaken those capacities through sanctions, despite the fact that those who support sanctions try to portray them as either smart or targeted or by using other evasive descriptions.

The principle of protecting civilians in armed conflict is a noble one to which we all aspire. However, we are concerned by attempts by some countries to utilize that goal to serve particular political aims, such as the ongoing campaign on the so-called responsibility to protect.

In closing, we confirm the need to adopt a comprehensive approach that would deal primarily, without selectivity or discrimination, with the root causes of conflicts in addressing the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

I would also like to note that the right to protect civilians in armed conflict is but one aspect of an integrated and interconnected system of rights and duties, as reaffirmed by the 2005 Summit Outcome. The main thrust of the Summit was to follow-up the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, foremost among which are development, combating poverty and preventing conflicts by dealing with their root causes.

At the outset, I should like to associate my delegation with the statement delivered by the representative of Egypt on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. Eleven years have passed since the Secretary General submitted to the Security Council his first report (S/1999/957) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.