Security Council Debate on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

Madam President,
At the outset, I would like to thank the United States delegation for convening this briefing on the “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict”.
We also thank Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of Coordination of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for his insightful briefing, and welcome the additional perspectives provided by Robert Mardini, Director General of ICRC, David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, and Rachel Boketa, Country Director, Women for Women International in the DRC. While conflicts and wars may be inevitable realities of human history, every civilisation has a responsibility for protecting civilians from the cruel consequences of armed conflict. Throughout our past, and despite the fervent efforts made to limit the impact of war on civilians, the world, regrettably, continues to witness egregious violations of the rights of civilian populations in many situations of conflict across several parts of the world.
 
The cost of the proliferation of conflicts is today counted in the many civilian deaths and injuries that are being recorded; in the displacements of several millions and the life of indignity they are forced to live; in the starvation and hunger that the destruction of their livelihoods bring about; in the psychological trauma that many young girls, women and boys face as a result of conflict-related sexual violence; in the deliberate targeting of civilians as a strategy of war; and in the destruction of critical life-supporting infrastructure that makes any effort at reconstructing societies an almost distant dream.
 
Amid these ignoble situations that conflicts create, we have in recent years had to also contend with the exacerbating effects of the climate change and Covid-19 pandemic, which have reinforced the vulnerabilities of civilian populations in conflict situations and made protection goals even more challenging. It is therefore distressing to witness the hostile environments that are deliberately created by parties to conflicts and armed combatants to prevent humanitarian personnel from effectively operating in their noble task of service to civilian populations. The laws of armed conflict must, at all times, be respected and cannot be ignored even in the basest of our human weakness.
 
Madam President,
In addressing the challenges faced by civilians in armed conflict, Ghana believes that careful consideration may be given to some of these priorities.
First, we believe that respect for global conventions and treaties, including international humanitarian law, should be reinforced to provide a solid foundation for protecting civilians in situations of armed conflict. The commitment of States must be renewed for the preservation and protection of principled humanitarian action, including by encouraging both state and non-state parties to conflicts to comply with international humanitarian law and human rights law. We must also in this regard exact, without wavering, accountability for egregious violations of the laws of armed conflict.
Second, and in recognition of the primacy of politics, the protection of civilians must be an integral part of any settlement in the resolution of any conflict; not only in terms of peace agreements or ceasefires but even in moments when humanitarian pauses and truces may offer an opportunity to centre the protection needs of the civilian populations.
 
Third, the protection of civilians would need to continue to remain a critical and integrated component of all the parts of peacekeeping operations and in a manner that provides not only an authorisation for the missions, but also, as required, the capabilities to use all necessary means, including force to prevent or respond to threats of physical violence against civilians, without prejudice to the responsibility of host governments. We therefore encourage the further deepening of the PoC policy in United Nations peacekeeping and welcome systematic and meaningful integration of gender advisers and women protection advisors into PoC planning at the strategic and operational levels. As we know, even though women and the youth are critical agents of change in conflict situations, they are most often subjected to various forms of abuses including sexual exploitation.
Fourth, we believe that the Security Council can help strengthen the protection of civilians in armed conflict by improving reporting mechanisms for monitoring and tracking civilian harm through adaptation of tools such as the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) for the six grave violations of children’s rights in conflict and the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) in response to sexual violence in armed conflict. We believe that the expansion of such mechanisms to cover reporting on civilian casualty or the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, would provide standards and a clear methodology to track, mitigate and reduce civilian harm.
 
Attention also could be given to regular reporting on the gaps and challenges in delivering humanitarian assistance in areas of armed conflict. This can be achieved by ensuring that the reports submitted to the Council include comprehensive recording and reporting on all types of serious civilian harm, including casualty recording. This would help build momentum in the Council in identifying proactive ways in addressing the challenges.
Fifth, the risks to civilians and humanitarian workers posed by Misinformation, Disinformation and Hate speech (MDH) during armed conflicts is a driver that needs to be managed. Promoting discussions and exchanges within humanitarian organizations as well awareness creation programmes among civilian populations on humanitarian and human rights laws would be useful to bridge knowledge asymmetry. We further recommend MDH in training programmes for stakeholders and note that it would be useful to have capacity built for humanitarian mapping and analysis in a way that extends its reach among relevant stakeholders. Even though digital technologies such as mobile apps, may create opportunities for effective humanitarian action, they also expose vulnerable populations to malicious activities. We, therefore, underscore the crucial role of building resilience by investing in the understanding of current information-security threats and adopting strategies to protect data. The 2021 Inter-agency Standing Committee Operational Guidance on Data Responsibility in Humanitarian Action is useful in this regard.
 
Sixth, we encourage a strengthening of support for regional arrangements to help sustain efforts in the protection of civilians. They are closets international actors to armed conflicts and usually have a better understanding of how best the civilian populations can be assisted before their situation gets out of hand. In this regard, we note that enhanced partnerships between the UN and ECOWAS for instance could lead to effective implementation of the regional body’s humanitarian policy that aims at addressing the barriers to humanitarian assistance in the region of West Africa and the Sahel. Before concluding, Ghana reaffirms its belief that strong and genuine political will and commitment by Member States, with support from civil society organisations and other partners, is indispensable in enhancing the protection of civilians in armed conflict. As a major troop contributing country to UN Peace Operations, Ghana places high priority on the protection of civilians and would continue to ensure that her troops are given the needed training and support to carry out their mandate in relation to the protection of civilians.
 
I thank you for your kind attention.