Security Council Concludes Open Debate on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

(Note: Due to the financial liquidity crisis affecting the United Nations and the resulting constraints, this meeting was not covered.)

The Security Council met this morning to continue its open debate that began on 21 May concerning the protection of civilians in armed conflict.  The debate was held in connection with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Security Council resolution 1265 (1999), which first established the protection of civilians as a crucial issue of international peace and security, and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Before the Council was the Secretary-General’s annual report on “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict” (document S/2024/385).  On the first day of the debate, the Council heard briefings from Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Under-Secretary-General, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide; Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator; Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President, the International Committee of the Red Cross; and Hichem Khadhraoui, Executive Director, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC).  (See Press Release SC/15702 of 21 May.)