Presidential Statement nº S/PRST/2018/5 of the United Nations Security Council

• Year: 2018
• Issuer: Security Council of the United Nation

United Nations

S

/PRST /201 8/5

Security Council

Distr. : Genera l

15 M arch 201 8

Orig inal: En glish

18-040 43 (E) 1 60318

*1804043*

Statement by the President of the Security Council

At the 82 05th meeti ng of the Secur ity Counci l, held on 15 Marc h 2018, in

conne ction wi th the C ouncil ’s consi deration of the i tem enti tled “T he situa tion in t he

Midd le East ”, the Pr esident of the S ecurity Council made th e follo wing sta tement o n

beha lf of th e Counc il:

“The Sec urity Counci l re calls its resolut ions 2014 (2011 ), 205 1 (2 012),

2140 (2014 ), 2201 (201 5), 2204 (2 015), 2216 ( 2015), 2266 (2016), 234 2 (2017) ,

2402 (2018) and pr esident ial stat ements of 15 F ebruary 2013, 29 Augus t 2014,

22 M arch 201 5, 25 Ap ril 2016 , 15 Jun e 2017, and 9 Au gust 201 7.

“The Secur ity C ouncil expr esses its grave con cern a t the cont inued

deter ioratio n of the humani tarian situa tion i n Yemen, and the d evastati ng

huma nitarian i mpact o f t he confl ict on c ivilians . T he Secur ity Cou ncil

reco gnises wi th conc ern that the UN e stimat es that 2 2.2 mill ion peop le are no w

in need of hu manitar ian as sistanc e in Yemen; 3.4 millio n mor e than last year.

The Secur ity Co uncil expres ses de ep co ncern about the acute vulnera bility of

civil ians t o outb reaks of chol era an d diph theria, in li ght of acut e mal nutritio n,

the thr eat of famin e and the wea kness of Yemeni insti tutions in cluding t he health

syst em, and c alls upon all part ies to fac ilitate v accinati on progr ammes f or

affec ted pop ulations by UN a gencies and hum anitari an organ isations .

“The Securi ty Cou ncil ex presses grave d istress at the level of viol ence in

Yemen, inc luding ind iscrimi nate attack s i n d ensely pop ulated area s, and the

impa ct this has ha d upon civi lians, inc luding lar ge numbers of civi lian casu alties

and da mage to civil ian object s. The Securi ty Council c alls on all part ies to

comp ly wi th the ir ob ligation s und er int ernatio nal hu manitar ian la w, includin g

to res pect the pr inciple o f proport ionalit y and at all t imes to di stinguis h between

the civil ian po pulatio n and comb atants, and betw een c ivilian objec ts and

milit ary ob jectives , and by ta king a ll fea sible p recauti ons to avoid, and in an y

even t minimi se, har m to civ ilians an d civili an objec ts and i nfrastru cture, a nd to

end the rec ruitment and u se of c hildren and ot her viol ations commit ted ag ainst

them in vio lation of appl icable inte rnationa l l aw, i n or der to prevent fu rther

suffe ring of civ ilians. The Secur ity Co uncil calls on all p arties to r espect and

prot ect schoo ls, medi cal faci lities, a nd perso nnel. The Se curity C ouncil

unde rlines the ne ed to ensure the security of h umanitar ian an d Unit ed Nat ions

perso nnel. T he Secur ity Coun cil con demns in the st rongest possib le terms

balli stic missile attac ks by the Houth is ag ainst the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,

with pa rticular c oncern for th e 4 N ovemb er and 19 Dece mber 2017 at tacks

whic h deliber ately end angered civil ian areas . The Secur ity Counc il reiter ates its