Presidential Statement nº S/PRST/2015/23 of the United Nations Security Council

• Issuer: Security Council of the United Nation

United Nations

S

/PRST /20 15/2 3*

Security Council

Distr. : Genera l

25 N ovember 2015

Orig inal: En glish

15-2084 0* (E) 130116

*1520840*

Statement by the President of the Security Council

At the 75 68th me eting of the Securit y Counc il, hel d on 25 November 2015, in

connec tion w ith the Counc il’s consid eration of the ite m enti tled “Pr otection of

civilia ns in ar med confl ict”, the President of the Security Council made the following

statem ent on beha lf of the C ouncil:

“The Securi ty Cou ncil r eaffirms its commitmen t rega rding the p rotection

of civilians in ar med conf lict, an d to the con tinuing and ful l imple mentation of

all its previous relev ant r esolutions includ ing 1 265 ( 1999), 1296 (2000), 1674

(2006) , 1738 (2006 ), 1894 (20 09), and 222 2 (2015) , as well as all of its

resolu tions on Women, Peac e an d Se curity, Children and Armed Con flict and

Peacek eeping, and all releva nt statement s of its Pr esident.

“The Secur ity Counc il express es its o utrage th at civilia ns contin ue to

accoun t for the vast majorit y of c asualties in situa tions of armed conflict and at

the va rious shor t and long term impa cts that c onflict co ntinues to have on

civilia ns, inclu ding for ced displ acement, and damag e to a nd destru ction of

civilia n property and liveliho ods.

“The Securi ty Co uncil reaffirms its strong condemna tion o f viol ations of

interna tional humani tarian law commi tted by all parties to arme d conflict, as

well as violations and abuse s of interna tional human rights law, as ap plicable,

and calls upon all parties to comply wit h thei r leg al ob ligations. The Securit y

Counci l r ecalls the import ance of e nsuring co mpliance with i nternationa l

human itarian law and inte rnational huma n rights law, e nding i mpunity for

violati ons and ab uses, and e nsuring acc ountability.

“The Se curity Counc il un derscores the impo rtance it atta ches t o the

Protec tion of Civilians as one of the core iss ues on its agend a, and e xpresses its

intenti on to continue ad dressing thi s issue regular ly, both in cou ntry-spe cific

consid erations and as a them atic item.

“The Se curity Counc il recognise s the contrib ution of the updated Ai de

Memoi re for the cons ideration of issu es perta ining to the pr otection of civili ans

in arm ed conflict ,** contai ned in the annex to t his stateme nt, to the protection of

civilia ns, and as a practical tool th at provid es a b asis for improved analysis and

diagno sis of key prote ction issue s, and stresses the need to conti nue its use on a

more s ystematic a nd consiste nt basis.

* Reissu ed for te chnical r easons on 11 Januar y 2016.

** The in itial Aide Memoire w as adopte d on 15 M arch 2002 in S/P RST/2 002/6.

S/PRST/2015/23

15-20840

2/98

“The Secu rity Council take s n ote of with apprecia tion the report of the

Secret ary-Ge neral on the protecti on of civilians in armed co nflict of 18 June

2015 (S/2 015/4 53) and the rec ommendatio ns contained ther ein, and reiterates

the ne ed for syst ematic moni toring and reporting on the prot ection of c ivilians in

armed co nflict, a nd the chal lenges a nd pr ogress made in this rega rd. The

Securi ty Counci l requests the Sec retary-Gen eral to submit hi s next re port on the

protec tion of civil ians in armed conf lict b y 15 May 2016 and t o subm it fut ure

report s eve ry 1 2 mo nths thereafter, to be formall y co nsidered by the Secur ity

Counci l each year within the same Gene ral Assembly s ession.”

S/PRST/2015/23

3/98

15-20840

Aide Memoire

For the consi deration of issues pert aining to the protection of civilians in

armed conflict

Enha ncing the prot ection of civi lians in arme d c onflict is at the core of the

work of the Uni ted Nati ons Secu rity Coun cil for th e mainte nance of peace an d

secur ity. In orde r to facili tate the C ouncil’s consid eration of protect ion o f civ ilians

conc erns in a give n conte xt, incl uding a t the t ime of the est ablishm ent or rene wal of

peac ekeeping mandate s, in June 2 001, Coun cil Memb ers sugge sted that a n A ide

Memo ire, list ing the rel evant iss ues, be dr afted in c ooperati on with th e Council

(S/200 1/6 14). On 15 M arch 20 02, the Coun cil ado pted the Aide Mem oire as a

prac tical guide for its consid eration of protec tion of civilian s iss ues and agreed to

revi ew a nd update its cont ents period ically (S/ PRS T/20 02/6 ). It was sub sequentl y

upda ted t wice and adopted as anne x to Pres idential Stat ement S/PR ST/ 200 3/27 on

15 Dece mber 2003 , a nd Preside ntial State ment S/P RST /201 0/25 of 22 Nove mber

2010 .

This is the sixt h ed ition of the Aide Memoi re a nd is b ased on the Counci l’s

prev ious del iberatio ns on th e protec tion of civil ians, in cluding resol utions 1 265

(199 9), 12 96 (20 00), 1 674 (2 006), 1738 ( 2006), 1894 (2009) and 2 222 ( 2015). It is

the resu lt of c onsulta tion be tween t he Secu rity Co uncil a nd the Offi ce for the

Coor dination of Hu manitari an Affairs (OCHA) , as w ell as b etween OCH A and

conc erned United Na tions depart ments and agenci es, and o ther rel evant

huma nitarian organiz ations.

The Aid e Me moire is i ntended t o fa cilitate t he Se curity Co uncil’s

cons ideratio n of issue s rel evant to t he p rotectio n of civil ians in ar med conflict . To

this end, it hi ghlights prima ry ob jectives for Securit y Cou ncil a ction; offers, on t he

basi s of the Secur ity Counc il’s past pr actice, sp ecific is sues for con siderati on in

meet ing thos e objecti ves; and provide s, in the addend um, a sel ection o f agreed

lang uage fr om Se curity Council resolu tions a nd pre sidentia l state ments that re fer to

such concern s.

Bear ing in mind tha t e ach peace keeping ma ndate has to be e laborate d o n a

case -by-case basis , the Aide M emoire is not in tended as a bluepr int fo r acti on. Th e

relev ance and pract icality of the vari ous measur es d escribed ha s to be con sidered

and adapted to the s pecific conditio ns in e ach si tuation.

Most f requentl y civilian s are caught i n circumst ances of dir e need wher e a

peac ekeeping op eration has no t b een establi shed. Such sit uations ma y re quire the

Coun cil’s ur gent at tention . This Aide Me moire may, t herefor e, also provi de

guid ance in circumst ances where the Coun cil may wish to consider act ion outside

the scope of a peace keeping operati on.