The Secretary-General’s latest report on the protection of civilians takes stock of the current, very bleak state of affairs in this area of work and also provides an update on progress in responding to the five core challenges. It makes recommendations for strengthening protection, addressing new weapons technologies; explosive weapons use in populated areas; casualty recording; non-State armed groups; peacekeeping operations; humanitarian access; and accountability.
In this briefing I will focus my remarks on the general deterioration in the protection of civilians in the last year, the impact on this issue of key developments in peacekeeping operations and the pressing need to strengthen the protection of civilians from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.