UN chief 'outraged' over civilian war casualties

UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland accused UN member states of failing to live up to the pledge they made last year to protect civilians caught in armed conflicts, saying attacks against non-combatants increased by 55% between 1989 and 2005.

Even though recent analysis indicates that the number of conflicts declined by 40% since 1989, he said, civilians are increasingly the victims, with the most significant increase occurring in the last five years.

In his final briefing to the Security Council before stepping down, Mr Egeland cited several reasons for the increase: the proliferation of armed groups supplied with sophisticated weapons and “the intentional, reckless and often times disproportionate use of military weaponry and tactics with little or no regard for their impact on the civilian population”.

For example, Egeland said, more than 100 Iraqi civilians are being killed per day, an estimated 30,000 since May, by sectarian militias targeting men, women and children belonging to the “wrong” ethnic group.

“Nowhere in the world do more civilians die right now from violence directed against them” than in Iraq, he said.

Since September, Israel has launched some 15,000 artillery shells, mostly into densely-populated areas of Gaza, killing civilians and children and destroying essential infrastructure, he said.

At the same time, Palestinian militants have launched 1,700 rockets into Israel, “with no attempt to distinguish between combatants and Israeli civilians”.

Mr Egeland reiterated his “outrage” at Israel’s use of cluster bombs during its war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon this summer, saying “more than a million unexploded bomblets…lie hidden in fields, olive groves, and gardens” preventing people from returning home.

When countries are united, he said, “we have succeeded in providing security” to millions of people caught in conflicts.

But the world is “sadly still far away” from seeing the responsibility to protect translated into protection “for all beleaguered and threatened communities irrespective of time, place and circumstance”, Mr Egeland said.

“Your responsibility to protect must be depoliticised, become a truly shared interest and translate into joint action by all members of this council and our global organisation,” he said.

There has been “vast progress” in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo and south Sudan as a result of united international action to protect vulnerable civilians, Mr Egeland said.

“We have not had the same unity of purpose nor action in Darfur or in Gaza,” he said.

“Our readiness to act, to sanction, and to fund must be the same in Uganda, in Chad or Ivory Coast as it is in Afghanistan, Kosovo or Iraq,” Egeland said.

“Our responsibility to protect must transcend singular interests and become a core principle of humanity across all civilisations.”

At the end of the day-long discussion, the Security Council reiterated its commitment to take concrete actions to enhance the UN’s ability to protect civilians in armed conflict.

Council members thanked Egeland, who is leaving his post this month as undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, for his “commitment and dedication”.