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	A bloody surge in humanitarian crises around the world by United Nation news   July 2021   UN Deputy Secretary-General's remarks to the Security Council on behalf of the Secretary-General on the protection of civilians and the preservation of humanitarian space.   'We are facing a bloody surge in humanitarian crises around the world. Civilians in conflict zones are paying the highest price.   From the Tigray region of Ethiopia, we have heard credible reports in the past few months of executions of civilians, arbitrary arrests and detentions, sexual violence against children and forced displacement on a massive scale.   In Afghanistan, brutal attacks killed at least 24 civilians, including five health workers, during just one week in June. Civilian casualties in the first quarter of this year increased by 29 per cent compared to last year; the increase for women was 37 per cent.   In Yemen, on average at least five civilians are killed or injured each day. Twenty million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and five million are face-to-face with famine.   Schools and hospitals, which should be safe havens, are not spared. Scores of Afghan schoolgirls were killed and injured in one of this year’s most heartbreaking attacks.   Last month’s attack on Al-Shifa’a hospital, one of the largest in northern Syria, killed 19 civilians, including 3 children. One missile reportedly hit the Emergency Room while another landed in the delivery ward.   The United Nations and our partners are seeking to reach 160 million people with assistance this year – the highest figure ever.   This hurricane of humanitarian crises is compounded by a relentless wave of attacks on humanitarian and medical workers, and the imposition of ever narrower constraints on humanitarian space.   The Secretary-General urges this Council to take strong and immediate action to support its numerous Resolutions on the protection of civilians, humanitarian and healthcare workers, and humanitarian space.   Three weeks ago, humanitarian aid workers Yohannes Halefom, María Hernández, and Tedros Gebremariam were brutally killed in Tigray while working for Médecins Sans Frontières.   This was just the latest in a string of attacks that have killed 12 aid workers in Tigray since the start of the conflict in November 2020. Many more have been intimidated, harassed and detained.   Around the world, security incidents affecting humanitarian organizations have increased tenfold since 2001. These incidents include shootings, bodily and sexual assault, kidnappings and raids.   In the five years since this Council’s resolution calling for an end to impunity for attacks on healthcare systems, workers and patients have suffered thousands of attacks.   The World Health Organization has recorded 568 incidents affecting the delivery of medical care in 14 conflict zones so far in 2021, this has caused 114 deaths of healthcare workers and patients. These attacks include shootings, shellings, threats, the removal of equipment and the militarization of medical facilities.   Meanwhile, it is becoming ever more difficult to provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to people in need.   Since late June, just one convoy of aid has been able to enter Tigray, where an estimated two million people are displaced and 5.2 million need humanitarian assistance. A second is now on its way.   In Afghanistan, aid workers, particularly women, face increased attacks, harassment and interference in their work.   And in Yemen, there were over 350 incidents involving restrictions on humanitarian organizations, personnel and goods in just two months earlier this year.   Our humanitarian agencies often negotiate with governments or parties to conflict that undermine or completely reject their work.   We are all too familiar with many of the strategies they use, from restrictions on the movements of humanitarian staff and supplies; to long visa and customs procedures; delays at checkpoints; and high taxes and fees on humanitarian supplies.   While Governments may create systems around the delivery of humanitarian aid, it is essential that these systems support aid rather than blocking it.   Likewise, every country needs to take action against terrorism. But every country also has a responsibility to make sure its counter-terrorism efforts do not undermine humanitarian operations.   Humanitarian organizations report ever more frequent attempts to interfere in their selection of beneficiaries or partners. There are growing pressures on organizations that negotiate with non-State armed groups – an essential element of impartial humanitarian operations.   Some counter-terrorist legislation may even criminalize humanitarian and medical activities. Conversely, political and military actors may portray humanitarian assistance as part of the counterterrorism agenda.   All these practices politicize humanitarian action, eroding the trust of communities and parties to conflict, and ultimately curtailing the ability of humanitarian organizations to deliver aid.   The best way to protect humanitarian space is by ending violence and conflict. Member States and the Security Council have a responsibility to do everything in their power to end attacks on humanitarian personnel and assets; to ensure and promote respect for international humanitarian law; and to seek accountability for serious violations, in line with numerous Resolutions on the protection of civilians, medical care, and humanitarian and United Nations personnel.   There are tools available within and outside this Council to foster greater respect for international humanitarian law.   When these tools are used systematically, we can see results. Examples include training national militaries; developing national policy frameworks; and applying diplomatic pressure. The Security Council has the power to impose sanctions when there are no other remedies.   Preserving humanitarian space also requires that we do not blur the lines between military operations, political objectives and humanitarian efforts.   Upholding the principles of humanitarian action – humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence – is essential to building trust with political, military, security, and non-state armed groups and others.   Second, investigation and accountability are essential to preventing attacks on aid workers.   National authorities are in the lead, but when they are unable or unwilling to act, the international community, including this Council, can and must use all available mechanisms.   Attacks on humanitarian workers are completely unacceptable and may constitute war crimes. They should be investigated and prosecuted accordingly. What goes unpunished will be repeated.   Third, all governments must protect humanitarian organizations’ ability to engage with all parties to conflict, including non-state armed groups.   Humanitarian agencies that engage with such groups are better able to negotiate access and establish humanitarian pauses or even ceasefires. Their personnel are safer, and they can deliver aid more effectively.   When humanitarian agencies are perceived as part of a political agenda, this creates enormous risks for their personnel and reduces their effectiveness.   Fourth, counter-terrorism measures should include clear provisions to preserve humanitarian space, minimise the impact on humanitarian operations, and ensure that humanitarian and healthcare personnel are not punished for doing their jobs.   Several Member States have passed legislation to that effect, in line with Security Council Resolutions 2462 and 2482. The Council has included humanitarian exemptions in its Somalia sanctions regime. The Secretary-General urges others to emulate those good practices.   Fifth: the Security Council must use its influence to ensure that attacks against schools and hospitals cease immediately, and that these facilities and their personnel are protected. The unprecedented healthcare emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic makes the protection of medical facilities and workers more critical than ever.   Member States should review and revise military policy and practice to ensure the protection of medical care and schools. They should refrain from – and condemn – the use of schools for military purposes.   The Secretary-General further urges Member States to endorse and implement (the) Safe Schools Declaration, which aims to protect all educational institutions from the worst effects of armed conflict.   And he calls on Member States to support the Health Care in Danger initiative of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, aimed at preventing and ending violence against patients, healthcare workers, facilities and vehicles, and ensuring safe access to health care in armed conflict and other emergencies.   In recognition of the challenges faced by humanitarian agencies, the Secretary-General has asked his incoming Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs to appoint a Special Adviser on the preservation of humanitarian space and access, and to strengthen humanitarian negotiations in this context.   Ultimately, most of our work on protecting humanitarian space is done by humanitarian aid workers on the ground – and in dialogue with parties to conflict, governments, and affected communities.   The international community owes humanitarian aid agencies and healthcare and humanitarian workers its full and unwavering support in their difficult and dangerous work.   http://news.un.org/en/news/topic/humanitarian-aid Visit the related web page
	The UN Security Council is falling short in preventing or responding to shrinking humanitarian space by Joint NGO Declaration   Joint NGO Declaration: UN Security Council discussion on the Protection of Humanitarian Space, by Lucile Grosjean, Director of Advocacy at Action Against Hunger, on behalf of the signatories:   We welcome this discussion today which is more critical than ever. We hope it will enable the Security Council to take actions, to lead efforts to protect humanitarian space and to firmly react when such space is attacked.   Humanitarian needs have never been as high as they are today. The world is on the verge of a hunger pandemic—with conflict, climate and environmental crisis, social inequalities and COVID-19 ravaging the poorest.   The humanitarian imperative remains paramount: we must save lives and provide people with the protection and dignity that they are rightfully and fundamentally entitled to.   And today, we, humanitarian organisations guided by the humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality, independence and humanity, are deeply worried that our space in which we provide life-saving protection and assistance is shrinking.   We know the causes: disregard for International Humanitarian Law by all, especially parties to conflicts, and blatant instrumentalization of aid at all levels have resulted in growing threats to humanitarian action.   The Security Council is also falling short to either prevent or respond to shrinking humanitarian space.   From the perspectives of humanitarian organizations providing assistance, we believe that:   First, inaction or blockages within the Security Council put people in need and humanitarian personnel at risk. It was not before Covid-19 cases surpassed 10 million worldwide that the Security Council managed to reach an agreement on the UN call for a global ceasefire to allow humanitarian access.   Looking at the Security Council’s agenda, some conflicts are routinely discussed for years, but little action is taken – putting the humanitarian space in peril.   The words “we are concerned” aren’t good enough. We need swift, clear and outspoken condemnations followed by bold action when humanitarian space is flouted.   Secondly, while we welcome some landmark resolutions such as 1325, 1502, 2175, 2286, 2417 or the recent 2573, the Security Council often fails to follow up on them. They get ignored by States and parties to the conflict, who are certain that the Security Council is not serious about their implementation.   This discrepancy endangers the lives of people, the work of humanitarian actors and undermines the credibility of this Council.   Third, the Security Council continues to pass resolutions that do not take into account the negative and potentially deadly effects on humanitarian and medical activities and personnel. This is the case for counterterrorism measures and sanctions.   The lack of coherence and decisive action by the Security Council emboldens States and parties to conflicts in their attacks on humanitarian space:   In conflicts areas, parties to conflict and other armed actors obstruct access and instrumentalize aid.   Many States criminalize humanitarian aid and impede discussions with parties to the conflict, crippling humanitarian space and adversely affecting our neutrality.   At the donor level, the translation of sanctions and Counter terrorism measures poses threats to our operations. One of the most egregious examples is the request to screen final beneficiaries — which is an absolute red line— as it would completely undermine, in all contexts, our ability to provide impartial assistance based on needs.   Those measures further hamper our acceptance and the confidence populations place in humanitarian aid and lead to increased risks to our staff providing assistance in conflict zones.   At all level, blatant violations of IHL with impunity result in increased attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers and assets.   On this, unfortunately, we can give you too many examples:   Next month marks 15 years since 17 Action Against Hunger aid workers were lined up and executed one by one in our office in Muttur, Sri Lanka, despite the fact that they were properly identified as humanitarians. 15 years later, the authorities in Sri Lanka have blocked any judicial action.   Two years ago, in Nigeria, 5 of our colleagues have been killed and one of our colleague, Grace Taku, was abducted. She remains forcibly detained and we continue to ask for her immediate release.   The awful and tragic litany of attacks against humanitarian personnel seems never ending: Médecins sans frontieres, in Tigray; People In Need, in Afghanistan; Acted, in Niger …   Since the beginning of the year, 191 humanitarian workers have been either killed, wounded or kidnapped. The vast majority of whom are national humanitarian workers on the front lines, who are the most at risk.   Local NGOs often have access to areas that others do not. It is now imperative that they receive the same level of international support as others to help them cope with the risks they face.   We thus call on you to take action to reverse this deadly downward spiral:   We urge you to clearly reaffirm your support to principled humanitarian action by ensuring that decisions at the UN Security Council do not impede humanitarian space and place humanitarian assistance at risk.   We demand the Security Council to adopt systematic humanitarian exemption that would exclude impartial humanitarian action from the scope of sanctions and counterterrorism measures. This will enable us to safely provide lifesaving services and engage with all parties to conflicts without fear of criminalisation in accordance with humanitarian principles.   We call on the Security Council to collectively and systematically denounce all crimes against civilians, medical and humanitarian workers and assets.   Breaches of IHL must not go unaddressed, especially when humanitarian access is impeded and when our colleagues are at risk. They must be systematically addressed here, in this council, but also at the highest levels of governments.   We call on the Security Council to prioritize the fight against impunity for crimes against medical and humanitarian personnel by systematically calling for, and supporting, national and international investigations to ensure those crimes do not remain unpunished.   We welcome the Secreatary General’s announcement of a strategic advisor focused on enhancing the protection of humanitarian space. We look forward to working closely with this advisor to address those issues and reverse these deadly trends I just described.   The Security Council has shown that when there is collective will, progress is possible. Civilians across the globe need protection and humanitarian assistance on an unprecedented scale.   They are depending on you to take decisive action to protect humanitarian space and to preserve the fundamental principles of our common humanity.   List of signatories:   Action Against Hunger, Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), CARE, Caritas Germany, Concern Worldwide, GOAL, Handicap International, HUMAP Humanitaire, Help, Médecins du Monde, Norwegian Refugee Council, People In Need Visit the related web page
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