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	Darfur: ‘imperative of peace is now,’ Security Council told by Ibrahim Gambari Head of the UN-AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Sudan   July 2011   The United Nations-African Union envoy for Darfur has called for stepped-up efforts to reach a comprehensive peace agreement as soon as possible, stressing that it is high time for the people of the strife-torn Sudanese region to resume normal lives.   “The imperative of peace is now as the people of Darfur have suffered too long and too deeply,” Ibrahim Gambari, the Joint Special Representative and head of the UN-AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), told the Security Council.   Reporting on the latest developments, Mr. Gambari recalled the recent signing of the draft “Doha Document for Peace in Darfur” (DDPD) by the Sudanese Government and the rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM).   The draft provides the basis for reaching a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive and inclusive peace settlement in Darfur. It was endorsed by a conference held in May in Doha, Qatar, that brought together more than 500 delegates representing various Darfur stakeholders, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, civil society and Government officials.   “While the signing of the DDPD by the two parties represents an important step forward in the search for sustainable peace and stability in Darfur, it is my view that many daunting challenges remain,” Mr. Gambari told the 15-member body.   The first is how to continue engagement of the hold-out armed movements – the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid and the Sudan Liberation Army/Minni Minawi – and the Sudanese Government to agree to a cessation of hostilities.   The other challenges are to ensure local ownership of the peace process by Darfurians at the grassroots level through a credible, transparent and free internal political process; and the need for an enabling environment to make possible a Darfur-based process.   “These are by no means simple challenges but work on them is already in progress,” Mr. Gambari stated, adding that UNAMID will use the intervening period to assist the stakeholders in the dissemination of the draft document to the population of Darfur to broaden support for it.   “The challenge for the international community… is to determine how best to impress on all sides involved in the conflict that a military solution is not the way to go,” he added.   In his latest report on UNAMID, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that, in the coming months, UNAMID, the AU, the UN and the broader international community must be poised to assist the Sudanese Government to address the various causes of instability in the country.   “It will be critical that armed offensives are put aside and political dialogue pursued,” he wrote in the report, which Mr. Gambari presented to the Council today.   The UNAMID chief pledged that the mission will continue to do everything within its mandate to facilitate the return of peace and stability in Darfur. “Robust and increased patrols will remain the rule of the mission, as well as continuing collaboration with the UN Country Team and humanitarian actors to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities.”   Since 2003, when the deadly conflict erupted in Darfur between rebels, Government forces and allied militiamen, an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and about 2.7 million others have been displaced.   While a number of displaced people have returned to their homes, there are still some 1.8 million IDPs in Darfur. In an interview with the UN News Centre, Mr. Gambari acknowledged that this is “not normal,” and that while the UN is doing its best, there are certain conditions that have to be met so that people can go home.   These include security, some minimum social services such as schools and health clinics, and means of livelihood.   “Darfur should not be forgotten,” he stressed. “The world celebrated the independence of South Sudan; we need to celebrate the end of the fighting in Darfur, so the people of Darfur can begin to live normal lives, and these 1.8 million IDPs can safely and voluntarily return to their homes.”   * Visit the link below to access a recent interview with Ibrahim Gambari. Visit the related web page
	Schools and hospitals should never be places of war by ICRC, UN News & agencies   Aug 2011   Health care in danger. (ICRC)   Millions affected by violence against health-care personnel and facilities.   Assaults on health-care personnel, facilities and vehicles in conflicts and violent upheavals leave millions around the world without care just when they need it most. This is the key finding of a new report presented by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at a press conference in Geneva today.   "Violence against health-care facilities and personnel must end. It"s a matter of life and death," said Yves Daccord, the director-general of the ICRC. "The human cost is staggering: civilians and fighters often die from their injuries simply because they are prevented from receiving timely medical assistance."   According to Dr Robin Coupland, who led the research carried out in 16 countries across the globe, millions could be spared if the delivery of health care were more widely respected. "The most shocking finding is that people die in large numbers not because they are direct victims of a roadside bomb or a shooting," he said. "They die because the ambulance does not get there in time, because health-care personnel are prevented from doing their work, because hospitals are themselves targets of attacks or simply because the environment is too dangerous for effective health care to be delivered."   In 2009 a bomb blast in Mogadishu killed over 20 people, most of whom had just graduated from medical school. The attack on the young doctors not only brought their lives to a premature end but also destroyed any chance that tens of thousands of people might have had of receiving medical attention in the months and years to follow.   "Violence that prevents the delivery of health care is currently one of the most urgent yet overlooked humanitarian tragedies," insisted Mr Daccord. "Hospitals in Sri Lanka and Somalia have been shelled, ambulances in Libya shot at, paramedics in Colombia killed, and wounded people in Afghanistan forced to languish for hours in vehicles held up in checkpoint queues. The issue has been staring us in the face for years. It must end."   The health-care community alone cannot address the challenge. It is imperative that States, their armed forces but also others exercising authority recognize that violence that disrupts the delivery of health care is one of the most serious and widespread humanitarian challenges.   "Addressing the issue effectively will require humanitarian dialogue, respect for the law and the adoption of appropriate measures by States, armed forces and non-State actors," said Mr Daccord. "The ICRC is committed to working with all concerned in order to secure effective and impartial health care."   Deliberate assaults on health-care personnel, facilities and transports, as well as on the wounded and sick, violate international law. The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols set out the right of the wounded and sick – combatants and civilians alike – to be respected and protected during armed conflict and to receive timely medical treatment.   July 2011   The UN Security Council, recognizing schools and hospitals as safe havens for children, called for all parties to conflict that attack such facilities to be held accountable and that they be added to the list published annually by the United Nations of those who commit grave violations against children.   The list, contained in the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict, already names those parties which commit violations such as the recruitment of child soldiers, killing or maiming of children, and rape or other forms of sexual violence against children.   In the resolution adopted unanimously today, the Council – which has adopted seven previous resolutions on children and armed conflict – recognized attacks on schools and hospitals as a grave violation of children’s rights, and called for perpetrators of such violence to be listed in the annual report.   “Places of learning and places of healing should never be places of war,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his remarks to the Council, as it began a day-long debate on the issue of children and armed conflict during which it was expected to hear from over 50 delegations.   “It has sent a consistent and clear message: Protecting children in armed conflict is a peace and security issue, and the international community will not tolerate grave violations of this principle,” he said.   “Today’s resolution takes us one step further,” he added. “It not only emphasizes that schools and hospitals should be zones of peace respected by all parties to conflict, it adds attacks on schools and hospitals as listing criteria in my annual reports on children in armed conflict.”   The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict hailed the action taken by the Council to expand the criteria for listing parties in the report.   “The promise of this resolution is very real,” Radhika Coomaraswamy told the 15-member body.   “During my visits to conflict areas, I have personally seen the devastation – schools completely destroyed, bombed or burnt to the ground… Attacks on hospitals are two-fold atrocities. Not only do they kill and wound girls and boys, but they leave children without access to treatment.”   According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), schools have become the target of violent attacks or threats by both State security forces and non-State armed groups in at least 31 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.   “These horrific attacks are not only a violation of international and humanitarian law, they are a violation of our common humanity,” said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director. “And today, the Council has affirmed that attacks on schools and hospitals are attacks on children – and must be treated as such. For these grave violations are alarmingly common.”   He said such attacks have devastating consequences on children’s lives and on their communities, weakening education and health systems and deepening deprivations and disparities.   27 June 2011   Despicable terror attack on hospital kills women and children in maternity ward.   A top United Nations official today condemned as unconscionable the use of an unwitting child as a suicide bomber in Afghanistan and a separate attack on a hospital in the strife-torn country.   The office of Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said she “was appalled to learn today of the use of a young girl as an unwitting suicide bomber” yesterday in Afghanistan.   According to media reports, an eight-year-old girl was tricked into carrying a bomb close to a police vehicle in Oruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, unaware that it was a bomb, and was killed when it was remotely detonated.   “The disgraceful act of putting a bomb in a little girl’s basket and sending her, unknowing, to kill, is almost unimaginable,” she said. “The group or individuals responsible must be brought to justice.”   A car bomb also detonated outside a hospital in Azra district of Logar province in eastern Afghanistan, Saturday, reportedly killing at least 20 and wounding 23 more, and damaging much of the hospital.   Ms. Coomaraswamy called that attack “equally disturbing - Attacks on hospitals are two-fold atrocities. Not only do they kill and wound girls and boys, they leave thousands of women and children without access to treatment.”   In a statement issued in Kabul, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stressed that attacks against hospitals and medical workers are prohibited under humanitarian law.   “This is a despicable attack against civilians who were seeking medical care, as well as visiting family members and health workers,” said Staffan de Mistura, the head of UNAMA and the Secretary-General"s Special Representative for Afghanistan.   “Much of the damage was in the maternity ward of the hospital, and many of those killed and injured were women and children.”   http://www.icrc.org/eng/what-we-do/protecting-civilians/overview-protection-civilian-population.htm Visit the related web page
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