At the UN Security Council’s annual debate on the protection of civilians, Portugal’s permanent representative, Ana Paula Zacarias, said that the various conflicts around the world, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Ukraine or Gaza, “have cast a long shadow” over the international community’s ability to ensure respect for the most basic human rights.

“While the full responsibility and accountability of States and parties to conflict must remain fundamental principles in this discussion, we need stronger accountability mechanisms. And we need practical and meaningful action to prevent violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and to combat impunity whenever such violations and abuses occur”, she defended.

The United Nations registered at least 33,443 civilian deaths in armed conflicts last year, a 72% increase compared to 2022, with three out of ten being children and four out of ten being women.

The report presented by the UN Secretary-General on the subject describes the state of protection of civilians in 2023 as “extremely grim”.

The conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was notably the deadliest, resulting in 21,672 Palestinian fatalities and 56,165 injuries, mostly women and children, according to the UN.

According to Ana Paula Zacarias, “it is urgent to rethink what is needed to protect human lives” in light of increasingly complex and interconnected threats, arguing that the upcoming “Future Pact” - which is currently under negotiation and is expected to be adopted at the Future Summit in September - is an excellent opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its commitment to the protection of civilians.

“We must look at emerging areas, namely with regard to new technologies and autonomous weapons. We must strengthen the regulatory framework applicable to private military and security companies, and we must not forget the climate-peace-security nexus”, urged the Portuguese diplomat.

Portugal also encouraged the UN Secretariat and the Security Council to make use of technological developments, such as data analysis, early warning systems and predictive models, in order to make the action of peacekeeping missions more effective in fulfilling their mandates regarding the protection of civilians.

In her speech, the Portuguese ambassador praised Mozambique - the country that called for today’s meeting - for taking “concrete and very positive steps” to protect civilians in the Cabo Delgado region, affected by violence from insurgent groups.

Ana Paula Zacarias also paid tribute to all humanitarian workers and all peacekeeping forces that “continue to risk their lives trying to protect the most vulnerable and overcome the constraints to humanitarian assistance”, as well as those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

At today’s meeting, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya, highlighted that, “across 14 conflicts in 2023, not including the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 91 aid workers were tragically killed, 120 injured and 53 kidnapped”.

In Gaza alone, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) lost 142 staff members in the violence between October and December, recalled Joyce Msuya.

Also Read: “Extremely grim”. Civilian deaths in conflicts increase by 72% in 2023 (Portuguese version)