Thanks to FluTrackers for alerting me to this story. Via ReliefWeb, a report from the the UN News Service: Ban, Red Cross chief voice concern over 'brazen and brutal erosion' of respect for humanitarian law. Excerpt:
Warning of rising number of 'deliberate' attacks on civilians across the world, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the international community to end the 'callous disregard for human life' and stressed on stronger commitment from Member States to bring perpetrators of such attacks to account.
“From Afghanistan to the Central African Republic, from Ukraine to Yemen, combatants and those who control them are defying humanity's most basic rules. Every day, civilians – ordinary women, men and children – are being deliberately or recklessly injured and killed, tortured and abducted. Every hour, people in dire circumstances are being denied the medical care, food, water and shelter they need to survive,” said Mr. Ban at a joint press encounter with Mr. Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva.
The UN chief said that airstrikes are increasing in besieged populated areas and cited the killing of dozens of people yesterday, when Syrian government forces fired missiles into a marketplace in Douma and the continual indiscriminate firing of rockets in Damascus.
“Such deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian areas is a clear breach of international law. The continuing violence is a clear indication that a political solution to the conflict in Syria is desperately needed – the fighting must stop now. There is no military solution to the crisis – not in Syria or anywhere else,” said Mr. Ban.
Additionally, he deplored the attacks on healthcare facilities and reiterated that they hold a special protected status under international humanitarian law.
Mr. Ban said that the attack on a Yemeni hospital in Saada last week is the 39th health centre attack since March and added that more children may die in Yemen from a lack of healthcare and medicines than from bullets and bombs.
He also condemned the bombing of the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital earlier this month in Kunduz, Afghanistan and said that the supposed surgical strike “instead destroyed a surgical ward”.
“These violations have become so routine there is a risk people will think that the deliberate bombing of civilians, the targeting of humanitarian and healthcare workers, and attacks on schools, hospitals and places of worship are an inevitable result of conflict,” said Mr. Ban.
He sounded alarm over the constant flouting of international humanitarian law across the world and added that the international community should bring the attackers to account.
“Enough is enough. Even war has rules; it is time to enforce them,” said Mr. Ban. “The continued failure to act is a disgrace and a stain on the conscience of the world,” he added.
He stressed that protecting civilians in wartime is the cornerstone in the international system and the UN and added that indifference on such issues will only make the world less secure.
“Today, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross are calling for an end to impunity, an end to the callous disregard for human life, and a recommitment to international humanitarian law,” said Mr. Ban urging collaborative action from the international community.
The case for name and shame grows stronger with every atrocity, though admittedly the perpetrators are beyond shame.
