UAE calls on world to protect civilians during conflicts
new york — The UAE has called on the UN Security Council and its member states to join hands in protecting civilians and upholding international law by focusing on prevention to address the root causes of conflict; recognising that regional conflicts require regional solutions; and reinvigorating the council to ensure that it takes both action in response to conflicts and follows through on its existing resolutions.
Speaking at the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, UAE’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said the failure of the council to respond decisively to conflicts around the world has exacted a profound human toll. The UAE backed UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres’ statement that the most effective way to protect civilians is to prevent conflicts and to end them.
“In my own region — with the conflict in Syria now entering its 8th year — we are experiencing the challenge of multiple armed conflicts that have severe implications for civilian communities,” said Lana Zaki Nusseibeh at the Open Debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict chaired by Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.
Nusseibeh said as a member of the Coalition Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen, the UAE takes its own responsibility for upholding international humanitarian law and for protecting civilians very seriously.
The failure of the Security Council to enforce its own resolutions is partly the cause for the poor protracted nature of conflicts. She stated that the UAE is committed to cooperating with the UN to resolve the conflict in Yemen that has been perpetrated by the Houthis and their Iranian backers.
On the situation in Palestine, Ambassador Nusseibeh underlined that ignoring the root causes of this conflict would inevitably lead to further bloodshed. She highlighted that Israel’s recent actions at the Gaza Fence, which include attacks on doctors and paramedics, violated the protections for medical personnel assisting wounded civilians guaranteed under the Fourth Geneva Convention and customary international law.
Ambassador Nusseibeh condemned Iran’s arming of various non-state actors in order to avoid sovereign accountability for its actions, thereby putting the region at greater risk.