[12/November/2009]

New York, Nov. 12 (Saba) - The State of Qatar underlined the importance of addressing the issue of protecting civilians in armed conflict by the Security Council in a meeting held on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the Council's consideration of this item through the adoption of resolution 1265 / 1999, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Thursday.

In a speech delivered by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations H.E. Salem M. Al Shafi, Qatar assigns great importance to the protection of civilians in armed conflict and condemns all forms of targeting of civilians in conflicts and foreign occupation and exposing them to death and injury.

Al Shafi said that a fundamental challenge facing the promotion of the protection of civilians is foreign occupation. One can not speak about the protection of civilians under foreign military occupation without addressing the basis for their suffering.

Another challenger is the exposure of the town and villages in which military operations take place to the effects of those operations. Another challenge is the civilians and international relief workers being killed and abducted by rebel elements in many conflicts, he added. Therefore, improving the protection of civilians is not a purely humanitarian mission, but is a mission that requires efforts to be directed in several areas, Al Shafi noted.

Al Shafi referred to the most important conflicts in which civilians are put at risk which is the Palestinian issue, which has threatened the security and safety of civilians for six decades.

Civilians continue to be increasingly vulnerable as a result of the growing disregard by the Israeli authorities to the protection of the Palestinian population living under their military occupation. That disregard reached a point where civilians were directly targeted during the military aggression on the Gaza Strip late last year.

Al Shafi said that during the aggression on the Gaza Strip Qatar was one of the first nations to call for cessation of those practices and their investigations. Qatar also condemns the terrorist acts and reprisals against civilians and civilian targets including hospitals and schools and it was also one of the first countries to work to mobilize financial support to assist the civilian population affected by the hostilities.

Al Shafi at the conclusion said that we reiterate our call for Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities and obligations to protect civilians in armed conflict including foreign occupation and to impose respect for its resolutions and instruments of international law that provide the legal basis for the protection of civilians. "We must be aware that respect for international law is the real beginning of a world of peace and stability," Al Shafi said