News - Middle East: Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi slammed the UN security council's inaction towards protection of civilians during armed conflicts and referred to the body's silence on Zionists' crimes, six years of Saudi invasion of Yemen and unilateral sanctions on Syria as examples of such attitudes.

According to IRNA, Ravanchi said that "While the prohibition of the use of force, save the two exceptional cases authorized by the Charter, is a fundamental principle and a preemptory norm of international law, armed conflicts are still a reality of our time."

"However, according to International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which governs the conduct of States in armed conflicts, there are certain rules that must be observed by parties to conflicts," he added.

He pointed to the explicit norms which indicate "our challenge today is not the lack of adequate binding rules for the protection of civilians or civilian objects, rather it is the lack of compliance with such norms, and more importantly, the inaction of the Security Council when they are breached materially and even systematically."

The Representative of Iran indicated a living example which is the decades-long systematic inhumane and unlawful practices of the Israeli regime in the occupied territories that cover a range of brutalities. Such practices are "the deliberate systematic and massive ethnic cleansing; demolition of homes and confiscation of lands and properties of the Palestinians; the unlawful blockade of the Gaza Strip; and killing of civilians, including women and innocent children, all of which are clear manifestations of war crimes," he added.

Iran's Representative Another example, Ravanchi added, is the brutalities of Saudi Arabia in its six years of aggression in Yemen, in which thousands of civilians, including women and children, have been killed; homes, mosques, hospitals, schools, market places, diplomatic missions and even wedding and funeral ceremonies have been indiscriminately attacked; and starvation of civilians is used as a method of warfare, causing the world’s worst contemporary humanitarian crisis.

"Moreover, in both cases, objects indispensable to the survival of civilians such as foodstuffs, drinking water installations and hospitals, have been the subject of systematic armed attacks or deliberate disruption, and civilian places such as ports and airports have been the subject of strict unlawful blockades."

Iran's Representative mentioned another case which is the imposition of inhumane unilateral sanctions against Syria which prevents the import of humanitarian goods including food and medicine, causing serious harm to the health and lives of people. Practically, their adverse effects are equivalent to starvation and must therefore stop immediately.

Indeed, he added, what the Security Council must do to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian objects in armed conflicts, is to compel the perpetrators to bring such practices to an immediate end, and hold them accountable for such crimes.

 

#Yemen #Iran #UN #Palestine #Israel #Syria #Security_Council #Saudi Arabia About 3 years