The number of civilians killed in armed conflict and its humanitarian aftermath has skyrocketed, with the United Nations calculating nearly 17,000 deaths in war zones in 2022, nearly 8,000 in Ukraine alone. Compared with 2021, the number of civilian deaths has increased sharply by 53%.
On Tuesday, May 23, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said “the world has failed” to protect civilians, citing the death toll in wars in Ukraine and Sudan, the destruction of schools in Ethiopia and the destruction of Syria’s water infrastructure.
“Civilians have long suffered the deadly effects of armed conflict, and it is time to honor commitments to protect them,” Guterres said.
He added, “Peace is the best protection.”
A UN report on the protection of civilians in conflict in 2022 hit a record high, with the UN recording a 53% increase in civilian deaths and a surge in the number of people forcibly displaced by conflict.
Worldwide, the number of refugees who have been forced to leave their homes “as a result of conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution” has reached 100 million, the UN secretary-general added.
Sitting next to Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, Guterres said world body research on the treatment of civilians in war zones showed that more than 117 million people faced severe hunger, mainly because of war and insecurity.
In Ukraine alone, which has struggled with the Russian invasion for just over a year, the United Nations has recorded nearly 8,000 civilian deaths and more than 12,500 wounded, though the actual numbers are likely to be much higher.
At the United Nations Security Council meeting, Ukraine’s Western supporters and Russia exchanged condemnation. This has been a regular occurrence at council meetings since Moscow invaded its neighbor in 2022.
French ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Riviere pointed to alleged human rights violations by Russia in Ukraine and by Russian mercenary Wagner forces in the Central African Republic and Mali.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the rise in civilian deaths reflected the human toll of the war in Ukraine.
The ambassador also accused Russia of using “food as a weapon of war in Ukraine”, leaving millions of people in Africa and the Middle East food insecure, including blocking Ukrainian food shipments for months.
She pointed to the two-month extension on May 17 of a deal to allow shipments of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports as a “beacon of hope for the world“.
Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, claimed that only a fraction of the more than 30 million tons of grain shipped under the Black Sea agreement was destined for developing countries and that ammonia (a share of fertilizers) was supposed to arrive from Russia as part of the July 2022 deal. a key ingredient) “hasn’t actually even started”.
Also addressing the Council on Tuesday was ICRC President Miriana Spojaric, who told members that “untold numbers of civilians in conflict around the world are going through hell on earth as we meet”.
“At any moment, the next missile could destroy their home, their school, their clinic and everyone in it. In any given week, they could run out of food or medicine,” she said.
Swiss President Alain Berce, who holds the council’s rotating presidency in May, said all parties to the conflict must abide by international humanitarian law.
“Conflict is a major driver of hunger,” he said.
“Increasing numbers of people are facing severe food insecurity,” mostly in conflict zones such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and the Sahel, “or in other violent regions such as Haiti.”