I thank you, Sir, for this opportunity to brief the Security Council today. T...

I thank you, Sir, for this opportunity to brief the Security Council today. The protection of civilians in armed conflict has been high on the international agenda for the past decade. On one level, progress has been impressive. Never before have there been so many policy statements and resolutions, so much global information and advocacy, and such a proliferation of actors professing to carry out protection work. Sadly, these fine words and good intentions are rarely matched by the reality on the ground. While there may still be diverging views on what protection actually is, there can be little doubt about what happens when there is no protection.