In this connection, it is essential for peacekeepers to have more responsib...

In this connection, it is essential for peacekeepers to have more responsibility for supporting and providing security to civilians at risk through tangible protection strategies. In addition, the Security Council needs to establish clear, credible, and achievable mandates to ensure the successful and effective protection of civilians prior to deployment. Additionally, as the Secretary-General has stressed, increased political support must be employed to ensure that mandates of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) are implemented. Ensuring compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law is essential to civilian protection in armed conflicts. The international community should stand firm against impunity for violations of humanitarian and human rights laws whenever they arise. Compliance should also be applied to non-State armed groups, since more and more conflicts involve such groups. As such, the Security Council and other relevant international bodies need to devise measures to ensure full compliance regardless of the status of the parties to conflict.