In our opinion, the question of the protection of civilians in armed conflict...

In our opinion, the question of the protection of civilians in armed conflict deserves more consistent attention from the Council. Statistics over the past 20 to 30 years clearly show that civilian casualties in conflict areas have consistently outnumbered military casualties and continue to do so. In the twenty-first century we are still witnessing gross violations of international humanitarian law in which civilians are increasingly and deliberately becoming a primary target of armed groups. It is evident that the nature of contemporary conflict has changed. Nowadays, in the conduct of armed conflict, civilians more often than not become the targets of armed attacks and atrocities that include murder, deportation and ethnic cleansing, as well as rape and sexual violence, which have thus become weapons of war.