To conclude, let me briefly touch upon the need to fight impunity. This past summer, the Security Council adopted a presidential statement on children and armed conflict (S/PRST/2010/10), which called for increased exchange of information on persistent perpetrators between the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and relevant sanctions committees of the Security Council.

The United Nations peacekeeping reform process has acknowledged many of the shortcomings and has taken first steps to address them. In that regard, we welcome the progress made so far in developing an operational concept for the protection of civilians in United Nations peacekeeping operations, as requested by Security Council resolution 1894 (2009) of last November.

The Security Council has also done important work to enhance the protection agenda on specific thematic issues like children and women in armed conflict. Let me in that context briefly highlight the action plans pursuant to Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), in which the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict is engaging non-State parties to conflict.

Protecting civilians from the direct threat of physical violence in zones of conflict is not an easy task, as we all know. Resource constraints, difficult terrain and a sometimes tenuous consent of the host country, but also a lack of conceptual clarity and insufficient training and preparedness are challenges to the effective protection of civilians by United Nations missions.

Over the last years, the Security Council has developed a comprehensive normative framework on protection issues. The Council has repeatedly made it clear that the protection of civilians must be a priority for peacekeeping operations. There is, however, an implementation gap, which the Council and United Nations missions must address in order to make a tangible difference for the civilian population in zones of conflict.

Military as well as civilian components of the United Nations missions in the field must have clear guidelines on their respective roles in the protection of civilians from physical violence and must work together in achieving that. It is also imperative that United Nations missions interact more with the vulnerable communities that they are tasked to protect, in order to better understand their specific protection needs.

Germany fully aligns itself with the statement just made by the European Union. Let me thank Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos for her statement on behalf of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today. I also thank Ms. Pillay, Mr. Le Roy and Director General Daccord for their contributions.

Since our last address, nothing has changed on the ground. Ethnicity-based and other gross and massive violations of human rights law and humanitarian law happen on a daily basis.

Resolution 1894 (2009), adopted a year ago, reaffirmed the need to focus on the issue of humanitarian access. The very same message has been reiterated in the Secretary-General's most recent report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict (S/2010/579), in which the Secretary-General suggests that humanitarian access is the fundamental prerequisite for humanitarian action. A similar message has been delivered by Mr.

More than a decade has passed since the Council began deliberating this important subject. Throughout the past 11 years, the Council has adopted six resolutions and eight presidential statements on the protection of civilians, but unfortunately these measures are not sufficient. Civilians continue to be severely impacted by armed conflicts around the world.