Despite all the efforts exerted by the United Nations, including the Security Council, civilians around the world are still suffering in massive numbers. The measures adopted so far have proved to fall short of addressing the wider implications of attacks against civilians, their impact on international peace and security and their humanitarian impacts.

Also in that context, the Secretary-General's report expands, in an unjustified manner, the definition and scope of the term armed conflict to include in that definition situations that are not considered armed conflicts according to the United Nations Charter and international law.

While we have made progress in bringing clarity to how peacekeeping operations implement protection of civilians mandates, we still require a more detailed articulation of how key functions within missions can more effectively protect civilians on a daily basis. This operational guidance will be a critical part of the protection toolkit that we are developing.

That being said, over the course of 2010 the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support undertook a very detailed examination of how we can improve our performance in protecting civilians. With the operational concept developed earlier this year, we have focused on five principal tracks to improve our planning and implementation of our civilian protection mandates.

Recent tragic incidents, notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which the lives and safety of civilians have been so grossly disregarded by armed militias are a tragic reminder of both the importance of protecting civilians where we are mandated to do so and of the immense complexities that this entails.

Our efforts in those areas have already had an impact on the ground. In addition to the three missions that previously developed protection of civilians strategies, four missions are in the process of doing so based on the draft general guidance that is being developed here at Headquarters.

One of the most prominent examples of the implementation of such strategies is certainly the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), which has already developed and is continuing to implement a number of innovative and practical approaches.

In the Sudan, in the crucial period leading up to the referendum, the United Nations Mission in the Sudan has finalized, in consultation with the country team, a strategy for the protection of civilians, which strengthens the coordination between the Mission's civilian and military components and envisages joint mapping processes of protection needs, actors and potential emergencies.

As we look at the planning and implementation of the protection of civilians in greater detail, it remains clear that the efforts that we have undertaken thus far constitute only the beginning of what will necessarily be a continuous process. Peacekeepers in the military, police and civilian components continue to request more detailed operational guidance on the contributions they can make to the protection of civilians.

We welcome the Secretariat's efforts in establishing clear guidance and developing an operational concept for peacekeeping missions on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Furthermore, a stronger partnership on protection with troop- and police-contributing countries, host Governments and local populations should be developed.