There is a “bloody surge” impacting humanitarian crises around the world, with civilians in conflict zones paying the highest price, the UN deputy chief told the Security Council on Friday.

Briefing on behalf of the UN chief, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, painted a grim picture of civilian executions, arbitrary arrests, detentions, forced displacement and sexual violence against children, on a massive scale, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

She also spoke of “brutal attacks” in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, where 20 million people are living “face-to-face” with hunger.

Two children collect drinking water in a camp for displaced people in Idlib, Syria.
“We are in uncharted waters”, she said, with the “sheer scale of humanitarian needs” never greater.

This year the UN and its partners are seeking to assist 160 million people – its highest number ever.

The “hurricane of humanitarian crises” is compounded by a “relentless wave of attacks” on humanitarian and medical workers, and the imposition of ever narrower constraints on humanitarian space, according to the deputy UN chief.

“The Secretary-General urges this Council to take strong and immediate action to support its numerous resolutions on the protection of civilians, humanitarian and healthcare workers, and humanitarian space”, she told ministers and ambassadors.

Shootings, bodily and sexual assault, kidnappings and other attacks affecting humanitarian organizations, have increased tenfold since 2001, according to Ms. Mohammed.

“In the five years since this Council’s landmark resolution calling for an end to impunity for attacks on healthcare systems, workers and patients have suffered thousands of attacks”, she said.

Meanwhile, it is becoming ever more difficult to provide vital humanitarian aid to people in need.

Some authorities impose restrictions on the movements of humanitarian staff and supplies, long visa and customs procedures and delays at checkpoints. Other obstacles include high taxes and fees on humanitarian supplies.

And while every country needs to act against terrorism, each also has a responsibility to make sure its counter-terrorism efforts do not undermine humanitarian operations.

As Governments create systems around humanitarian aid delivery, the deputy chief reminded, “it is essential” that they support, rather than block aid.

Because the best way to protect humanitarian space is by ending violence and conflict, the Secretary-General had called for a global ceasefire to focus on the common enemy: the COVID-19 pandemic.

And on Thursday, the UN chief issued a call for silencing the guns in the run up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo: “People and nations can build on this temporary respite to establish lasting ceasefires and find paths towards sustainable peace”, he said.

“Turbo-charged” by COVID, humanitarian needs are outpacing the capacity to meet them, said Ms. Mohammed.

While the UN engages in difficult negotiations to create lasting ceasefires and build sustainable peace, the delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid must continue and that requires the necessary humanitarian space.

Member States and the Security Council have “a responsibility to do everything in their power” to end attacks on humanitarians and assets, and seek accountability for serious violations, she underscored.

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