Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), alongside 19 other leading organizations working to improve the protection of civilians in armed conflict (PoC), have published a joint statement ahead of the May 23^rd UN Security Council Open Debate at the sixth edition of PoC Week. This statement calls for UN Member States to take swift and ambitious action in addressing the need for policies and practices that effectively address the full protection of civilians in all their diversity.

The statement reads: “This year’s Secretary-General’s Protection of Civilians (POC) report and the Security Council’s Open Debate brings a strong focus on conflict and hunger. Five years after UN Security Council resolution 2417, in which the Council unanimously recognized that conflict-induced food insecurity and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access threaten international peace and security, civilians find themselves in the midst of the most severe global hunger and malnutrition crisis in modern history.”

Read the full statement that includes recommendations for building food security, stability, and peace here.

Endorsing organizations:  

Action Against Hunger
Amnesty International
All Survivors Project
Article 36
CARE
Center for Civilians in Conflict
Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect
GPPAC
Humanity and Inclusion
Human Rights Watch
INEW
International Rescue Committee
International Disability Alliance
Nonviolent Peace Force
Norwegian Refugee Council
Oxfam
PAX
Plan International
Save the Children
Watchlist for Children and Armed Conflict
World Vision