President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today violations that were once considered abhorrent have, disturbingly, become normalized in conflicts around the world.
I stand before you to remind us of an undeniable truth:
Every patient killed in a hospital bed,
Every family buried under the rubble of their home,
Every hostage stolen from their loved ones,
Every prisoner tortured and deprived of basic dignity,
Every city levelled, and every village destroyed –
These are not unfortunate realities of war.
They are a betrayal.
We must not become numb to that fact, or we risk sleepwalking into a world where the barriers that once restrained brutality in war are removed.
The scale of the suffering we witness is not inevitable. It is the direct result of dismissive interpretations of international humanitarian law.
People have the power to change course, but it will require courage and leadership to move past divisions and recommit to the fundamental belief that human life must transcend political divides – both in war and in peacetime.
Excellencies,
Together, international humanitarian law and international human rights law share a common goal: to protect human life, health, and dignity, no matter what country you were born in or what side of the front line you live on.
These bodies of law are mutually reinforcing. They need one another. The erosion of respect for one contributes to the erosion of the other.
In war, how can the right to health be fulfilled if hospitals are bombed? How can the right to food prevent hunger if crops are destroyed? How can children see their right to education come true if schools are attacked?
There is no right to life when civilians, and the infrastructure they rely on for survival, are systematically targeted. International humanitarian law exists to protect them in times of war.
The way wars are fought today will inform the way they are fought tomorrow. Where basic humanitarian rules are violated, rebuilding costs skyrocket, and new security threats fester.
We can choose a different path, one that promotes life, stability, and prosperity. This starts with committing to international humanitarian law and making it a political priority.
The ICRC, together with Brazil, China, France, Jordan, Kazakhstan, and South Africa, in September launched a global initiative to revive political commitment to international humanitarian law. Many States have since joined, and I hope more will continue to do so.
Mr President,
At this time of tectonic political shifts, the pressure for humanitarian organizations to pick a side is at a fever pitch. We, as the ICRC, will not bend to it. If we did, we would lose our ability to help people on all sides in the world’s most contentious theatres of armed conflict.
States do not need to be neutral, but they need the ICRC to fulfil that role. A neutral humanitarian body is a vital feature of the international peace architecture, without which the entire system is weaker.
It is by upholding our strict impartiality and confidentiality that we ensure our ability to stand for humanity.
Thank you.
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