World: Protection of civilians in armed conflict - Report of the Secretary-General (S/2026/390)
Country: World Source: UN Security Council Please refer to the attached file. I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the request in the statement by the President of the Security Council of 21 September 2018 (S/PRST/2018/18) and responds to the Councilโs requests for reporting on specific themes in resolutions 2286 (2016), 2417 (2018), 2474 (2019), 2475 (2019), 2573 (2021) and 2730 (2024). The report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2025 and highlights key trends regarding the protection of civilians in armed conflicts; country examples used are illustrative and not exhaustive. 2. In 2025, the gap between global commitments to protect civilians in armed conflict and the reality faced by civilians widened further. Across conflicts, the same pattern was repeated: civilians bore the brunt of hostilities, were killed and injured, and were subjected to sexual violence, repeated displacement, hunger and terror. Critical infrastructure was destroyed or damaged, whether through direct attacks or incidental harm. Essential services including food, healthcare, water, electricity, sanitation and shelter were disrupted, obstructed and rendered inaccessible, pushing already fragile populations towards catastrophe. This unfolded amid legal and political impunity. 3. The tenth anniversary, in May 2026, of the adoption of Security Council resolution 2286 (2016) is marked by rising attacks on medical personnel and facilities. The report examines key challenges facing medical care in conflict since 2016. Conflict-induced hunger deepened, with two simultaneous famines. Humanitarian workers were impeded in their work, kidnapped and killed. Climate shocks and environmental degradation further eroded the resilience of conflict-affected people. 4. Technologies, including artificial intelligence, drones and information and communications technology, reshaped battlefields in ways that increased risks to civilians and challenged established normative frameworks. 5. The conflicts in the Sudan, Ukraine and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 1 reflected a number of these patterns and trends and stood out for their scale of destruction. These trends, however stark, cannot capture the full human toll. Families searching for food and water under bombardment, children pulled from rubble and communities uprooted repeatedly remind us that harm is not abstract; it is intimate, immediate and devastating. 6. Of utmost concern is that the scale โ and in some instances, the stated intent โof civilian harm appears to far outweigh the political will and investment to prevent or stop it. The question for the Security Council and Member States is how they will choose to respond. Protecting civilians requires more than expressing concern โ it demands leadership, renewed political resolve and decisive and consistent action to limit the devastation of conflict in cities, stop the transfer of arms when violations of relevant rules of international law are likely to occur, and hold perpetrators accountable, to name only these. It requires Member States to defend the Charter of the United Nations and the norms that safeguard our shared humanity in both words and deeds. When force replaces law, brutality prevails and civilians pay the price.