[JURIST] The UN General Assembly on Monday met to discuss “the responsibility to protect” adopted by world leaders in 2005, with UN officials stressing the urgency of this responsibility as crises rage around the world. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile; JURIST news archive] addressed the assembly [UN News Centre report], saying that the world now faces a number of conflicts that involve acts that “shock the global conscience” and illustrate the human costs of turning a blind eye. The Secretary-General’s statement [text] highlighted the events currently unfolding in Iraq and Syria and well as violence against civilians in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Ukraine, Northern Nigeria, Pakistan, Gaza and elsewhere. He advised that early UN action should be used to address human rights and protect states by warding off the threat of violence, echoing the words of former High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] in her last briefing to the Security Council. Assembly Vice President Isabelle Picco recalled [text] the 2005 affirmation of the responsibilities of the international community, going on to say that the assembly was still “reckoning with its implications and where and how to act on and implement this decision” nearly ten years later.

The UN has addressed the issues of human rights and civilian protection throughout these regions multiple times in recent months. Last week a group of UN human rights experts urged stronger protection [JURIST report] for journalists covering conflicts, citing recent attacks on journalists in Syria and Gaza. Earlier that week the UN top advocate for children affected by war expressed concern [JURIST report] about the expansion of the Islamic State [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] in Syria and Iraq and the increase in violations against children there. In August former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay announced the findings of a report [JURIST report] detailing the harsh, war-like conditions in eastern Ukraine that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians in recent weeks. Also in August the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, formally requested [JURIST report] UN News Centre access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to gather first-hand information into the human rights situation in Gaza. In June independent UN human rights experts urged Pakistan to adopt urgent legislation to put an end to faith-based killings and protect the country’s Ahmadiyya Muslim [BBC profile] community.