A wide view of the UN Security Council chamber as ambassadors meet on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
In 2023, at least 30 countries in the world are engaged in different forms of war. These types include direct military conflict between countries, civil wars, drug wars, terrorist insurgencies, ethnic violence and political unrest, to name a few.
Author
Sriparna Pathak, Associate Professor, Chinese Studies and International Relations, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
The horrors of World War II were so immense that the international community decided to have frameworks and mechanisms to ensure the loss of lives on the scale that was witnessed, never takes place again. About 75 million people lost their lives in World War II, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians. Loss of civilians’ lives were not just in the direct war between the nation states at war, but also because many civilians died of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass bombings, disease and starvation. For the purpose of ensuring the peace and stability of the international order, in which the protection of human lives becomes paramount the United Nations (UN) came into existence on October 24, 1945.
As stated in the Charter of the UN itself, the protection of the civilian population is a basic element of humanitarian law. Civilians and all those not taking part in the fighting must on no account be attacked and must be spared and protected. Despite this, the reality continues to remain that civilian populations suffer most from the consequences of armed violence.
In 2023, at least 30 countries in the world are engaged in different forms of war. These types include direct military conflict between countries, civil wars, drug wars, terrorist insurgencies, ethnic violence and political unrest, to name a few. In the Russia-Ukraine war which rages on for more than a year now, as verified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a total of 9,614 people have lost their lives, and 17,535 people have been injured, as of September 2023.
Published in: Hindustan Times
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