YEREVAN, MAY 26, ARMENPRESS. Discussion entitled ‘Protection of civilians and medical care in armed conflict’ was held in the UN Security Council on May 25 during which Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Zohrab Mnatsakanyan delivered remarks, press service of the MFA told Armenpress.

Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, chaired the open discussion, and representatives of over 70 UN member states delivered speeches.

At the beginning UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the importance of strengthening the respect towards human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as the protection of humanitarian and medical personnel.

In his remarks Ambassador Mnatsakanyan attached importance to the implementation of international humanitarian law, mainly the Geneva conventions and their additional protocols on the protection of civilians, including humanitarian and medical personnel.

Highlighting the importance of prevention of conflicts and crisis situations, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said ‘crisis, crimes and genocides do not occur suddenly, they are visible and predictable’. The Ambassador recalled that Armenia joined The Safe Schools Charter which aims at protecting the educational institutions from military attacks.

Talking about the large-scale military aggression carried out by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh in April 2016, Ambassador Mnatsakanyan recalled on the violence applied by Azerbaijani forces against civilians, elderly people and children. Armenia again called on to implement the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg summits in 2016 aimed at ensuring necessary conditions for moving forward the negotiation process.

At the end of his speech, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan again expressed Armenia’s gratitude to the UN, the Security Council and Secretary-General for unconditional support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at settling the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.