S - Security Council - Protection of civilians in armed conflict - I. Introduction

The destruction of homes and infrastructure and contamination from explosive remnants of war also impede the return of displaced persons and the recovery of communities. [...] In September 2020, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator reported to the Security Council on the risk of conflict - induced famine and widespread food insecurity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen and the Sahel and recommended measures to break the vicious cycle between conflict and food insecurity. [...] In the first half of 2020, conflict and violence resulted in new internal displacements of an estimated 668,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 588,000 in the Syrian Arab Republic following renewed fighting in and around Idlib Governorate. [...] The combination of conflict and climate change, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, drove the displacement of 2 million people across the Sahel in the first half of 2020, a 43 per cent increase since the end of 2019. [...] The highest numbers of incidents of damage to health-care infrastructure were reported in the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen and Libya, while the highest numbers of incidents of destruction of health-care infrastructure were reported in Mozambique and Yemen.12 In the north-west of the Syrian Arab Republic, 78 per cent of surveyed health-care workers had witnessed at least one attack on a health-care.