Kuwait city: Kuwait on Thursday called for protecting essential services providers in conflict areas, stressing the need of holding accountable violators. This came in a speech delivered by Kuwait’s Delegate to the UN Ambassador Tariq Al-Bannai during a ceremony held by Kuwait’s Permanent Mission to the UN that focused on “Essential Services’ Providers and Their Safety in Contemporary Armed Conflicts.” The ceremony was held as part of the United Nations’ annual International Law Weekend, taking place this year from October 27 to 31.
According to Kuwait News Agency, Al-Bannai emphasized that the discussion focuses on the practical protection of engineers, technicians, water operators, electricians, sanitation teams, and healthcare workers who keep civilians alive when conflicts threaten to bring their daily lives to a halt. Essential services providers are civilians that must be respected and protected, and enabled to achieve safely their mission, he noted.
Al-Bannai highlighted that international humanitari
an law obliges parties to the conflict not to attack, destroy, or disrupt water facilities and other essential infrastructure. He further mentioned the UN Security Council’s affirmation of these obligations in its resolution No. 2573, emphasizing the need to safeguard civil infrastructure and those who operate and reform it. Kuwait’s involvement boosts concentration on life-sustaining services.
He called for the protection of providers, practical implementation of law, and holding accountable violators. Kuwait has been ready to closely work with member states, UN agencies, humanitarian partners, and civil society organizations to help service providers achieve safely their duties and ensure offering water, electricity, sewage, and healthcare to those affected, Al-Bannai pointed out.
The ceremony was organized by members of the Global Alliance to Spare Water from Armed Conflicts, in the presence of the Deputy Director of the Division of Field Operations Florence Poussin, and Cordula Droege, the chief legal o
fficer and head of the legal division of the International Committee of the Red Cross, among others.