ABSTRACT
The question of the humanitarian responsibilities of the UN Security Council is a natural follow-up to the 1997 World Summit on Social Development. It also represents an important and new focus of the Security Council for the post-Cold War United Nations. The United Nations Charter confers on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. A critical feature of the 1990s has been the development of a burgeoning global civil society movement. The Council's mandate and method of work are sufficiently broad to incorporate, in an appropriate way, inputs coming from civil society organizations within its scope of operations. Refugees and displaced persons; famines and shortages of food and water; prisoners of war and combatants missing in action; human rights violations; genocide and gross breaches of international humanitarian law; the effects of economic sanctions—these are among the central humanitarian consequences of conflict. Sanctions must be based on fundamental respect for human dignity.
