Humanitarian Action Not A Pretext to Interfere in Internal Affairs

China said Thursday that the Security Council should also pay attention to humanitarian issues caused by conflicts, no one should interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign country, nor should humanitarian response be employed as a pretext to use force against a sovereign state.

The statement came as Wang Yingfan, Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, took the floor at an open Security Council debate on the relationship between the maintenance of peace and security and the humanitarian action. "Like many other countries, we are of the view that the Security Council should also pay attention to humanitarian issues caused by conflicts and, especially, take into consideration factors like humanitarian assistance when fulfilling its prime responsibility of maintaining international peace and security and reviewing situations of armed conflict," he said.

"It must be pointed out that the recipients of humanitarian assistance are more often than not countries troubled by economic difficulty, political instability and even armed conflicts, and vulnerable both politically and economically," he said. "As the purpose of humanitarian assistance by the international community, including the United Nations, should be to help eliminate or alleviate humanitarian assistance, the unique realities or difficulties in the country concerned should be given full consideration so as to prevent the conflict or a situation in the country that has caused humanitarian problems from further complication and avoid the aggravation of the already difficult or even tragic humanitarian situation," he said.

"To do so, relevant humanitarian organizations, either governmental, international or non-governmental organizations, need to fully respect the views of the recipient countries, adopt a just, equitable and unbiased position toward all recipient countries or parties so that the humanitarian work can not be politicized," he said.

"All parties concerned should be conscious that they are carrying out humanitarian activities in a sovereign state and therefore they should give full respect to the laws as well as customs of the country concerned," he said.

"When it comes to the internal affairs of the country, they should not point fingers in spite of the humanitarian assistance they have provided," he said. "Nor should they interfere in the internal affair of a sovereign state in the name of humanitarian assistance."

"More important, humanitarian responses should not be employed as a pretext under which to use force against a sovereign state," he said.

"On the other hand, we cannot but notice with concern that, in recent years, the lack of financial resources has placed a great strain on humanitarian activities," he said. "We call on the international community to make further efforts in this regard, and attach equal importance to humanitarian difficulties and crises wherever they emerge."

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