As children starve in besieged towns and humanitarians struggle to deliver aid the system must be rethought,argues UN’s Stephen O’BrienIn 1945, when world leaders boldly committed to save future generations from the scourge of war, or their pledge led to the foundation of the United Nations and to modern international humanitarian law.
The turmoil that ensued was a far sob from the picture of peace and diplomacy they had in intellect. In the decades that followed,civilians experienced devastation caused by conflicts that played out completely differently to the two world wars – marked by proxy conflicts and fierce battles of ideology fought in the name of religion or regime change. But the consequences of these conflicts were all too familiar: civilians injured or killed; children and women raped and abused; towns and cities razed to the ground; and whole communities forced from their homes, bringing mass displacement up to post-world war two records, and at well over 60 million people.
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Source: theguardian.com