00:01The war in Iran has now been going on for a month.
00:05In an interview with Euronews, the International Committee of the Red Cross
00:09demands an end to strikes against civilian infrastructure by all parties involved.
00:15Ms. Boliaric, we are seeing a significant escalation in Iran.
00:19How is this affecting people on the ground?
00:22Unfortunately, what we observed today and what we have observed for the past four weeks
00:28is the fact that civilians are bearing the brunt of this recent escalation.
00:35The fact that civilian infrastructure is at the forefront of attacks across the Middle East region,
00:42including in the Gulf countries, is unacceptable from a humanitarian perspective.
00:47Are you seeing indications that humanitarian law is being violated? And if so, in what ways?
00:53The deliberate, indiscriminate attacks on essential services can constitute a serious breach of international humanitarian law
01:02because they affect people that are protected under these laws.
01:07And they create an environment where nowhere is safe anymore.
01:11You can come under pressure because you're directly targeted, because your house is destroyed,
01:17but you will equally come under pressure and be required to flee if there's no access to drinking water anymore
01:24or if you have no electricity anymore, to ensure access to health and other services that you need for survival.
01:32We are seeing strikes on civilian infrastructure such as energy facilities.
01:36What does that mean for the country's ability to recover in the long term?
01:41Every time such attacks happen, we know it will take much, much longer for the civilian population to be able
01:49to return to normalcy,
01:50but also for economies to return to levels that are necessary to sustain people's welfare and people's existence.
02:00What responsibility does the Iranian leadership bear when it comes to de-escalation and improving the situation for civilians?
02:08The responsibility under IHL is equal for all states.
02:13They bear the primary responsibility not to attack civilian infrastructure, to protect civilians,
02:20to spare civilians as much as possible from hostility.
02:24Any state conducting deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure is at fault.
02:32Thank you for your time, Ms. Boliaric.
Comments