100 INTERNATIONAL LEGAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ARMED CONFLICT Security Council referred to the Prosecutor the Darfur situation in resolution 1593 (2005), in which it affirmed that justice and accountability were critical to achieving lasting peace and security in Darfur. Clearly, the role of the Security Council as the executive organ of the Organization with enforcement powers gives it a central responsibility in achieving the United Nations main principles, particularly when there is a threat to peace, a breach of peace or an act of aggression. Through the adoption and implementation of coercive measures agreed on a multilateral level, the Security Council contributes to enforcing human rights standards and calls upon States to respect the principles of international humanitarian law. Moreover, a timely Security Council intervention can be an effective mechanism for ensuring that the international community and, in particular, the States concerned observe their obligations to protect civilian populations and to prevent gross human rights violations amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. C.  THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL As indicated above, the Secretary-General has presented several reports on respect for human rights in armed conflicts to the General Assembly. In his 1969 report, the Secretary-General recalled that “the human rights provisions of the Charter make no distinction in regard to their application as between times of peace on the one hand and times of war on the other.” He further stated that “[t]he phraseology of the Charter would apply in its generality to civilian as well as military personnel; it would encompass persons living under the jurisdiction of their own national authorities and persons living in territories under belligerent occupation.” He also indicated that “[t]he Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not refer in any of its provisions to a specific distinction between times of peace and times of armed conflict. It sets forth the rights and freedoms which it proclaims as belonging to ‘everyone’, to ‘all’, and formulates prohibitions by the phrase that ‘no one’ shall be subjected to acts of which the Declaration disapproves.” Finally, he recalled that “the Convention on the Prevention