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It should also be pointed out that the establishment of various protected zones provided for under international humanitarian law has led to the further development of this concept and to a search for new types of protected zone. However, too little attention has been paid to the fact that, under humanitarian law, such zones may not be set up without the consent of the parties to a conflict, which are in principle responsible for ensuring the safety of all persons residing in any area situated within the t erritories under their control. Protected zones that have not been agreed to by the parties require an extensive military presence and should therefore not be established unless the means – in particular the military means - necessary to ensure the safety of the population residing there are simultaneously made available. Such protected zones are not set up pursuant to the provisions of international humanitarian law but on the basis of political and military decisions. Failure to grasp this essential distinction has had extremely serious consequences, since in certain cases zones that were intended to provide a refuge for the population became highly dangerous places instead. This must be borne in mind in any efforts to devise new means of protecting the civilian population.
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