YouSaid · the spoken record

Green

lines on the record
9
first
2018-03-19
most recent
2018-03-19
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “We make these demands because they will offer the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo their first real hope of a brighter future. We each represent humane, compassionate people, but true compassion requires more than providing money. It requires us to use our collective influence to demand concrete actions that will end cycles of misery. The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is hopeless only if we do nothing. These are steps we can take, beginning with the demands we can make as donors. We can insist upon timely elections, demand the freedoms that make those elections credible, require protection for brave humanitarian workers and ensure that everyone does his or her part to ease citizen suffering, especially the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo itself.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  2. “To be clear, we are proud of the leadership role we play as a humanitarian donor, but given all the needs in so many parts of the world, we expect others to come forward and do their part too. An international crisis requires an international response. This demand begins with the Government itself. It has done so little to alleviate suffering, even as many of its leaders have apparently been lining their own pockets. According to the Congo Research Group, the Kabila family owns either partially or wholly more than 80 of the country's largest businesses and more than 450 miles of diamond concessions. At the same time, 27 per cent of primary age children miss school because their parents cannot afford the fees.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  3. “Instead of protecting its people from harm, which is the primary responsibility of any Government, the Kabila Government has actually been implicated in over 60 per cent of the nearly 7,000 human rights violations reported in the last year. Thirdly, an unshakable demand for the continuation of assistance must be the safety of the courageous humanitarian workers labouring under the most trying of circumstances. Last year, there were 158 reported security incidents targeting humanitarian workers - kidnapping, road ambushes, robberies, and so forth. Two United Nations experts - one of them American - were abducted and killed. There is no excuse for this savagery or the failure of the Government to prevent it. Fourthly, the United States believes that other countries must step forward and also do more to help.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  4. “Some of the most important votes of our time have relied on purple fingers and simple paper ballots. Countries with challenges as great and circumstances as difficult as those of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have held credible elections and lifted their futures. The Democratic Republic of the Congo must do the same, or else we must rethink our support and our approach. Secondly, we should demand that the Government foster the conditions that make true democracy possible. It must take immediate steps to make clear that citizens will be free to express their will and choose their own future. It could act this very day to protect the fundamental rights of speech and assembly. It could begin restoring basic services and rule of law this week.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  5. “Boosting assistance without also insisting upon concrete measurable action from the Kabila Government is the opposite of compassion. In some ways, it would make us all part of the problem. We respectfully suggest the following. First, we must demand that credible elections take place this calendar year. Ambassador Haley has made clear that United States support for the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not inevitable, unlimited or unconditional. It will be sharply re-evaluated if the elections currently scheduled for December are delayed yet again. Like many others, we have lost patience with the excuses that have been offered. They are increasingly disingenuous. To be clear, these elections need not be technologically "state of the art".”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  6. “Now, some will argue that the challenges facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo are too complex and too deeply ingrained for lasting solutions anytime soon. But that does not excuse us from our responsibility to act or from our responsibility to force steps in a new direction. We may not have all the answers, but we do know what is not working - the status quo. On 18 January, the United Nations launched its 2018 humanitarian response plan, requesting nearly $1.7 billion to assist the country's most vulnerable. It is the largest such appeal to date because the level of suffering is the greatest seen in many years, and all of us should be ready to respond, but none of us should believe that merely expanding humanitarian assistance is actually addressing the country's greatest needs or its principal causes of suffering.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  7. “Brutal policies, sweeping corruption, poor governance and simmering conflict have displaced millions - 4.5 million internally - and hundreds of thousands have fled into neighbouring countries, imposing new burdens and risking regional instability. Thirdly, and most importantly, like all Council members, the United States cares about this crisis because of the breathtaking human suffering it has inflicted. Some 43 per cent of children are chronically malnourished, over 57 per cent of women have experienced physical or sexual violence, and the maternal mortality rate is among the world's highest. The messages we just heard from Mr. Lowcock, Ms. Bandu Bahati and Abbe Nshole are heart-rending.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  8. “The agency that I am privileged to lead - the United States Agency for International Development - contributed more than $130 million-worth of food assistance and more than $130 million for health programmes. Our taxpayers generously offered that assistance to help ease the immediate suffering, as well as lay a foundation for the eventual development journey to self reliance to which every people aspires. Yet disaster - not natural disaster like an earthquake or drought, but man- made disaster in the form of inhumane, authoritarian governance - is destroying any chance that those purposes will be met. The second reason for giving high priority to this crisis is that it is not solely a crisis of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is an international crisis.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source

  9. “I thank Ambassador Haley for inviting me here, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Ambassador Van Oosterom for convening this briefing. America sees the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an urgent priority for several reasons. The first is fiscal. Many hundreds of millions of dollars have been generously provided to alleviate suffering and foster economic development, but they are being robbed of their full value by crisis, conflict and poor governance. Last year alone, America's foreign assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo exceeded $546 million. Our humanitarian contributions totalled more than $209 million.”

    2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source