YouSaid · the spoken record

Allen

lines on the record: 1,072
first: 2017-08-15
most recent: 2020-12-07
sittings or episodes: 159
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

“Perhaps a reflections for all of us around this table is the fact that Liberia was once an intractable conflict. Once it hosted the largest United Nation peacekeeping mission. Once it saw terrible violence against women and children, including through child soldiers. A quarter of a million people died in the second civil war. There were the very familiar issues of internally displaced persons, refugees and food insecurity. Today we can look across some of the issues on our agenda and, very sadly, note the similarities. However, the ultimate lesson is perhaps that, with hard work, sustained engagement and the determination of us all, we can see more Liberias emerge out of today's agenda.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“The United Nations will also have a unique role in promoting coordination among the international donors in a way that supports the priorities ofthe Government of Liberia. The United Nations must be careful that, while it absolutely must provide that support, it must also not assume any of the responsibilities of the new Government. We would urge the Government to meet the commitments made in the peacebuilding plan. In 2003, in his report the then Secretary-General concluded: "The road to lasting peace and security in Liberia is still fraught with multiple and formidable challenges" (ibid., para. 105). Liberia has certainly faced its fair share of challenges in the past 15 years. However, today we should celebrate the fact that, with the support of the United Nations, the people of Liberia have overcome them.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“The Mission implementation plan should have included benchmarks and timescales in order to better focus staffing, resources and effort and allow the Security Council to better track progress. In the Security Council - and I know that it is a feature of some of what the Secretary-General has said to us over the past couple of months - we could perhaps have ensured that there were more realistic mandates with greater clarity on what constituted a sustainable end state. Looking forward, through an enhanced Resident Coordinator office there is a clear role for the United Nations to support the new Government in consolidating stability and in promoting inclusive development. With its commitment to peaceful, just and inclusive societies, the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals provides a strong basis for that.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“For example, that helped to ensure that a difficult election process remained peaceful in accordance with the Constitution and the rule of law. UNMIL demonstrated the strengths of a comprehensive approach to sustaining peace. The joint peacebuilding plan between the Mission, the United Nations country team and the Government set clear and shared priorities to guide the transition. Under Sweden's leadership, the Peacebuilding Commission played an invaluable role. However, we should also be honest about the shortcomings of the Mission and learn from those as well. Arguably, the Mission stayed for too long and created overdependence on the United Nations. A reluctance to discuss an exit meant that the transition planning started too late, which resulted in funding gaps and United Nations development actors not stepping up earlier.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“They are important lessons not only for other peacekeeping missions but also for how we sustain peace more generally - a concept that we are all debating in different formats at the moment. As to what it did particularly well, UNMIL encouraged inclusive national ownership and supported local capacity, which are two key conditions for sustaining peace. The change brought about in Liberia's police force from the description by the then Secretary-General in 2003 to what exists now is perhaps an excellent example of that. UNMIL also coordinated extremely effectively with international and regional actors, especially the Economic Community of West African States, which remains a shining light in the Council's engagement. The good offices of UNMIL were very effective at preventative diplomacy.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“UNMIL has been able to keep and build the peace since 2003, which is a considerable feat given the history of exclusion, political instability and cycles of violence. We therefore pay tribute to Special Representative of the Secretary-General Farid Zarif and to all United Nations peacekeepers and staff who worked in Liberia for their work and their duty. We particularly remember the 202 United Nations peacekeepers who, sadly, gave their lives in service to the people of Liberia and in the service of all of us here who send those peacekeepers on such missions. I want to use this moment to reflect on some of the lessons learned from UNMIL, in particular with regard to what went well but also what could have been done differently.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“He said in his report then: "Liberia remains highly unstable, however, as armed groups, militia and criminal elements operate throughout the country"; (5/2003/875, para. 22) "[police] officers lack training and have not been paid since early 2002"; (ibid., para. 24) "[n]early 1 million Liberians, or a third of the population, are displaced"; (ibid., para. 30) "[i]t is estimated that Liberia has some 27,000 to 38,000 combatants, many of whom are children." (ibid; para. 42). It is clear to us all that the Liberia of today is not the Liberia of 2003. We in the Council should be united in congratulating Liberia's leaders and people and in thanking UNMIL for that remarkable achievement.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“I would like to thank our briefers, starting with my Swedish colleague and, through her, I thank all who have done so much on the Peacebuilding Commission and the Liberia configuration. I would also like to thank Assistant Secretary-General Zouev for his impressively multilingual briefing, and Chid Liberty for what I thought was an inspiring and uplifting story. I think his comments showed just how important it is that the Security Council remain focused on the impact of conflicts on children and women. He really brought that home to us in an inspiring and uplifting way. In 2003, when the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was launched, the then-Secretary- General made his first report to the Council based on assessment mission.”
2018-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8239 (2018) · source
“We acknowledge both the right of Palestinians to freedom of assembly and protest, as well as the right of Israelis to security. What is needed now is a renewed commitment for negotiations towards a two-State solution. To have the best chance of success, peace must take place in an atmosphere free from violence. It is time for all parties to work together in the spirit of compromise and understanding to make progress towards that two-State solution. The ongoing violence today simply underlines that ajust and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for Palestinians and Israelis is long overdue.”
2018-03-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8219 (2018) · source
“An agreement should ensure that Hamas and other terrorist groups permanently end rocket fire and attacks against Israel, that the Palestinian Authority resumes control of Gaza and restores effective and accountable governance, and that Israel lifts its restrictions in order to ease the suffering of ordinary Palestinians. We remain committed to supporting vulnerable Gazans, including through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and we urge all parties to prioritize progress towards reaching a durable solution that alleviates the suffering of the Gazan people, in line with resolution 1860 (2009). Every Israeli and Palestinian has the right to live in peace and security.”
2018-03-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8219 (2018) · source
“I would like to start by agreeing with my colleague from the United States that it is a shame that our Israeli colleagues are unable to participate owing to the start of Passover this evening. The United Kingdom is appalled by the deaths and injuries suffered during today's events on Gaza's borders. There must be an immediate end to the violence. We call for calm, restraint and respect for international law. All the parties must engage constructively in order to bring an end to the Violence. We have long been concerned about the situation in Gaza and have been warning of the risks of an upsurge in violence. That is not an issue that can simply be managed over the long term. We need an urgent and durable agreement that addresses the underlying causes of the conflict and transforms the situation in Gaza.”
2018-03-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8219 (2018) · source
“We could also include the denial of access in the design of sanctions mandated by the Council more routinely. We are extremely grateful to you, Madam President, and to the Kingdom of the Netherlands for convening today's meeting, because it is a subject about which the United Kingdom - the third-largest humanitarian donor - cares deeply and in which it is deeply engaged. The scale of the challenge we face is clear. The threat of famine remains. In a world of abundance, 815 million people are still hungry. Their hunger is used as a weapon of war. We must act and use the tools at our disposal to show the world that it is not acceptable and that we around this table do not accept it. We must seek accountability and make the consequences of those appalling actions clear.”
2018-03-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8213 (2018) · source
“In almost all of the crises before the Council, people are denied or are unable to access essential aid, often with the most vulnerable people being the worst affected. The Security Council can, and must, play a key role to enable the safe, unhindered and rapid access of populations to humanitarian assistance. We must engage with national and regional authorities to apply diplomatic pressure and insist on the removal of access constraints. We must also pursue accountability for any violations. We must think creatively when responding to the crisis. For example, to identify the most serious cases of obstructed access objectively, we could use a model that articulates access in terms of needs met by the delivery of health-care protection and education, rather than simply by the number of aid convoys.”
2018-03-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8213 (2018) · source
“We must understand and acknowledge the true nature of the problem in order to take the necessary collective actions to break the deadly link between conflict and hunger. In that regard, we see three key areas ofresponsibility for the Council. First, we must redouble efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts and build and sustain peace. Secondly, we must uphold international humanitarian law and international human rights law. We are quickly approaching a new normal where warring parties believe it is acceptable to destroy crops, interrupt markets and attack water points, hospitals and schools. Too often, there is a lack of accountability for State actors and other parties to conflict who are responsible for increasing hunger. Thirdly, we must actively safeguard humanitarian access.”
2018-03-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8213 (2018) · source
“Last August, the Council adopted a presidential statement (S/PRST/2017/14) that for the first time acknowledged that hunger and conflict are linked. That was a step forward, but it provides us with only half the picture. In the statement the Security Council emphasized: "with deep concern that ongoing conflicts and violence have devastating humanitarian consequences and hinder an effective humanitarian response in the short, medium and long term and are therefore a major cause of famine". It reads as ifhunger isjust an inevitable consequence ofwar or a by-product ofthe changing nature ofconflict, but that is clearly not the case. Hunger does not need to be a product of war. I hope we can make that clear in future Council products.”
2018-03-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8213 (2018) · source
“In the world today, one out of every nine people is undernourished. That is a total of 815 million people - an increase of 38 million in the past year. Conflict is the main reason for that increase in hunger. Sixty per cent of hungry and malnourished people live in countries affected by conflict. Almost 75 per cent of the world's 155 million stunted children under the age of five live in countries affected by conflict. It is the most vulnerable, in particular women and children, who are most affected by hunger. Those statistics indicate that the actions we have taken in the past year to reduce hunger have not been enough. As so clearly stated by our briefers, we must examine and address the root causes of the severe hunger crisis if we hope to put an end to it.”
2018-03-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8213 (2018) · source
“Today our briefers have sounded the alarm and warned us of the surging levels of acute hunger, which are largely attributable to conflict. But that is not for the first time. More than a year ago, the Secretary-General drew the Council's attention to the change in the long-term trend in global hunger: it was then rising for the first time in a decade. He stated that the situation was critical. The United Nations predicted four simultaneous famines, threatening the lives of 20 million people. Through the generosity of donors and the actions of humanitarian and development organizations, international financial institutions and regional Governments, famine itself was prevented or, at least, contained. But let us be clear. Over the past year, suffering and hunger have increased.”
2018-03-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8213 (2018) · source
“The Lake Chad basin is a region that requires a sustaining peace approach and we would hope that the Secretary-General will be able to demonstrate the support of the United Nations by visiting the region, as set out in resolution 2349 (2017).”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“It is also vital that the United Nations and Governments of the region take the particular concerns of women and children into account in stabilization, conflict-resolution and peacebuilding efforts, in accordance with resolution 1325 (2000). The United Nations could support it through a stronger, more consistent in-country presence. As the representative of the United Kingdom stated when we adopted resolution 2349 (2017), "[w]e will fail the people ofthe region ifwe do not respond to what we saw" (S/PV. 7911, p.5). When we travelled to the region, we saw the root causes and the serious consequences of the conflict and we must respond.”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“The United Nations strategy must be based on accurate information so that future crises can be predicted and the Council, the wider United Nations family and Governments of the region can take preventive action in line with the Secretary-General's own focus on prevention. On this World Water Day, let us remember that climate and ecological changes are a major root cause of the conflict. If we want to build sustainable peace and promote sustainable development, we must support efforts to build livelihoods that are resistant to climate change, including through adequate risk assessments and risk-management strategies.”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“The Deputy Secretary-General has shown great leadership in bringing together the diffuse activities of many United Nations development agencies in the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, linked to wider security efforts. We must apply those lessons and that approach to the Lake Chad basin region. Special, political missions, in particular the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) and the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) must work to ensure that their efforts are coherent and that regional strategies are mutually supported. I fully agree with the representative of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, who stated that a comprehensive analysis should be included in the future briefings of UNOCA and UNOWAS to the Council.”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“As recognized in resolution 2349 (2017), to achieve sustainable peace it is vital that the root causes of regional instability, including poverty, climate change, inequality and violent extremism, be understood and addressed. We recognize the ongoing efforts of the countries of the region, both individually and jointly, through the Lake Chad Basin Commission to achieve that aim. We must ensure that Governments of the region demonstrate strong leadership, in particular on the demobilization, deradicalization and reintegration of former combatants. The international community and we in the United Nations must support those efforts with robust strategies on prevention and a sustaining peace approach.”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“On 21 March, the United Kingdom opened a diplomatic office in Chad to facilitate efforts to stabilize the region and address the root causes of insecurity. We welcome the steps taken by the Governments of the region through the Multinational Joint Task Force to address the terrorist threat. I welcome the presence of the representative of Nigeria at the table. I take this opportunity to acknowledge his country's determination and leadership in fighting terrorism and to salute the partnership that the United Kingdom and Nigeria have formed on this and other vital issues. Although the military approach has an important role to play in stabilizing the region, the solution to the crisis cannot be solely military.”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“On 2 March, the Council condemned the attack on humanitarian workers in Rann and another in Dapchi, in which a large number of schoolgirls were abducted. The humanitarian crisis remains as dire as when we visited the region a year ago. The number of people in need ofhumanitarian assistance remains at 10.7 million, and 5.8 million people are now experiencing severe food insecurity. We call upon donors to maintain the momentum of the response, including by fulfilling the financial requirement of $1.6 billion for 2018. We call on all parties to the conflict to grant safe, timely and unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations, in line with international humanitarian law. Based on the humanitarian and security situations, it is clear that the international community and the Security Council must remain fully engaged in the crisis.”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“I would like to thank you, Sir, and your delegation for organizing today's briefing and for giving us the opportunity to discuss the situation in the Lake Chad basin one year after we in the Council visited the region and adopted resolution 2349 (2017), which was unique in its comprehensive approach, integrating development, human rights and security. I would also like to thank our briefers today for their reflections on the humanitarian and security situations and for their suggestions on the next steps to address the root causes of the conflict. They have already made a number of concrete proposals and I hope that careful note of them has been taken by the Secretariat. We look forward to discussing some of those ideas later with other Member States. The security situation in the Lake Chad basin continues to be of great concern.”
2018-03-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8212 (2018) · source
“For the elections to be successful, the right conditions need to be created now. The international community must remain focused and united in our support for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We must remain united in our expectations of its Government and in our insistence on accountability and progress. We in the Security Council need to work with the region and subregion to do so. Finally, it is with great sadness that we remember the horrific, tragic murders of United Nations experts Zaida Catalan and Michael Sharp, killed just over one year ago in the Kasai region. The Council must continue to push for accountability for their deaths. We call on the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure that the investigation is thorough and transparent and that all those responsible are held to account.”
2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source
“It is also an opportunity for the international community to pledge our support to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to show them that the world remembers Africa's forgotten crisis. Let me be clear - humanitarian aid will provide only temporary relief in this crisis. The key root cause is political instability, which drives the deteriorating security and humanitarian situations. Too often peaceful protesters are met with violence for speaking out about their political rights, in violation of their human rights. A number of people have been killed in church-led protests this year, which we must all condemn. Free, fair and transparent elections must be held on 23 December. With an estimated 46 million voters spread across the world's eleventh largest country, that is no easy task.”
2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source
“First, it should improve the administrative and financial registration procedures required for international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to operate lawfully in the country, through consultations with NGOs themselves. Secondly, it should reduce the bureaucracy for humanitarian workers to obtain Visas and for essential relief items to be cleared at customs. Finally, it needs to ensure that security across the country is maintained so that humanitarian organizations have sufficient access to those most in need. The upcoming donor conference on 13 April is an opportunity for the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to demonstrate the progress they have made on commitments to facilitate the improvement of the humanitarian situation.”
2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source
“That support will provide more than 3 million people with life-saving assistance, including food, clean drinking water and essential health care. To improve the challenging and limited access for humanitarian actors, the support of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is crucial. While we welcome the commitments made to facilitate the work of humanitarian organizations and reduce tariffs for humanitarian imports, including medicines and food, this Council and the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo must see concrete and sustained action. In particular, we urge the Government to take the following three steps.”
2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source
“Hope is one of 4.5 million internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - the highest number in Africa. More than 2 million people have been displaced in the past year alone. Just in the past year, the number of people displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo matched the total number of internally displaced persons in South Sudan. There are an additional 740,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in neighbouring countries as a result of ongoing hostilities. International support is vital to address the crisis, and the United Kingdom will continue to play a key role. We have committed to spending $285 million on humanitarian aid between 2017 and 2020.”
2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source
“We are extremely concerned about the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable, especially women and girls, the disabled and children. The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office reported that there was a 53 per cent increase in the number of victims of sexual violence in 2017. I thank the representative of the Encadrement des Femmes Indigenes et des Menages Vulnerables for her powerful testimony. Hope is a woman from Masisi, in the east of the country, where 90 per cent of women have been raped. Four men in military uniforms raped her as she collected firewood for her family. The attack left her pregnant and HIV-positive. She has since fled to a temporary camp in Goma and can no longer feed her eight children. They rely on humanitarian aid, like 8 million other Congolese children. Two million children currently face starvation.”
2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source
“I thank our briefers for their clear and detailed accounts. They have set out why there has been such a rapid increase in humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As Under-Secretary-General Lowcock reported, the number of people in need of aid in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has doubled in the past year. Today 13.1 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance - the same number as in Syria. The United Nations has declared the worst level of humanitarian crisis - level 3 - in certain provinces, putting the Democratic Republic of the Congo alongside only Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Yet it is often absent from our screens and daily briefings. We must not let it fall further down our agenda.”
2018-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8207 (2018) · source
“That comes from our past experience. One of the key tactics in the Russian playbook is to delay, delay, delay - distract and mire in procedural delay. We know that, of course, from the tragic Litvinenko case in 2006. We waited for months in the hope that Russia would cooperate with our requests to extradite and investigate the known suspects. We waited in vain, and we will not make the same mistake again. Finally, my Russian colleague quotes fiction. Let me quote the Russian President when we think about who benefits. In 2010, he said, "Traitors will kick the bucket, believe me. Those other folks betrayed their friends, their brothers-in-arms. Whatever they got in exchange for it, those 30 pieces of silver they were given, they will choke on them."”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“I will simply say that under article IX, we have asked Russia for an explanation. Russia's response was to say that it considered our request to be null and void. We have also asked the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to support us with an independent verification of our analysis. Our Russian colleague talked about samples, but once again, that is a misunderstanding of the Convention. There are no provisions in the Convention that require the United Kingdom to share samples collected as part of a criminal investigation. The Chemical Weapons Convention does provide inspected State parties with a right to have duplicate copies of samples taken for the purposes of an inspection, but Russia is not an inspected State party in this case. We are asked why we were so keen to request a quick answer.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“My Russian colleague has asked some questions that I thought I should answer. He asked why we came to the Security Council. Is the Security Council not where a country comes when there has been a threat to international peace and security or an unlawful attack on it? He asked if we will work with Russia here. Of course we will. We believe in the United Nations and its Security Council. We believe in the international rules- based system. We want the Council to work together to uphold international peace and security and to resolve conflict together. Of course we will work with Russia to achieve those aims here in the Council. I set out in detail how the Chemical Weapons Convention works and its article IX in particular. The Council members have heard from me and from our Russian colleague, so I will not go into it in great detail again.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“That is how Russia has acted in every other case where it has been caught flouting international law - denial, distraction and threats. That is what Russia does. However, we will not allow such threats to deter us. We will not weaken our resolve. We will stand firm, confident in our democracy, our rule of law and the freedom of our people. We will stand by the values that are shared by the overwhelming majority of those on the Council at the United Nations. We ask them today to stand by us.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“We have offered Russia the chance to explain but Russia has refused. We have therefore concluded that the Russian State was involved and we have taken certain measures in response. In taking such measures, we have been clear that we have no disagreement with the people of Russia, who have been responsible for so many great achievements throughout history. It is the reckless acts of their Government that we oppose. We are grateful for the support of so many countries around the world. We will come back to the Council as the investigations make more progress and will continue to keep it informed. We have already heard the attacks and threats that Russia has made over the past few days. We know that there will be more to come.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“Russia has a history of interfering in other countries - whether the failed coup in Montenegro, repeated cyberattacks on other States or seeking to influence the democratic processes of other countries. Russia has a history of flouting international law, most egregiously in Crimea, eastern Ukraine, and Georgia. Russia shows disregard for civilian life. We all remember Flight MH-l7, shot down by Russian proxies supplied with Russian weapons. In its repeated protection of the use of chemical weapons by Al-Assad, Russia has shown that it has different standards when it comes to the use of those terrible substances. We have not jumped to conclusions. We have carried out a thorough and careful investigation, which continues. We are asking the OPCW to independently verify the nerve agent used.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“On 4 March, a weapon so horrific that it is banned from use in war was used in a peaceful city in my country. That was a reckless act, carried out by people who disregard the sanctity of human life and who are indifferent to whether innocent people are caught up in their attacks. They either did not care that the weapon used would be traced back to them or mistakenly believed that they could cover their tracks. Russian officials and media channels have repeatedly threatened those whom they consider traitors even after the attack on 4 March. Russia has a history of State-sponsored assassinations, including that of Alexander LitVinenko, who was poisoned by radioactive materials in my country a decade ago.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“Yet we know from the testimony of the Russian scientist Vil Mirzayanov that Novichok agents were developed as part of the Soviet Union's offensive chemical warfare programme and that they were inherited by the Russian Federation. Such facilities associated with that programme should have been declared under the CWC. Even today, a Russian politician said that Russia had destroyed the Novichok nerve gas. From all I have said, we can conclude that Russia is in serious breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention through its failure to declare the Novichok programme. That fact alone means that the Security Council should discount any arguments it hears about the possibility of other countries having inherited that technology. Had Russia declared and destroyed its own programme, there might have been some truth to that.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“Let us now turn to the part of the Chemical Weapons Convention that Russia is not talking about, which requires States parties to declare chemical weapons stockpiles and facilities that have been used at any time since 1946 to produce chemical weapons. Chemical weapons were to be verifiably destroyed and production facilities destroyed or converted, subject to approval, within 10 years of the entry into force of the Convention. Russia completed the destruction of its declared stockpile in September 2017, 10 years later than required by the Convention and five years beyond the single five-year extension period. Russia did not declare Novichok agents or the production facilities associated with them, as it was required to do under the Convention. No development facilities were declared.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“On the contrary, on 12 March, once it became clear to us that the United Kingdom had been attacked, the Foreign Secretary summoned the Russian Ambassador and sought an explanation from his Government, as article IX clearly sets out we have the right to do. We have received no meaningful response. It is therefore Russia that is failing to comply with the provisions of the Convention. The Council should not fall for their attempt to muddy the waters. In addition, the United Kingdom has welcomed the offer of technical assistance from the Director-General of the OPCW. We have invited the Technical Secretariat to independently verify our analysis. We are making every effort to expedite that process.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“The United Kingdom has enacted the Chemical Weapons Act in order to fully comply with this obligation. That legislation, together with relevant criminal law, is now guiding our investigation into this incident, as the Convention was designed to ensure. This was an attack on United Kingdom soil. Under the Convention, we have the right to lead our response, engaging the OPCW and others, as appropriate. On 8 March, the United Kingdom formally notified the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW that a chemical attack had taken place on United Kingdom soil. The Russian Federation has complained that we are not acting under article IX of the Convention.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“We therefore have no alternative but to conclude that the Russian State was responsible for the attempted murder of Mr. Skripal, his daughter and police officer Nick Bailey, and for threatening the lives of other British citizens in Salisbury. This was no common crime. It was an unlawful use of force and a violation of Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations - the basis of the international legal order. The United Kingdom is proud to have been one of the States that played an integral role in drafting the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), a landmark piece of international law. We are therefore dismayed that Russia has suggested that our response fails to meet the requirements of the Convention. Article VII of the Convention calls on States parties to implement the Convention under their own legislation.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“Based on the knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent, and combined with Russia's record ofconducting State-sponsored assassinations, including against former intelligence officers whom it regards as legitimate targets, the United Kingdom Government concluded that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for this reckless act. We saw only two plausible explanations. Either this was a direct attack by Russia on my country, or Russia had lost control of a military-grade nerve agent that it had developed. We requested the Russian Government to provide an explanation by the end of Tuesday, 13 March, on how this Russian-produced nerve agent could have been deployed in Salisbury. It has provided no credible explanation, which could suggest that it had lost control of its nerve agent.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“Hundreds of British citizens have been potentially exposed to this nerve agent in what was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom. We have deployed our military to secure and decontaminate numerous sites. The police continue an exhaustive, wide-scale investigation. Through those investigations, we have concluded that Mr. Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a Novichok - a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. It is not a weapon that can be manufactured by non-State actors. It is so dangerous that it requires the highest-grade State laboratories and expertise.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“I thank you, Sir, for arranging this urgent meeting of the Security Council today to give the United Kingdom the opportunity to update Council colleagues on our investigation into a nerve agent attack in Salisbury. On Sunday, 4 March, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were found in the town centre, slipping out of consciousness on a public bench, and were taken to hospital by our emergency services, where they remain in very serious condition. Investigations by world-leading experts of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, accredited by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), discovered that they had been exposed to a nerve agent. British police officer Nick Bailey was also exposed and remains in hospital in serious condition.”
2018-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8203 (2018) · source
“I urge Russia to give its unconditional support to resolution 2401 (2018) and a ceasefire to enable the delivery of humanitarian assistance, respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians.”
2018-03-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8201 (2018) · source
“Instead, the truth is that the regime will continue to pound eastern Ghouta until it has a complete military victory there, and Russia will continue to protect its ally, whatever the cost to the people of Syria and its own reputation. As we sit here, watching Al-Assad inscribing eastern Ghouta, again, on the roll call of atrocities and war crimes that he has committed over the eight years of the bloody conflict, let me say clearly that there will be future accountability for those crimes, and Russia's role, bombing alongside him and protecting him from accountability, will never be forgotten. There is still time. If Russia is able to announce a five-hour ceasefire, it can announce a full ceasefire. If it can get one aid convoy through, it can get more through.”
2018-03-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8201 (2018) · source
“That happened at a time when the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is warning that malnutrition and disease are so prevalent that people will soon die from hunger and sickness even more than from air strikes. Finally, have there been any medical evacuations for the approximately 1,000 people who need them? Not a single one. Again, it is the regime that will not permit its civilians to reach urgently needed medical care. Some may point to an aid convoy or an announced pause in air strikes as a sign of improvement, and claim that those actions implement the resolution. They do not. Our resolution was clear: a ceasefire without delay, humanitarian access and medical evacuations. None have happened.”
2018-03-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8201 (2018) · source