YouSaid · the spoken record

Alvin Botes

lines on the record
19
first
2020-06-24
most recent
2020-11-03
sittings or episodes
2
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. “Coordinated action between the Security Council, its sister United Nations agencies and bodies, as well as relevant regional organizations, will give us the best chance to manage disputes before they occur, resolve conflict when it arises and manage ensuing instability through peacebuilding measures after conflict has been resolved.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  2. “It is clear that a holistic approach is needed to deal with the ramifications of threats and risk multipliers, which escalate tensions and conflict. We encourage the Security Council to work closely with other United Nations organizations and processes, such as the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as with relevant regional organizations, such as the African Union. These collaborations will ensure that the Security Council can obtain information on the potential impact of contemporary drivers of conflict and insecurity.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  3. “They escalate tensions and conflict by placing further strain on scarce resources. Sustainable Development Goal 13, on climate action, together with the other 16 Sustainable Development Goals, remains critical to the effective pursuit by all of humankind of the basic tenets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, namely, the alleviation of poverty by leaving no one behind on the path to sustainable development and by first assisting those furthest behind. In order to mitigate the effects of the contemporary drivers of conflict and insecurity, we need to work closely with the relevant United Nations agencies to address the root causes of underdevelopment and draw on the experience of the Security Council in resolving conflict.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  4. “Our view is that COVID-19, climate change and other such system-wide social and ecological stressors should motivate the United Nations and its partners to work more closely together, including with national and local peacebuilders, to maximize their collective capabilities and resources and focus their efforts where most needed. Drought, water scarcity, food insecurity and desertification, as well as violent and erratic natural disasters, which are thought to be caused or exacerbated by climate change, increase the risk of violent conflicts. There is evidence to suggest that this is the case in the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin, as well as the Horn of S/2020/1090 S/2020/1090 Africa and some parts of the Caribbean. Climatic pressures associated with climate change are contemporary drivers of conflict and insecurity.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  5. “Indeed, we agree that peace and security are inextricably linked to development, and countries that grapple with armed conflict also face significant challenges to their sustainable development, owing to their institutional and governance capacities becoming overwhelmed. Equally important is to understand how contemporary drivers of conflict bring about conflict and perpetuate insecurity. We must be cognizant that countries that struggle with underdevelopment also struggle with the maintenance of their own security and may be particularly susceptible to the effects of organized crime, intercommunal violence and terrorism. In 2020, we have seen how the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has added a further layer of complexity to conflict resolution, peacebuilding and sustaining peace.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  6. “We also wish, in this regard, to thank the Peacebuilding Commission and the co-facilitators of the ongoing formal phase of the third peacebuilding architecture review, New Zealand and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, for the commendable work done thus far. It is indeed necessary that the Council organize more periodic discussions on socioeconomic and other emerging conflict drivers to raise awareness of their destabilizing effects and promote efforts to address such problems. It is important to understand the impact of contemporary drivers of conflict and insecurity as we look at the dynamic between peace and security and sustainable development.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  7. “As a recent report on peacebuilding and sustaining peace by a group of independent eminent persons commissioned by the Secretary-General point out, “[t]oday’s conflicts are multidimensional, marked to varying degrees by persistent exclusion, inequalities and grievances, including refugee flows, internal displacement and humanitarian spillovers of conflict, weak governance and State capacity, and compounded by climate change, violent extremism and the perverse use of new technologies”. (S/2020/678, annex II, p. 4). We wish to thank the group of independent eminent persons and the Secretary- General for highlighting those contemporary drivers of conflict.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  8. “I wish to congratulate you, Sir, on the historic occasion of your country’s non-permanent membership of the Security Council and for presiding over the Council for the first time ever. South Africa is grateful for the decision that you made to coordinate and work closely with the African members of the Security Council, which has led to the establishment of the historic A3+1. The partnership has strengthened its voice and has firmly solidified the historic and cultural bonds between the Caribbean countries and the African continent. I also take this opportunity to commend you, Mr President, for your sterling leadership of the Caribbean Community.”

    2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source

  9. “To this end a viable and sustainable peace plan for the Middle East must ensure that Palestine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and economic viability are guaranteed, with sovereign equality between Palestine and Israel. 14/5520-08620”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  10. “Allow me to reiterate that South Africa will continue to support all efforts aimed at the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian State, existing side by side and in peace with Israel, within internationally recognized borders, based on those of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with all relevant United Nations resolutions, international law and internationally agreed parameters. In this regard, peace can prevail only once both parties engage in inclusive dialogue and constructive negotiations without preconditions as this is the only means to ensure lasting peace, security and stability. Additionally, there must be an accountability mechanism in place to ensure that commitments made are implemented.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  11. “We should be ashamed that, by our silence, we have protected the oppressor instead of the oppressed. We should be ashamed that, decades later, a lasting and just peaceful resolution of the continued occupation remains as elusive as it did in 1948, when this matter was first brought to the Security Council. We should ask ourselves what message is sent to those fighting for their inalienable rights to freedom, self-determination and sovereignty, and to those who oppress and deny those rights?”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  12. “To date, the Security Council has taken no action to stop the building of settlements on illegally occupied land; to stop the confiscation and destruction of Palestinian land and property; or to stop the illegal blockade against Gaza. The Security Council’s inaction has carried on for far too long and, in so doing, has failed the people of Palestine. How can we expect to remain credible and call on parties in other conflicts on the Council’s agenda to abide by and implement resolutions or face further Council action when we seemingly condone the actions of the Israeli Government by failing to act against its violations? We should be ashamed of ourselves. We should be ashamed that, on our watch, we have ignored Palestinians and denied them their basic human rights and aspirations.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  13. “In this regard, South Africa concurs with the observation by the Secretary-General that “[t]he establishment and expansion of settlements fuel resentment, hopelessness and disillusionment among Palestinians, are key drivers of human rights violations and significantly heighten Israeli-Palestinian tensions” (S/2020/555, para. 57). Therefore, the intention to annex more Palestinian land should be regarded as the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. It is time that Israel, as the occupying Power, be held accountable for its illegal actions and consistent violations of international law and resolutions of this Council.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  14. “Yet, we ask ourselves, what is the raison d’être of the Security Council if we continue to look the other way, adopt hollow resolutions, ignore existing resolutions and fail to act against those who so arrogantly defy the very principles on which the Organization was founded? Israel, the occupying Power in Palestine, has consistently demonstrated, through its actions, total disrespect for legality and justice. This is, once again, evident in the Secretary-General’s fourteenth quarterly report on the implementation of resolution 2334 (2016) (S/2020/555), which contains detailed accounts of continuous settlement activity by the occupying Power despite the intentions set out in resolutions adopted by the Security Council, such as resolution 2334 (2016).”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  15. “We have also, unfortunately, seen the reduction of contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which, for decades, has been providing basic social and humanitarian services to Palestinians. It is said that history has a way of repeating itself, yet it would appear that we do not learn from these turbulent and painfully unjust historical events which continue to shape our present. My own country has in its past not been spared these injustices, where one people is assigned a higher value, above another. This, unfortunately, S/2020/596 S/2020/596 runs to the core of the occupation of Palestine and it threatens peace, stability and security, a collective value that is it at the very core of the United Nations, which is commemorating its seventy-fifth anniversary this year.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  16. “We have looked on as men, women, the elderly and children have been victimized, assaulted and detained. We have looked on as the humanitarian situation has continued to deteriorate in the Gaza Strip, with Palestinians continuing to live in unacceptable, precarious circumstances, where their movement has been restricted, where they have been given limited access to water and electricity, and deprived of the basic human rights you and I take for granted on a daily basis. We have also witnessed the occupying Power restrict access to educational and economic opportunities. Additionally, at a time when the world is facing a global pandemic with the spread of the coronavirus disease, the Palestinians have to contend with a severely overburdened and fragile health-care system.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  17. “We have watched as Palestinians have endured systematic discrimination, as opposed to settlers, who are provided services and allowed civil liberties such as freedom of movement and the issuance of building permits, a right denied to Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Moreover, we have observed as Palestinian land and property was seized and livelihoods snatched away and destroyed, despite being on the right side of the law, as determined by international law and numerous General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. We have borne witness as violence, riots and civil disobedience campaigns have swept across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as Palestinians have engaged in their struggle for their inalienable rights to freedom and self-determination.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  18. “These threats and pronouncements of annexation are in stark violation of international law, disregard international humanitarian law, Security Council resolutions, including resolutions 446 (1979) and 2334 (2016), and agreed-upon parameters for peace, and further undermine any prospect of peace between the parties. For more than half a century, the world has stood by and watched as Palestinian land — olive grove by olive grove, village by village, town by town — has been lost. We have witnessed the daily suffering of Palestinians as they are subjected to the continued construction and expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on their rightful land.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source

  19. “Allow me to express my gratitude to you, Sir, for calling this meeting today. Our deliberations should by no means be seen as business as usual. In this regard, I would like to thank Mr. Nickolay Mladenov for his insightful yet perturbing account of the situation in the Middle East — more specifically, the question of Palestine. Seventy-two-years ago, we spoke of a catastrophe — a period in Palestinian history known as “Al-Naqba” — when more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced to abandon their homeland and seek refuge in neighbouring countries and abroad as a Jewish State came into being on Palestinian soil. Today, 72 years later, it would seem that Palestinians are facing another imminent catastrophe as Israel is set to advance legislation to annex parts of the West Bank and the Jordan valley from as early as 1 July.”

    2020-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/596 (2020) · source