YouSaid · the spoken record

Amal Mudallali

lines on the record: 186
first: 2020-04-23
most recent: 2021-10-21
sittings or episodes: 24
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

“We commend the Secretariat for the measures it has undertaken in the context of protecting peacekeepers from COVID-19 and treating those who have become infected. Such measures have significantly limited the numbers of fatalities and contagion among peacekeepers and host communities. We pay tribute to the peacekeepers, both uniformed personnel and civilians, who have lost their lives to COVID-19 while in service. Lebanon also pays tribute to those who have lost their lives in the field, commends the efforts that have contributed to the continued decrease in fatalities and condemns all attacks on peacekeepers. We stress that even one fatality is too many.”
2021-05-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/501 (2021) · source
“Enhanced capacity-building through training and provision of equipment and other resources to improve the awareness and preparedness of forces in responding to the challenges presented by complex situations and dangerous environments, whether human-made or nature-made, are some of the different forms of improving the safety and security of peacekeepers. Moreover, training and capacity-building of peacekeepers prior to and during their deployment play key roles in enhancing their safety and security. The work of peacekeepers did not cease despite the mounting security challenges that they are facing on several terrains, and, recently, with the health threat posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 on peacekeepers’ safety remains a point of concern for all States Members of the United Nations.”
2021-05-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/501 (2021) · source
“We congratulate China on assuming the presidency of the Security Council this month and thank Viet Nam for its productive presidency during the month of April. Peacekeeping operations continue to play an essential role in maintaining international peace and security around the world. They represent an indispensable tool of the international community to mitigate regional crises and curb the evolution of tensions into wars. With the multiplicity of challenges faced by peacekeepers, ensuring and continuously improving their safety and security is of great importance. The threats and dangers are numerous and require the concerted efforts of the Security Council, the Secretariat, troop- and police-contributing countries, financial contributors and host countries to address them.”
2021-05-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/501 (2021) · source
“Action is expected from this organ. Only a just and peaceful settlement can bring peace to this region after decades of bloodshed and conflict. The Palestinians remembered their Nakba with more loss and pain this week. Is it not time for them to enjoy respite and be set free? It is high time that the Council take action that sets them free at last.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“The Security Council has a responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations to uphold the principles that the Organization was built upon, foremost among them being the guarantee of international peace and security, by implementing its own resolutions. Israel’s continuous and blatant disregard for international law is to disregard our United Nations and its organs, including the Security Council. The situation in the Palestinian territories and Gaza needs decisive and swift action by the Security Council in order to stop the Israeli attacks on the Palestinians and to put the parties on the path to peace — not a mere lull in the aggression, but a real effort to achieve peace this time, because the situation is grave and what we are seeing on the ground is terrifying. It is time to move from mere words of condemnation to action.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“It is time to go back to the real basis for peace in the region, namely, a comprehensive and just settlement based on international law, including relevant United Nations resolutions — especially resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 2334 (2016) — the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and the principle of land for peace. The two-State solution should go from being used as an empty promise to being used to implement real steps on the ground to make sure that the basis for a Palestinian State is protected and respected. A Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital should not be a slogan anymore. The Palestinian population needs to be protected, and its rights under international law should be upheld by the occupying Power.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Lebanon condemns the shooting of protesters, just as it condemns the destruction by Israel of the building that housed the international press in Gaza City. Silencing the media will not make the world blind to Israel’s actions and crimes against the Palestinians. In the wake of the United States recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by the former United States Administration, in contravention of international legality, many interpreted the subdued reaction of the Palestinians and the Arabs as acquiescence, and it led to more Israeli actions in the city, in contravention of international law and United Nations resolutions — and with impunity. The events of the past week prove that no one on the ground accepts Israel’s facts and also undermine the formula for peace that is needed.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“They are now waging a war against the Palestinians in senseless attacks that should raise alarm bells about what is to come if nothing is done to change the situation on the ground in a major way. The chants of “Death to the Arabs” from those extremists are very dangerous and led to the lynching of a Palestinian a few days ago. Israel should be pressured to control them and protect the Palestinians who are subjected to those attacks. If those extremists are not contained, it will put the Palestinians who live with the Israelis in existential danger. The brutal Israeli actions are not only perpetrated against the Palestinians. Yesterday they shot at unarmed Lebanese protesters on the border who were expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and killed a 21-year-old Lebanese young man.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Depriving them of that right led the Palestinian Authority to cancel the elections. Those are just a few examples of the reality of a people living under occupation. As the death toll continues to rise in Gaza, at least 40 children have been killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza since the beginning of the week. A 10-year-old in a neighbourhood that lost eight children in a single attack summed it up by saying: “I am just a kid! It is not fair! Why do we deserve this? It is not fair!” Yes, it is not fair what is happening to Palestinian children. Years of impunity and occupation have also created a breeding ground for Israeli radicalization, emboldening extreme-right groups in Israel.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“It included disrespecting their faith during the holy month of Ramadan, preventing them from exercising their religious duties in peace and desecrating Al-Aqsa through an Israeli attack using live munitions in a holy place, leaving behind many victims. The Palestinians considered that a turning point, as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem said. Israeli actions also included evicting Palestinians from their ancestral homes, the latest case being in Sheikh Jarrah, and the demolition of houses, which the Palestinians rightly saw as uprooting them from Jerusalem. That invited the strongest reaction in years to the unfair Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the Holy City. Let us not forget the decision by the Israeli authorities to bar Palestinians living in Jerusalem from voting in the upcoming Palestinian elections.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“We have consistently recalled the Council’s obligation to act decisively in order to put an end to the inhumane, immoral and illegal treatment of the Palestinians, the incessant strangulation of the civilian population by the occupying Power and, most importantly, the culture of impunity enjoyed by the Israeli authorities. Years of impunity for successive Israeli policies have brought the Palestinians to this explosive situation, to a state of desolation and despair, and left them with no recourse but to defend themselves. The latest Israeli attacks on Palestinian rights included attacking their most sacred of places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-most sacred place in Islam.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“I thank you, Mr. President, for having organized this particularly important open debate on the situation in Palestine, under the Chinese presidency of the Security Council for this month. It is imperative that the Council speak up on what is happening to the Palestinians today. Yesterday, 15 May, is a date referred to by Palestinians and Arabs as the day of the Nakba — the catastrophe. It has been decades of Nakba for the Palestinians, and what is happening now as we meet in the Council is a continuation of their Nakba. What is happening today did not come out of thin air; it is the mere consequence of decades of occupation, humiliation, dispossession, imprisonment, colonialism, liquidation of the Palestinians’ rights and lands, collective punishment and living in fear.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“On 16 April, the General Assembly approved a subvention for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to cover the Tribunal’s shortfall in funding. We thank Member States and the Secretary-General for their cooperation and efforts in ensuring the financing of the Tribunal during such difficult times, so it can complete its work. It is a clear manifestation of the Member States’ determination to work towards international justice, ending impunity and upholding the rule of law.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“In this context, we also reiterate the stabilizing role that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been playing in south Lebanon, and we are grateful to UNIFIL’s leadership, troops and staff for their untiring dedication, as well as their strong and steady cooperation with the Lebanese Government and Lebanese Armed Forces. Lebanon welcomes the appointment of Ms. Joanna Wronecka as the new United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon and wishes her luck as she takes up her new position. I know everybody is waiting to welcome her to Lebanon. Her diplomatic skills, combined with her knowledge of the region, are an asset to a strengthened cooperation between the Special Coordinator and the Lebanese authorities, and she can count on my country’s support.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Consultations on the political front to form a mission-driven Government are still under way, but no progress so far has been achieved. In the south of Lebanon, daily breaches of Lebanon’s sovereignty by Israel have become the norm. These are all documented in complaints Lebanon has submitted on a daily basis to the Security Council, and we do not need to remind Council members that such breaches are in violation of resolution 1701 (2006). We reiterate Lebanon’s commitment to the implementation of resolution 1701 (2006) in its entirety, and, time and again, we call on the Security Council to compel Israel to abide by its obligations under this resolution.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Time and vacuums are the enemies of peace because, in the absence of a peaceful horizon, they are filled with conflict and suffering. Lebanon welcomes the resumption of the talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as well as all efforts to lower tension in the region and re-establish diplomacy and negotiations as the only means to resolve differences and for the peoples to live in harmony and peace. Lebanon is going through multiple crises and very challenging times. Every day, the Lebanese people are coping with the hardships posed by the economic, humanitarian, social and political crises. Naturally, the situation is exacerbated by the pandemic and, in the absence of equitable access to vaccines, will continue to deteriorate.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“We thank all countries, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for providing much-needed critical humanitarian and socioeconomic assistance to the Palestinian people. In that regard, Lebanon can only welcome the resumption of United States funding to UNRWA. As critical as this assistance is, we should keep in mind that only a political solution, based on international law and a just and comprehensive solution, on the basis of all the relevant United Nations resolutions, can solve the long-overdue issue of the occupation of Palestine and give the Palestinian people their freedom and inalienable right to peace and security on their land. Time is of the essence.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“These are important announcements and steps, but they now have to be translated into action — because there can be no progress whatsoever when settlement activities continue unabated, when Palestinian homes continue to be destroyed and when Palestinians continue to be deprived of their basic rights every day by the occupying Power. One of the basic rights of the Palestinians is the democratic right to hold elections in all the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967, including the right of Palestinians in East Jerusalem to participate in the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The new American Administration’s policy on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the renewed commitment to the two-State solution, alongside renewed American humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, reignited hope that peace efforts and a credible negotiating process for a solution for the Palestinians and Arab-Israeli conflict may be on the horizon. This renewed momentum was also behind the guarded optimism statement that the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process gave to the Council last month (see S/2021/302).”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“In a recent virtual meeting, the Middle East Quartet expressed the need to return to meaningful negotiations that would lead to a two-State solution, and included concrete steps to advance freedom. The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Egypt and Jordan also met twice this year to discuss ways to advance peace. On 8 February, the League of Arab States reiterated its support for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State based on the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Unfortunately, the situation in the Middle East remains volatile, and the risk of escalation looms large. What we saw yesterday evening is the latest example of the dangers and precariousness of the situation. The continued tensions and the Israeli strikes in Syria, some of which made use of Lebanese airspace, in violation of Security Council resolutions, is making the fragile status quo more worrisome. It is a pressing reminder that peace and security in the region should be of the utmost priority for the Security Council. In Palestine, there is renewed political effort to achieve peace based on international law and a just and comprehensive solution.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The Charter of the United Nations, envisioned to bolster collective action in times of dire need and acute crisis, such as the one we have been going through, is undermined every day with the lack of a robust response to the pandemic, evidenced by the two speeds in the global vaccination roll-out. Vaccination roll-out is without a doubt an area where the enhancement of cooperation is ever-more relevant today, ever-more needed and ever-more urgent. Regional cooperation can facilitate and make global cooperation more robust and fruitful. The coronavirus disease pandemic has shown us that only by working and cooperating at a regional level can solutions happen globally. This is a defining test of our times, and we cannot afford to fail.”
2021-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/394 (2021) · source
“More recently, this cooperation and solidarity was best observed in the aftermath of the tragic Port of Beirut explosion. As consistently expressed by many, regional and subregional organizations have specific knowledge and unique insights, and strengthened partnerships have proven useful and valuable. In further promoting active prevention, confidence-building measures and conflict-resolution efforts, cooperation must seek to address root causes of conflict and promote institution-building. It must ensure inclusive participation, and such cooperation should extend to civil society, women and youth-led organizations, as well as academia. They play a key role in promoting a culture of prevention. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the multilateral system has not lived up to its expectations.”
2021-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/394 (2021) · source
“As former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali once said, “Regional action could not only lighten the burden of the Security Council, but also contribute to a deeper sense of participation, consensus and democratization in international affairs”. Strengthened cooperation can better further active prevention and compliance with international obligations and can be more conducive to conflict resolution. History, since the creation of the United Nations, has been punctuated with examples of such cooperation by regional organizations in conflicts across all regions of the world. Suffice it to mention the decisive role of the League of Arab States in concluding the Taif Accords in 1989, which put an end to 15 years of a bloody civil war in Lebanon.”
2021-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/394 (2021) · source
“We thank the Permanent Mission of Viet Nam for convening this open debate, and we take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the President of Viet Nam for presiding over this debate. We also thank Secretary-General António Guterres and former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for their valuable briefings. A staunch supporter of multilateralism for peace, Lebanon believes that enhancing cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations is an essential component. Regional arrangements, as provided in Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations, are part of the toolbox for the maintenance of peace and security.”
2021-04-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/394 (2021) · source
“Unfortunately, despite hard-won gains for women’s rights during these 20 years, sexual violence in conflict remains a crucial and urgent issue that requires the attention of the United Nations and the international community. It is high time to end this scourge and to prevent sexual violence from being used as a weapon of war. In her autobiography, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity and My Fight Against the Islamic State”, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nadia Murad, writes “I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine.” Let us not fail the victims and survivors of sexual violence in conflicts. Let us live up to their strength and courage. Let us put an end to impunity. And let us do it now.”
2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source
“The world watches and learns from the United Nations, which should be setting an example in the fight against sexual violence. In this arena, we welcome the commitment to improve the way the United Nations prevents and addresses sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as the efforts to strengthen the system-wide response and ensure the full implementation of the zero-tolerance policy. We also recognize the tremendous contributions of civil society and human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, who face multiple challenges while working in conflict and post-conflict situations. A year ago we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the landmark resolution 1325 (2000), on the women and peace and security agenda, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.”
2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source
“We welcome the concerted efforts of the United Nations to address sexual violence in conflict, specially via the United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict network, through which multiple United Nations entities are working as one with the goal of ending conflict-related sexual violence, as well as the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and of the Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict. We welcome the deployment of women’s protection advisers as well in many United Nations peace operations, who provide substantive guidance to United Nations field missions to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence in an integrated manner.”
2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source
“In her 2020 report to the General Assembly, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict reaffirmed that sexual violence against children continue to be perpetrated frequently in the context of other grave violations and that rape and other forms of sexual violence remain significantly underreported, particularly when perpetrated against boys. When we usually address the issue of sexual violence in conflict, we tend to focus almost exclusively on women and girls. Yet there are many men and boys who are victims of sexual violence in the context of conflicts, and who remain silent due to the extreme shame and stigma surrounding the issue. They too deserve our focus and attention.”
2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source
“The pandemic has amplified and heightened all existing inequalities, including gender-based inequality, which is a driver of sexual violence both in times of conflict and peace. We need to intensify our efforts to focus on preventing these atrocities, raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, ensure accountability and access to justice and end impunity. We must stand in solidarity with the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world, respond effectively to their needs, amplify their voices and encourage them to come forward and speak up, especially given that many survivors never report the crime for many reasons, including their fear of stigmatization, rejection or exclusion. We should give particular attention to sexual violence perpetrated against children.”
2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source
“The report reflects as well the striking reality that impunity for sexual violence still reigns, with over 70 per cent of the parties on the list annexed to the report being persistent perpetrators, having appeared on the list for five or more years without taking remedial or corrective action. The report is in line with the victim- and survivor-centred resolution 2467 (2019), in which the Security Council, in paragraph 5, reiterated its grave concern that “violence, including sexual violence, against women and children in situations of armed conflict ... continue to occur, often with impunity, and in some situations have become systematic and widespread, reaching appalling levels of brutality”. Unfortunately, the coronavirus disease pandemic has added an additional layer of complexity and exacerbated sexual violence in conflicts.”
2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source
“Allow me first to congratulate you on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of April and to thank you for organizing this debate on sexual violence in conflict. Allow me as well to thank the respective speakers for their thorough briefings. Despite all efforts, sexual violence is still a grim reality of today’s conflicts. This sombre picture is well-reflected in the latest report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence, where he confirms that in 2020 “sexual violence was employed as a tactic of war, torture and terrorism in settings where overlapping humanitarian and security crises ... continued unabated” (S/2021/312, para. 12).”
2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source
“The implementation of Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 2417 (2018), and compliance with international humanitarian law obligations are effective tools to that end. Keeping humanitarian assistance lines open during conflict is essential to prevent starvation and hunger. Let us commit to not letting anyone go hungry. Let us end world hunger by making peace.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“But, most important, food security can be safeguarded only in a peaceful environment. It is incumbent on the Security Council to engage seriously in ending the conflicts around the world to stop food insecurity and fight hunger. Conflicts are the fires that are eating up peoples’ livelihoods and daily bread. To put food on poor people’s tables, we need to silence the guns depriving them of their daily bread. Just as we are fighting the COVID-19 virus with a vaccine, we need to fight hunger and food insecurity by spreading peace and conflict resolution. Prevention should remain at the core of the collective actions of the Security Council and Member States, while addressing root causes so that crises do not morph into full- fledged conflicts, thus aggravating the humanitarian situation.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“The Prime Minister warned of a food crisis, and World Food Programme officials warned last year, even before the crisis worsened, of over 1 million Lebanese dropping under the food-poverty line in 2020. The situation of displaced Syrians in Lebanon has also become more difficult as a result of the rise in food prices and the loss of the value of the Lebanese pound. Food security and hunger resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic should be tackled on the local and global levels. International institutions are scaling up their assistance, but the international pool of donors and the resources are shrinking because the crisis is global now and everybody is hurting. The solution rests in international cooperation, working with multilateral international organizations, to keep the “food trade flowing” among nations and to stop trade restrictions.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“The consumer price index rose by 145 per cent from November 2019 to November 2020, and food and beverage prices increased by around 402 per cent for the same period.This past week, the situation got worse with the Lebanese pound dropping to a near-record-breaking 10,750 pounds to the United States dollar, as compared to 1,500 pounds to the dollar in 2019. The World Bank has estimated that “poverty and extreme-poverty rates in Lebanese households during 2020 have reached levels as high as 45 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively”. The impact of this crisis translated into a food-security crisis and hunger among the most vulnerable population, never before seen Lebanon.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“In Lebanon, the pandemic hit a country reeling under the weight of a financial crisis, political gridlock and an explosion that destroyed not only a large part of the city of Beirut but also the country’s wheat silos in the port, where Lebanon’s wheat supplies are stored. A report of the Secretary-General states that Lebanon’s worsening economic and financial crisis has resulted in over half the population sliding into poverty. The report notes the contraction by 20 per cent in gross domestic product in 2020. People have lost their life savings and have limited access to their deposits. This in the middle of a debilitating financial crisis, which saw the Lebanese pound loses 85 per cent of its value since October 2019.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“Since 2019, the price of wheat in South Sudan increased by 62 per cent; that of rice in Nigeria rose by 30 per cent; and that of maize in Kenya rose by 60 per cent. This added to the food insecurity of hundreds of millions in developing countries. In addition to all of that, the invasion of locusts in Africa had a devastating effect and pushed millions more into hunger. The pandemic pushed over 1 billion children out of school, from Africa to Latin America and the Middle East, tipping millions of school children into hunger because, in poor countries, they depended on school meals for nutrition.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“In Yemen, 80 per cent of the population required humanitarian assistance. In Syria, half of the population is now food insecure, requiring food and livelihood assistance, according to the Global Network against Food Crisis. The region’s displaced are the most vulnerable, but their host communities are not faring better now, especially in Lebanon. The Palestinians, mostly in Gaza, are food insecure and need assistance, according to humanitarian organizations. Refugees in Lebanon and Jordan have also been hit hard because of the situation in the region. Global food prices rose everywhere around the world by close to 20 per cent from January 2020 to January 2021. For example, the monthly food costs in Syria increased by 240 per cent, and the number of food-insecure people rose by 1.4 million.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“Nowhere is this situation more pronounced than in the Middle East, where conflict, climate change, economic shocks and disruptions led to the worst food crisis that many countries have seen. The Middle East region is among the most vulnerable of the world as far as food security is concerned. It is among the world’s largest food importers, which makes it more vulnerable to trade and supply-chain disruptions. The region was suffering from negative growth in 2020, oil prices were at their lowest in decades, affecting local economies and expatriates alike, in addition to a drop in tourism and travel. Droughts due to climate change wiped out production of some food products, and access to food became a major problem because of the lockdowns. Conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Libya created food crises of unprecedented magnitude.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“The pandemic’s heavy toll on food security is due to the enormous disruptions that it placed on the food supply chain, long lockdowns, job losses, increased consumer prices — with world food prices hitting a six-year high in 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations —and trade restrictions S/2021/250 adding to the severity of the food-security crisis. All of this reversed decades of progress against hunger. The food-security crisis hit low-income and fragile States the most due to the lockdown and their weak infrastructure, and because most of them depend on food imports. Issues of inclusion of vulnerable groups and internally displaced persons added to their hardships due to the volatility in food commodities.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“In some countries, wheat production decreased by 50 per cent due to drought. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. It plunged the global economy into the worst recession since the Second World War, according to Columbia University’s Earth Institute. The World Bank reported that the pandemic was estimated to push 150 million people around the world into extreme poverty by 2021. Hunger increases on every continent and disproportionately affects low- income and poor countries. This effect of COVID-19 on hunger is projected “to continue for decades or even up to 2050”, according to Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior researcher at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“The economic slowdown of economies around the world prior to the pandemic led to negative growth in many areas and hardships for people especially in vulnerable and low-income countries. This, combined with the decline in oil prices, could lead to at least a 14 per cent decline in remittances to low and middle-income countries in 2021, according to the World Bank, adding 33 million people to those at risk of hunger. Conflict is one of the most prevalent of causes of hunger. Eleven of the 12 countries that the World Bank designates as food-security hotspots — areas at the highest risk of food insecurity crises — are on the World Bank’s list of fragile and conflict situations for 2021. Climate change and droughts were already causing disruptions and hardships in many countries around the world.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“But the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has exacerbated the situation. The direst warning came from the Executive Director of the World Food Programme when he predicted, the world “could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions” (S/2020/340, annex II ). He foresaw, as a result of the economic crisis and the conflicts combined with the decline in aid, a “perfect storm”, where the real danger is “that more people could potentially die from the economic impact of COVID-19 than from the virus itself” (ibid.). The drivers underlying food insecurity and hunger include economic shocks, conflict and protracted crises, access to food, climate change and extreme weather.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“I would like to congratulate you, Madam, and the United States on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of March and commend you for choosing food security for this open debate. When children go to bed hungry, this should be the most important peace and security issue for our world and for the Security Council. The world is facing one of its most challenging tests in our modern history. A pandemic that has left our world on its knees is also leaving millions of people hungry and with empty stomachs around the globe. Hunger and the rise in food insecurity preceded the pandemic. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has estimated that the number of undernourished people increased from 624 million in 2014 to 688 million in 2019.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“Let us seize the moment and step up to our responsibility to make peace with planet Earth, to save humankind by saving it.”
2021-02-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/198 (2021) · source
“The objective of gender responsiveness is to empower women and make them more resilient to shocks. Climate adaptation is therefore an opportunity to reduce women’s vulnerabilities to conflict. Today’s debate occurs as the United Kingdom, in partnership with Italy, has taken up the presidency of the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), to be held at the end of this year, and almost five years after the signing, at United Nations Headquarters, of the Paris Agreement. If COP26 will be another test for multilateralism, it will represent the last best hope, as said by the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Secretary John Kerry. The Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, also concurred that this is a “make it or break it occasion” for our planet.”
2021-02-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/198 (2021) · source
“Nationally determined contributions and national adaptation plans do not, as they currently stand, address these impacts of climate disasters as being enablers of enhanced conflict risk. National adaptation plans could therefore address a wider range of risks to adapt to and prepare for, including conflict risk. This will S/2021/198 S/2021/198 be country- and region-specific, as not all nations have the same risk profile. For instance, in the Middle East, a water-scarce region, preparing to avoid conflict is heavily linked to food and water security and sustainability. Climate change impacts vulnerable communities at an increased rate, especially women. There are global efforts to render climate action more gender responsive, especially when it comes to adaptive capacity.”
2021-02-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/198 (2021) · source
“There is a need for a more proactive approach in the areas of vulnerabilities and risk to avoid further damage. We know that resource scarcity is one of the main drivers of conflict, hence the need to build resilience and support adaptation through enhanced financing. The underlying objective of increasing resilience is to ensure that peoples do not have to migrate to resource-rich areas due to the loss of livelihoods caused by climate events. Whether it is through climate-resilient crops to sustain food security or water management to ensure water availability through droughts, adaptation aims at protecting livelihoods, economies and infrastructure from foreseen climate impacts.”
2021-02-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/198 (2021) · source
“Drought in other parts of the region is also threatening lives, increasingly becoming a source of conflict over water resources, and adding to food insecurity. It is yet one of the many examples, all around the globe of the imminent threat posed by climate change. The Security Council, entrusted with the maintenance of peace and security, should work towards ensuring that conflict prevention and peacebuilding approaches increasingly integrate climate considerations into their strategies. Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is one of the most effective ways towards climate security. The Security Council could also identify the areas at most risk from climate- related conflict through established cooperation with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to better prevent conflict.”
2021-02-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/198 (2021) · source