YouSaid · the spoken record

Amani Ballour

lines on the record: 9
first: 2021-03-29
most recent: 2021-03-29
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: un-security-council

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

“I challenge each member of the Council and each State Member of the United Nations to take immediate steps to support the Syrian people: donate urgently needed food and medical supplies; increase your financial contributions to the United Nations and its partners; agree to resettle more Syrian refugees, huge numbers of whom remain in refugee camps in the region, desperate to avoid becoming a lost generation; offer scholarships for university students so that Syrians can be educated and one day return and rebuild our country. Only through solidarity and shared humanity can we alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people and move towards justice, peace and reconciliation.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“If a hospital was targeted in Tunis, New Delhi or Moscow, would you not immediately demand an investigation and not rest until there was justice? Do you find it acceptable, in the middle of a pandemic, with humanitarian needs growing each day, to further reduce humanitarian access? If your own countries faced rising rates of malnutrition and disease, would you not increase access to aid? I urge Council members to set aside their differences and refocus their efforts on reaching a political solution that includes essential freedoms and human rights, to act with great urgency to address the worsening humanitarian crisis, and to hold accountable those who attack medical facilities and use chemical weapons. I also urge Council members to move beyond words, to concrete actions.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“The World Health Organization publicly condemned this many times, yet the practice continued. Such cruelty is beyond comprehension. The Council cannot allow this situation to return. Why should any of us believe that things will be different this time? Base your decision on facts, not on empty promises. Renewing cross-border assistance through Bab Al-Hawa is simply the right thing to do, and you should also open additional crossings to meet the growing needs. I would like to end my remarks by asking a series of questions. Are the lives of these women and children worth any less than yours? Is a Syrian child’s life worth less than a Vietnamese child, or Chinese child, or Kenyan child? Why have they been abandoned for so long? Do you find it acceptable for a hospital to be targeted not once, not twice, but nearly 600 times?”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“Cross-border assistance is a vital lifeline for the 4 million civilians in north-western Syria. The need to quickly distribute coronavirus disease vaccines to all parts of Syria further shows the importance of cross-border aid. My own experience living with cross-line aid for six years is that it is a failed experiment. During my time in Ghouta, we lacked even basic medical supplies for our patients. I treated children starving to death, suffering from chronic illnesses, desperate for even basic humanitarian assistance. Yet it never came. Approvals from the regime were rarely issued, and, even when they were, essential items, such as baby formula, were often removed. I repeat — soldiers would remove the baby formula from the trucks, and empty it on the ground.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“My own hospital was targeted by an air strike in 2015, not long after Russia began to increase its support to the Syrian military. That attack killed three medical staff. They were my friends and colleagues. Yet the criminals have never been brought to justice. Just last week, Al-Atarib Hospital in the countryside of Aleppo, which is operated by the Syrian American Medical Association and received support from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, was directly targeted by artillery strikes. Five medical staff were injured and seven civilians were killed, including two children. This hospital had even shared its coordinates with the United Nations. There must be an immediate investigation. Only through real accountability will these attacks finally come to an end. My final point today focuses on humanitarian access.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“We told our children that “the Security Council is holding a meeting for you”. For a brief moment, they felt hopeful. We waited and waited, meeting after meeting, for six years. Millions inside Syria are still waiting. I am here today, a lucky survivor who fought and continues to fight for the basic needs and rights of the innocent women and children I treated in Ghouta. More importantly, I am here representing their suffering and the action that must be taken to give them the basic right to life. My second point focuses on attacks on medical facilities. According to Physicians for Human Rights, there have been 598 attacks on 350 different medical facilities, resulting in the death of 930 medical personnel, with no accountability. Medical workers must be supported, not targeted.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“I watched them starving from lack of food; I saw them screaming from the sounds of war planes and rockets. The lack of food led to malnutrition, which resulted in stunting, weak immune systems and, in some cases, death. The trauma of the conflict also caused many mental health issues. A large number of children were born in Ghouta during the siege; they grew up knowing only destruction, bloodshed and death. This led to depression, personality disorders, insomnia and paranoia. One moment I remember is from 2013. We, the medical staff, heard that there was a meeting in the Security Council about Syria. We were all waiting with great hope because we believed that you would help us. That you would end the siege. That you would bring food and medicine for the children.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“My worst experience occurred in 2013. In the middle of the night, I arrived at the hospital and was shocked to see a large number of patients, many of them children, who were suffocating and experiencing the symptoms of exposure to chemical agents. Scores of women and children died right in front of my eyes. Overall, more than 1,500 people were killed in this heinous attack. Independent investigations found that the agent used was military-grade sarin, possessed only by the Syrian military and intelligence services. And yet, even after this horrific crime, attacks on hospitals continued, siege continued, chemical weapons usage continued — all with no real accountability. My first point focuses on paediatric health. During six years of siege, I treated thousands of children.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source
“I thank you for the opportunity to brief the Council today. I would especially like to thank Secretary Blinken for his invitation. My name is Amani Ballour. I am a paediatrician from Damascus, Syria. I am here today to speak not only as a doctor, but as a Syrian who cares deeply about my country. Syria is broken. After 10 years of conflict, it is a country in ruins — not only in physical ruins, but also in mind and heart. I worked in an underground hospital in eastern Ghouta for nearly six years, the last two as the manager. The conditions in my hospital were beyond your worst imagination — a severe shortage of medical supplies and health-care workers, a brutal siege, which starved even the doctors and nurses, daily bombardments with illegal weapons, and even the use of chemical weapons. We were surrounded by suffering and death.”
2021-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/315 (2021) · source