YouSaid · the spoken record

Beatrix Attinger Colijn

lines on the record
10
first
2021-04-14
most recent
2021-04-14
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “And while that region still awaits the re-establishment of courts and State authorities, our programmes and support for local partners are the first steps to hear victims, provide assistance and restore their sense of confidence and belief in a future where impunity will give way to justice and development.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  2. “Travelling in the field can mean five hours for a few kilometres. And by travelling in cars, we do not reach all the locations that are accessible only by motorbike, on horseback or on foot. Roads are the veins of the country, which bring support from the centres to the isolated areas. Where the population has no means to travel, regular visits by the Mission and humanitarians connect them to essential services. On our way back from the farming project, our convoy was stopped in a small village along the axis. The village chief was waiting with the father of a girl, a victim of rape, who had walked more than 15 kilometres to reach the main road, waiting for us to pass, so he could report the crime. I reported that case to the United Nations police, which then initiated an investigation.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  3. “As one NGO partner said to me: “We want to show them they are not alone, that there are others in such a situation, and give them something they can do to improve their confidence”. Last year I visited a project in the north of Bria, in the centre of the country, developed by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic Community Violence Reduction programme. Men and women, some of them survivors of sexual violence, were tending to their plots, where they grew vegetables. The women did not want to speak about the violence they had suffered, but they did proudly show me the growth of their plants, the prospect of some income and personal independence: income-generating activities to regain control of one’s life during the long wait for justice.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  4. “In the majority of locations outside Bangui, there is no functional chain of justice, with courts non-operational and prosecutors absent. Equally, in large parts of the country, access to health facilities is difficult or impossible due to weak infrastructure and lack of transportation. At this sad point, I want to speak about some of my most inspiring encounters with civil-society members and survivors of sexual violence. Our mandate spells out the role of civil society and community leaders in enabling access to services for survivors and shapes our support to partners. While the Mission works to strengthen the justice system in the long run, there also has to be a focus on immediate remedies for survivors. One of the first is to restore their dignity.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  5. “In March, two non-governmental organizations reported the following: “[One of] the most common forms of violence suffered by adolescents, which has continued to affect the latter during the recent armed crisis in Boali and Damara, [is] sexual violence. [The] attitude of indifference of the community towards this problem … appears to further fuel the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators. In the current crisis situation, this is exacerbated by insecurity and hunger”. Boali and Damara are less than 100 kilometres north of Bangui. Further afield in more rural areas, other barriers prevent survivors of sexual violence from seeking justice: these include stigmatization, rejection by the family and community, and reprisals by the perpetrators.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  6. “In March, during my field visit to Bambari, the women’s associations assured me that they continue to support survivors of sexual violence despite the fact that their office building could temporarily not be used. They had stored all their equipment in a safe place, as a preventive measure, before the armed groups had invaded Bambari in December. As Senior Women Protection Adviser, my role is to advise and support MINUSCA’s civilian, police and military components in implementing the Mission’s Security Council mandate to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence. In my work, I have come to understand two crucial areas that define the extent of the response to conflict-related sexual violence: one is the social obstacles that impede survivors from reporting violations; the other concerns access to justice.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  7. “Humanitarian access to many regions has become from risky to impossible owing to numerous thefts of vehicles and bridges being deliberately destroyed by armed elements. Those violent clashes in many parts of the country contrast with periods of hope and positive developments. On 27 December I joined many of my colleagues to observe the election day in Bangui. It was amazing to see the thousands of people streaming to the voting centres, queuing patiently sometimes for hours to cast their ballots. All of the women I talked to were keen to assure me that it did not matter how long they had to wait so long as they would be able to exercise their civic duty and vote.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  8. “I have served in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) for more than five years, and, unfortunately, the COVID-19 crisis we are witnessing is not the only one affecting service provision for victims of grave human rights violations, including sexual violence. Over the past five months, the national army — the Armed Forces of the Central African Republic — and bilateral forces carried out military operations against armed groups, in particular against those groups that formed the Coalition des patriotes pour le changement ahead of the first round of presidential and legislative elections in December last year. Numerous installations of humanitarian organizations were destroyed or occupied by combatants, and hospitals were looted, bringing service provision to a halt.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  9. “Within the United Nations family in the Central African Republic, we counted 749 cases and deplore six deaths. In the early summer of 2020, most of us who had left returned to the country and resumed our work in the field. Internal flights have long since resumed, and humanitarian services continue to operate. With testing being rare, COVID-19 looms over the country with an unknown magnitude. The general population does not wear masks, and moto taxis carry multiple passengers. Despite continuous sensitization being carried out by the Mission, there is no social distancing outside the work environment of international organizations. The virus seems a neglected enemy in a place where so many other challenges exist.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source

  10. “I wish to thank you, Mr. President, for the invitation to speak at this important event. It is a great honour. Exactly one year ago today, I left Bangui on board the last commercial flight to Europe, as a voluntary prevention measure due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. With me were many colleagues from international non- governmental organizations (NGOs), a number of them from organizations that provide medical services to survivors of sexual violence. At that time, the prediction was that the weak health system would not be able to deal with a general outbreak of COVID-19. Now, one year on, the official number of COVID cases in the Central African Republic stands at 5,682 confirmed cases, with 5,112 recoveries and 75 deaths.”

    2021-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/375 (2021) · source