YouSaid · the spoken record

Benn

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17

first

2023-09-26

most recent

2023-10-24

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2

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un-security-council

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1. “My delegation’s appeal to the Council is to unite and send a clear message to the people of Israel and Palestine that it stands with them and recognizes the suffering that they have endured and continue to endure, and that it has collectively decided to respond on the side of international law. The lives of men, women and children — I repeat, children — depend on that, and I urge for that responsibility not to be taken lightly.”

   2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source

2. “Guyana notes with regret that the Council has so far failed to fulfil its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations to provide a definitive response to the current situation, despite the commendable efforts that have been engaged to that end. Silence cannot be an option for this organ, which holds the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. In our assessment, the draft resolutions that have been submitted so far (S/2023/772 and S/2023/773), while not fully addressing all the crucial elements requiring attention at this stage, nonetheless contain critical humanitarian elements that must be immediately addressed to bring relief to the civilian populations who are suffering due to the hostilities.”

   2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source

3. “My delegation remains conscious of the long- standing suffering of the Palestinian people under the illegal occupation and blockade of their territory. That decades-long indignity must be brought to an end. The United Nations, and indeed the Security Council, must do more to ensure that it moves beyond a business-as- usual approach to the issue. We must be deliberate in and committed to reinvigorating the peace process with a view to the crucial realization of a two-State solution. We must work for a just and lasting resolution to the question of Palestine. That is our duty, and the stability of the entire region rests on it.”

   2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source

4. “We are therefore concerned about the rhetoric that suggests that de-escalation may yet be a long way off, and we call on those with influence on the parties to spare no effort in working for an urgent and comprehensive ceasefire. Guyana acknowledges the unstinting efforts of United Nations agencies and other actors on behalf of the population in the Gaza Strip under extremely difficult circumstances. The entrance of the first aid convoy into Gaza last Saturday was an important fruit of those efforts. We appeal to the parties to ensure that aid can reach the people of Gaza, without conditions, in a safe, dependable and unimpeded manner. Guyana stresses the importance in that regard of achieving a comprehensive ceasefire.”

   2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source

5. “The continuing bloodshed has created a veritable human cauldron that faces a very present risk of boiling over beyond the immediate parties concerned. We call for an immediate end to the hostilities and for prompt relief for the victims, who are suffering immensely as a result of those events. We strongly urge the parties to lay down their arms and ensure the protection of civilians, in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law. The debilitating humanitarian crisis in Gaza risks becoming deeper and more protracted, involving mass displacements, severe medical emergencies, acute food insecurity and aggravated socioeconomic complications. The overwhelming human costs of the current hostilities require the most urgent efforts to de-escalate the situation.”

   2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source

6. “Guyana aligns itself with the statements delivered by the representative of Mauritania, on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and by the Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The delegation of Guyana expresses its grave concern about the escalating violence between Palestine and Israel following the attack on Israel by Hamas on 7 October. The ongoing violations of international law, including international humanitarian law, are taking an increasing and unacceptable human toll, with innocent civilians, especially women, children and the elderly, bearing the brunt of the unfolding tragedy. We unequivocally condemn the 7 October attack on Israel and the violence that has ensued, which is now being perpetrated by both sides.”

   2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source

7. “The stalwart women of Afghanistan who have continued to protest will not give up and are risking their lives for the Charter’s promise of equality. The Security Council must show as much courage and commitment as they do.”

   2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

8. “Such resolutions should require States and the United Nations to take effective steps to end those grave violations of international law. Secondly, there is an important opportunity to strengthen the relevant international law through the proposed treaty on crimes against humanity currently under consideration. Council members and other States should ensure that the treaty is gender-competent and includes a reference to gender apartheid. Thirdly, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, whose role is vital, should fully implement all aspects of its mandate on women’s rights. In addition, the forthcoming independent assessment and its implementation should prioritize the protection of women’s rights and the meaningful participation of Afghan women. As an Afghan woman defender once said to me, optimism is key to survival.”

   2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

9. “The goal is not to isolate Afghanistan or cut off desperately needed humanitarian assistance. Principled and non-discriminatory aid delivery is a matter of life and death. However, humanitarian action and the protection of human rights are and must be mutually reinforcing. This year we are marking the seventy- fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reaffirms the Charter’s faith in the equal rights of men and women. Afghan women are among the most courageous defenders of that foundational principle and deserve the Council’s strongest support. I therefore recommend, first, that the Security Council and other relevant United Nations bodies should consider adopting resolutions labelling the treatment of Afghan women by the Taliban as both gender persecution and an institutionalized framework of gender apartheid.”

   2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

10. “The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is investigating the situation and may bring charges against some alleged perpetrators of international crimes, and that would be an important development. However, individual accountability, while essential, is not in itself sufficient to address the scale of the crisis. A powerful aspect of the gender apartheid approach is that it not only implicates the perpetrators of apartheid, but as was the case with racial apartheid in South Africa, it means that no Member State can be complicit in or normalize the Taliban’s illegal actions, and that States must take effective action to end the situation. It therefore makes it clear that there can be no recognition of the Taliban and certainly no place for them at the United Nations, at least as long as their system of gender apartheid persists.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

11. “The Taliban are not simply failing to uphold women’s rights — the oppression of women is central to their system of governance and a core part of their philosophy. The apartheid framework recognizes that the ordinary human rights approach, centring the State as the actor to implement human rights, cannot work here. Positive change will be possible only with a consistent, principled international response led by the Council, mandated by its 10 resolutions on women and peace and security and supported by States from all regions. The vital concepts of gender apartheid and gender persecution are distinct and complementary. Both are needed to hold the Taliban accountable. Gender apartheid is the institutionalized framework within which gender persecution takes place in Afghanistan.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

12. “In December 2022, after consultation with diverse Afghan women defenders, I published a study entitled “The International Obligation to Counter Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan”. So what are the consequences of that framing? Adapted from the international law on racial apartheid, gender apartheid emphasizes that discrimination has been made the system of governance itself, such that the aim of public policy is to discriminate. It can be accurately captured by adapting the definition of apartheid in the Rome Statute by simply adding “gender” — in other words, inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one gender group over any other gender group and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

13. “In the Human Rights Council, South Africa not only recognized that Taliban rule constitutes gender apartheid but called for an international response to it, similar to that which helped to end racial apartheid. I am here today to call on the international community to heed those words, go beyond the condemnation of this worst example of systematic oppression of women in the world and take urgent action to end it. What has been tried since the Taliban returned to power is not working. Along with many Afghan women defenders, I believe that the gender apartheid approach is one of the most promising options for a more effective way forward. It can be pursued both through gender-inclusive interpretation of existing apartheid law today and by codifying gender apartheid in international law going forward.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

14. “In June, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan and the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls called on the international community to galvanize international legal condemnation and action to end gender apartheid, which they described as an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, humiliation and exclusion of women and girls. The Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Executive Director of UN-Women and the representatives of countries from many regions, including members of the Council, have also correctly labelled the situation as gender apartheid.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

15. “As a result, some Afghan women defenders recently went on a hunger strike, demanding international recognition that gender apartheid is being practised in their country. Too often, the international community claims to be combating extremism but fails to support the people peacefully resisting it on the front lines. The Council has repeatedly called on the Taliban to end their grave abuses. But there is more that it must do to hold them accountable for their decimation of women’s rights. I am here today to ask the Council to make it clear through action that the international community will not tolerate the system of gender apartheid that the Taliban have imposed.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

16. “A recently reported increase in suicides among women is a horrible but predictable consequence. Day after day, women from across Afghanistan tell me about the devastating impact of Taliban rule. One Uzbek woman from Takhar, who previously worked in civil society, said she recently tried to commit suicide. “I am afraid that they will ban women from breathing without a man’s permission”, she explained. A Hazara woman described living under constant threat of widespread targeted anti-Hazara atrocities by the Taliban. A woman protester in Kabul said, “What we are experiencing every day is gradual death. This is what it feels like to live under gender apartheid”. Many Afghan women also tell me how concerned they are about increasing attempts by some international actors to normalize the Taliban despite their repressive policies.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source

17. “Ms. Bennoune: I thank members for the opportunity to brief the Security Council. My name is Karima Bennoune. I am an international legal expert and have worked with Afghan women human rights defenders for nearly three decades. The Council has heard from many of them about the catastrophic harm women are suffering from under the Taliban. Today I will focus on what the Security Council and the international community should do in response. As members are aware, since August 2021 the Taliban have stripped Afghan women of most of their human rights through at least 65 decrees. They have arbitrarily detained and tortured women defenders who bravely resist the apartheid restrictions. Their rule represents the antithesis of the Charter of the United Nations and is a threat to peace and security.”

    2023-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9423 (2023) · source