YouSaid · the spoken record

Bertini

lines on the record: 49
first: 2000-02-09
most recent: 2002-04-04
sittings or episodes: 3
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 am sure that he looks forward to working with you. Again, I appreciate the opportunity to be here in the very last hours of my last day to highlight the fine work done by the staff members of the World Food Programme throughout the world. I thank you for this opportunity. I thank you for your kind words and the tribute to me and to WFP. But especially I thank you for your political, moral and financial support to the work of the World Food Programme and to its mission to end hunger worldwide.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“I think that they were on point with practically all of those. We have had a long discussion with the United Kingdom about the use of food aid for development. As I said, WFP thinks that it is particularly important. But if we are moving to the point where we could talk about using food on a case-by-case basis, then I think that we may find times when food aid is useful in a development-type capacity. Certainly, WFP is committed to ensuring that the food that we use in all capacities goes to the most vulnerable in a transparent manner that can be monitored appropriately. I again thank you, Sir, and Council members for taking on these important issues in the context of your overall work. I thank you for your kind comments about my successor, Mr. Morris, who is a fine man and who, I know, will lead WFP in an exemplary fashion.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“But I do hope that over the long term we can reverse the downward trend, not only with food aid but other kinds of aid, to support people who are desperately hungry solely because they are poor, and not because they live in a conflict zone or an area where there has been an extremely difficult natural disaster. The purchase of local products was raised by Guinea. The WFP purchases $200 to $300 million a year of local agricultural production. We always purchase the maximum amount we can with the funds that we have available. As far as using local personnel, WFP has just over 8,000 staff members. Less than 10 per cent are international. More than 90 per cent are people hired in the countries where we work. Finally, the United Kingdom had some comments about some very interesting approaches to food aid.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“On a few other questions that are not specifically related to Afghanistan, I would say first of all, yes, the World Food Programme is doing the best it can in Gaza. This was raised by the Syrian Ambassador. We are still distributing food to hospitals and to some of the orphanages and to people who otherwise have difficulty getting food. Transportation certainly is a challenge for all of the humanitarian workers in that region at this time. There was a comment by Bulgaria about the decrease in development and Bulgaria's regret over this. We regret it too, very much. I did not concentrate on that here, because it was not the focus of this discussion.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“That does not mean that we recognize their legal status, or any legal status, but we have to work with the people who are responsible, legitimately or not, for certain territories. Unless we do, we cannot effectively deliver humanitarian assistance. So that is something that is critically important. Again, if we find situations where somebody is withholding food or access to food, that is when, if we cannot figure it out on a humanitarian level, we revert to a senior political person, a Special Representative of the Secretary-General or someone else, and even the Secretary-General if necessary, to try to fix the problem. Coordination works very well in Afghanistan, not only with the NGOs but also, I should say, with all the United Nations agencies in that country, and I think it works well as a model.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“I think one thing that is even more important than that, though, is that everyone working in Afghanistan supports the overall objectives of the Security Council and supports the overall intent of helping to support the central Government in Afghanistan. When we look at lessons learned, we must consider in particular our dealings with non-State factions. We have to deal with non-State factions constantly, in Afghanistan and everywhere else where there are conflicts that have moved from an ideological basis to a more ethnic or religious nature, or conflicts over material and property. This has so much increased the risk to staff security. It also means that we have to work with all of these people.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“In fact, this is a very strong network that worked even during the last part of 2001. It has become much stronger now that communications and movement are a bit easier. Regarding the military who are moving around in civilian clothes, I would like to make a couple of points. First, the military can offer tremendous capacities, particularly in logistics and engineering. Those kinds of activities have been extremely useful to humanitarian organizations. One example is a field military health centre set up by Jordan in Mazar-e- Sharif, which is extremely helpful to the people there. Other examples are mine clearing and bridge-building, so that humanitarian activities can be better operated. But we agree with those who say that military personnel should be clearly identified as military personnel.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“If there is ever a possibility that food is not used appropriately in a particular area, or that local authorities are problematic, then we would revert to Mr. Brahimi for his help in trying to fix the problems that might exist. Regarding some of the questions that Colombia raised about Afghanistan, we are distributing food not just in the major cities but all throughout the country. We are doing so with a network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which also connects with another question that I think Mauritius asked, about coordination. The World Food Programme works with more than 60 NGOs -most are local and some are international - in food distribution. Those NGOs have responsibilities throughout the country. So we do not distribute only in the cities.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“We worked closely with the Secretariat in its process of developing the procedures. We are working in close connection with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Brahimi, and working perhaps a bit differently from the way that the agencies have worked before, in an even more coordinated effort than has been the case in the past. In particular, Mr. Brahimi's deputy, Mr. Nigel Fisher, has been very helpful in terms of bringing all the humanitarian agencies together in a coordinated structure as part ofthe overall framework. Of course, we work with the local authorities regarding their work, always committing ourselves to being sure that we are ending hunger and using food appropriately.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Ms. Bertini: May I start where the President left off and say that this conversation that we are having today, following up on many of the humanitarian issues that the Council has discussed as they relate to peace and security, is extremely important, as the President has said. I know that those of us in the humanitarian community have been so happy that the Council has taken up these issues over the last few years, because they are so integral to the success of the Council's efforts on peace and security around the world. On the Afghanistan questions, first there were a couple of specific questions from Singapore about resolution 1401 (2002). The establishment of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) programme has been important for all of us in the humanitarian community.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Zimbabwe, once a major food exporter, is now a recipient, and its needs are growing. The needs in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will grow when we finally have more access to people in those countries. Food aid has saved and will save millions of lives. Food aid has played and will play a major role in supporting people on the road to recovery. Food aid helps stabilize countries and regions. Ultimately, food aid, and the humanitarian commitment of every person in the world, has ended famine on this Earth.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Since 1992, only 15 perpetrators of violent crimes against United Nations staff have been apprehended, although 204 of our colleagues have been killed - murdered. When I last spoke here, I recalled how an idealistic young Dutch woman, Saskia van Meijenfeldt, who worked for WFP in Burundi, had been shot, along with a UNICEF colleague, execution-style. That sad case remains unresolved, as do more than 188 others. Think of that young woman's family and friends and of so many of the other victims. They deserve more than this neglect. The tide of humanitarian crises we have seen in the past decade unfortunately shows no sign of abating. A major food emergency is unfolding in southern Africa with the drought, and El Nifio is predicted for this year, which could precipitate another destructive cycle of floods and drought.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Since then the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator has been reinforced, and the hiring of 100 field security officers was most welcome. But I believe that more commitment is still required. General Assembly decisions have said that there would be more security, but that it would not be a priority in the Secretariat budget. I believe that still needs to be addressed. In addition, it is absolutely clear that some Member States have not done their part. If we look at the issue of the perpetrators of violence against United Nations staff and how few people have been brought to justice, the picture is truly appalling. Member States must do more. We cannot stand by as humanitarian workers are murdered and no one is held accountable.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“However, where people can be reached, the Security Council, the United Nations and the rest of the international community can be proud that the world has finally come to the point where it will not accept the starvation of people. Because of the generosity of donor Governments, the leadership of the Secretary- General and - trying to be modest, but not succeeding - the efficiency of the World Food Programme, as the largest humanitarian agency, I dare say that major famines are in the past. Reaching that point has not been easy for the staffs of any humanitarian agency in the world. Collectively, our work is difficult and dangerous, and I would be remiss if I were here with the Council and did not mention the issue of security of staff. Two years ago, the Council was kind enough to invite me to address that issue.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“In September and early October, others predicted a refugee crisis of mammoth proportions with significant political destabilization in the region. That did not occur, and one main reason was that the people in Afghanistan received food aid. They did not have to abandon their homes to find food in the massive numbers that had been expected. Food aid keeps people alive, it helps communities reconstruct after a crisis, and it helps bring regional stability. There are still places in the world where people are cut off from food - the UNITA-held territories of Angola, parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 43 counties in North Korea.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Today we are feeding more than 6 million North Korean children- every child in school in the counties to which we have access; that is more than a quarter of the population of the country. All the experts, including those from the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, say that 1997 was the height - or the depth - of the famine in that country. Food aid ended the famine, but it also helped to place the country on a track towards better relations with United Nations agencies and, more important, with its neighbours in the region and with other Governments, many of which have recognized the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the past two years. Most recently, in Afghanistan, when the people were looking at the results of years of fighting and drought, many predicted a large famine.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“We have no more options for getting food into Mogadishu, where so many people are starving." We could not help them. Operation Restore Hope, which began in December of that year, helped the World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross and many others to reach millions of people so as to end the famine. The operation later changed focus, but its original purpose was to allow people to be fed, and in that it certainly succeeded. The insecurity caused by the famine was thus eliminated as an element in the political turmoil. In 1995, WFP began a small operation in North Korea. There, too, food aid has helped to foster stability and open new lines of communication. By 1997, the programme in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had become the largest WFP programme in the world, and it remains so.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“That railroad still operates today and, of course, it is used for commercial purposes throughout the region. With the exception of the World Bank, WFP has also consistently been the largest customer for goods and services in developing countries worldwide within the United Nations system. Our food purchases are usually between $200 million and $300 million in developing countries each year. Food aid is also a stabilizing factor. It does more than keep people alive and help with reconstruction, even though either of those two goals would be enough on its own. In the past 10 years, food aid has helped stabilize countries and regions in severe crisis. I would like to point to three cases. First, in the case of Somalia in 1992, I remember writing to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in November 1992, saying, "Please help.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Last year WFP spent $20 million in Pakistan alone on transportation, hiring commercial truckers. In Ethiopia in the mid-1980s, we set up a trucking network to reach famine victims, and then gave the trucks and their network to Ethiopia. That same network, now in the hands of the private sector, formed the basis of the commercial response to the drought in the Horn of Africa in 2000. In 1992, we helped combat drought by rebuilding the transport infrastructure through the Beira corridor in southern Africa - the first significant economic cooperation across the border of South Africa - under the old apartheid Government - and its neighbours. In the following year, WFP rebuilt the Georgia-Armenia- Azerbaijan railroad line, donated Russian diesel engines and then moved food through the region.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“In Mozambique, for instance, food aid was delivered during the crisis and was used to help create humanitarian corridors. But food aid has also been used, since the end of the conflict, for Mozambique's recovery, to help with food-for-work and other programmes, which I mentioned earlier, for the reconstruction of the country. We have undertaken similar programmes in Central America, Ethiopia and Eritrea, East Timor and many other places. Such reconstruction also helps support local economies. For instance, almost all of the ground transportation that we use to move food - and we have to use a lot - is hired locally. We use trucks, trains and even donkeys, although I have to say that UNICEF was the first donkey-renter group in the United Nations, in Afghanistan.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“These bakeries have been operating for five years; they are the result of the efforts of brave Afghan women who, when the edict came out that women could not work, went to the Taliban authorities and said, "If women can't work, widows will starve. We have a way to keep widows alive, and that is for us to set up bakeries which will be funded by wheat and flour from the World Food Programme and run by women for widows." I am proud to say that those bakeries are still in operation today. One thing that we try to do, as soon as reconstruction starts in Afghanistan and elsewhere, is to phase out the blanket distribution of free food. We do not want to create dependency; we want to use food aid to contribute to long-term development and reconstruction. There have been many success stories of food aid being used to help rebuild after a conflict.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“They work to keep their families together and to feed their children, often in the absence of their husbands. Getting food to women, who in any event will be the cooks and the people who ensure that the children have access to food, helps to lessen their burden and to empower them to better support their families. Food-for-work projects, in which we pay people for their labour with food, are today helping to rebuild roads, bridges and irrigation systems in Afghanistan as well as helping with demining projects and the planting of new crops. We use food aid in projects to train women in literacy or basic business concepts so that they can try to earn income to support their families. Council members have probably read about the women's bakeries in Afghanistan to which I referred.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“This not only helps entice more children to school, but it also helps them to be able to absorb more of their education while they are there. In Afghanistan, our goal, which we will work to reach gradually, is to feed 1 million children at school. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has already told us that school attendance in some areas in Afghanistan is two to three times what we all expected before the school year started last month. Food aid is also sometimes used as an incentive to get more girls to attend school or to recruit pregnant or lactating mothers to visit health centres. Food aid is especially useful when it is given directly to women. During and after conflicts, women usually carry the largest social burden.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“It is no accident that the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Mr. Brahimi, asked WFP to provide food, on a temporary basis, to help pay the salaries of Afghan civil servants. In Sierra Leone, food aid is distributed to former combatants in exchange for the return of weapons. We certainly hope that circumstances in Angola will soon change so that similar programmes can be put in place and so that there can be food in exchange for weapons there. One of the surest signs in any country that a conflict has ended is when the schools open and where families feel safe sending their children to school. Food aid helps to accomplish that end as well. First, schools are often built or rebuilt using food-for-work schemes. Secondly, food aid is often used to provide a daily meal at school for each child.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Just recently, President Musharraf told me that, without the massive food aid that the World Food Programme distributed in Afghanistan last year, far more people would have had to flee the country as refugees, with all the destabilizing consequences. Two years ago, when I served as the Secretary- General's Special Envoy in the Horn of Africa, and we mobilized food and other aid in order to try to prevent the famine in that region, Prime Minister Meles, President Moi and others thanked us publicly for the success of that work. In addition to saving lives, food aid contributes to recovery. It has an economic value in nations recovering from political or economic crisis. It is often preferred to cash, because hyperinflation or lack of markets sometimes makes local currency less than desirable to poor, hungry families.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“I would like to share with the Council just a few sentiments that have been shared with me by heads of State. The former President of Honduras, Mr. Flores Facusse, told me that, after hurricane Mitch, when his people had no homes, no jobs, no fields and no factories, they knew that there was one thing that they did not have to worry about, because the World Food Programme was there, with food, the day after the floods. In 1994 the Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina told me that food aid kept the people of Sarajevo alive, because, even during the fighting, the sniper fire and everything else that was happening in Sarajevo at that time, flour and wheat went to the bakeries that stayed open in Sarajevo and every citizen was able to receive two loaves of bread every day.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“They made the enterprise seem almost easy, even as many were predicting the possibility of mass starvation. We delivered the food and also set up for the United Nations a telecommunications network, which we shared with all United Nations partners. We also took over and expanded airline passenger service. We raised the question of whether we have reached every pocket where food is needed in Afghanistan. We probably have not, but we now have helicopters going around to different remote locations to try to identify areas where there may be food shortages. But the result of our collective efforts is clear: there was no famine in Afghanistan. This same story of food aid preventing famine has been repeated over and over again, although it may not be as widely publicized as it was in Afghanistan.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Even at the height of the bombing, on average we had 2,000 trucks of all sizes and shapes on the roads every day, moving in and out of the country. WFP not only met its target for food deliveries into Afghanistan, but by the end of December we had exceeded it by 36 per cent. Great courage was displayed by our local staff in Afghanistan, as well as by many staff members of non- governmental organizations (NGOs) with whom we partnered. WFP's Afghan guards stayed in the warehouses, and we lost food from only one warehouse in the entire country during the last four months of 2001. We also kept our women's bakeries open in different cities throughout the country. Many NGOs kept up the contributions locally, despite heightened concerns about security. WFP's transport and logistics staff were creative and hardworking.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“In that operation, through the generosity of donors, we were able to mobilize $240 million to deliver almost half a million metric tons of food. We are now appealing to donors for food for the rest of the year - also about half a million tons. We have so far received nearly $70 million from the United States. But we are only 22 per cent resourced and we need to continue with a broad range of donors if we are to continue to succeed. Of course, the major challenge we faced in Afghanistan - which we all saw in the press and elsewhere - was to move food into the country in the middle of a political and military conflict. We were also in a race against the winter and the fact that roads might become impassable. We won the race. After decades of operating in the midst of the civil war, we were able to mobilize quickly.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“That is part of the $1.9 billion in pledges WFP received last year, which really makes the Programme the largest humanitarian agency in the world. First and foremost, as I said, food aid saves lives. WFP has been involved in Afghanistan for almost four decades. Last summer we were there fighting the effects of civil war, persistent drought and desperate poverty. We had 3.8 million beneficiaries. We had a vulnerability analysis done last summer, which caused us to raise the number of people in need to 5.5 million. After 11 September, on the basis of United Nations assessments, we added another 2 million people in order to try to accommodate food assistance for a major internal displacement and possible refugee flows.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Afghanistan is the most recent example of how the international community has successfully prevented famine. We now have early-warning systems, information and transport technology and political commitment to ensure that famine never happens again. Food aid has become a critical part of humanitarian interventions, starting with survival in the case of emergencies. Food is one of the first needs in almost every humanitarian crisis, and food aid plays a major role in supporting people on the road to recovery and in helping to stabilize countries and regions. Food is often the single largest need after an emergency strikes, and the largest resource available from donors. Last year alone, for instance, the World Food Programme received nearly $1.7 billion in food aid donations for emergencies and protracted relief and recovery operations.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“But I absolutely believe that we have put an end to major famines like the one that claimed so many lives in Ethiopia in the middle 1980s. The international community has achieved this together despite the fact that in the last decade there has been a rising tide of emergencies, both natural and man-made, far more than could ever have been anticipated - a drought in southern Africa in 1992, the devastation wrought by hurricane Mitch in Central America, the ethnic conflicts in Kosovo and East Timor, severe food shortages in North Korea and the intractable conflicts in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and West Africa, as well as many more crises. Many of those could have brought on famine, but I believe that we successfully achieved the objective that they did not.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“Ms. Bertini: I would like to thank you very much, Mr. President, and the Council for this invitation to be here, as I complete my 10-year term, on what is actually my last day with the World Food Programme (WFP). It is certainly a highlighted way to end my term, being invited to join you today to talk about this important issue. Over 10 years ago, at the World Summit for Children, Governments agreed to many goals, and agreed to work towards them for the year 2000. One of those goals included a commitment to implement "measures to eradicate hunger, malnutrition and famine". I believe that the international community has achieved a part of that goal, that is, the eradication of famine. Hunger and malnutrition remain with us, and sometimes there will be localized severe shortages of food.”
2002-04-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4507 (2002) · source
“They give everything they have to save people living in the worst circumstances on earth. They shouldn't have to give their lives.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“In fact, when you look at the budget, it calls for about a half a million dollars a year, not counting the malicious acts insurance, to pay for all of what the United Nations provides for staff security, in addition, of course, to their agency contributions and agency budgets. And, of course, the suggestions that the Deputy Secretary- General mentioned are very important in strengthening this operation. Finally, as humanitarian aid workers, we all want to work under a United Nations flag that is a symbol of hope and of safety. We do not want to abandon the poor people we are helping when insecurity makes the job dangerous. We want to be there to provide food, shelter, medicine and hope. Every day, this is what United Nations staff members do throughout the world.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“Fifthly, again to underline the Deputy Secretary- General's words, we should enhance UNSECOORD'S role as coordinator and clearing house for security information by increasing its staff and its funding. We all welcome the decision to appoint a full-time security coordinator. The United Nations budget should be revised, of course, to accommodate this. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that UNSECOORD currently has 12 staff members for its worldwide operations. Eight of them are paid for from budgets of other agencies, so that the United Nations is funding four people to manage the security operations for tens of thousands of United Nations staff members all around the world.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“I must tell you, Mr. President and members, that this is one of the most frustrating parts of our jobs, because so often when staff members are murdered, we have no way to follow up to ensure that people are held accountable. All too often, we hear things like "It wasn't our troops who were responsible; it was the rebels", or the other way around. Therefore, no one takes responsibility for the investigation. Sound investigative reports are rare. And, as the Deputy Secretary-General mentioned, in two - only two - of the murders have people been prosecuted and brought to justice. Fourthly, security training must be conducted for all United Nations staff members who work in insecure environments. This should be a pre-condition for staff to participate in high-risk operations.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“I would recommend that the Council explicitly include consideration of and define how future peacekeeping operations would protect humanitarian workers as well. Thirdly, we must also mobilize the international community to punish those responsible for crimes against humanitarian workers - a message that I underlined following the Deputy Secretary-General's comments. Strong messages must be sent to those Governments and groups under whose jurisdiction murders, kidnappings and harassment take place that they will be held accountable and punished if they fail to respect aid workers' lives. In the case of countries that do not take serious action to prevent or to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanitarian workers, I suggest that the Council consider calling for a system to monitor such violations, leading to penalties.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“First, the humanitarian principles of impartiality must be maintained in all crises. They should be taken into account even when the Security Council takes decisions on conflict situations. The humanitarian principles of impartiality must be accepted, and the terms of engagement must allow aid workers to reach innocent civilians, wherever they are, on either side of a conflict. This has been a problem in many cases, but we must reaffirm, for instance, that no innocent child or adult should starve because he or she is caught in a war or a conflict. Secondly, I would respectfully request that the Security Council consider examining its authorization of peacekeepers in crisis situations. The Council regularly spells out the peacekeepers' role in protecting civilians, but it does not necessarily clarify their role in protecting aid workers.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“I believe I speak for all of my colleagues when I urge the Security Council to always take the safety of humanitarian aid workers into consideration when it takes political decisions. Humanitarian operations frequently contribute to the fulfilment of the Council's mandate for peace and security. Its efforts to focus attention on the security of United Nations staff will strengthen the clear role of the United Nations as a leader in humanitarian action worldwide. We need to confront the simple fact that the United Nations sends unarmed aid workers into environments where Member Governments will not send armed troops. A number of recommendations have been made to strengthen the consciousness and the competence of the United Nations approach to security, and I would like to highlight just a few for your consideration.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“So we have to increase the awareness of security issues in the United Nations culture and embrace security management as an integral part of every operation. I commend you, Mr. President, and the Security Council for your willingness to address the issue of security for humanitarian workers. Humanitarian agencies are facing some very difficult questions these days. The most difficult of all is, when is the security risk for our staff so great that we cannot reach the victims of war - who then die for lack of food, shelter, water and medicine? Where do we draw the line? I also commend the Council for its increased interest, attention and action regarding humanitarian issues in the last several months, which were highlighted last month by the focus on Africa.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“And we must have the cooperation of Governments in the countries where we work in providing better protection, in allowing the United Nations staff to use communications systems and in pursuing and prosecuting those responsible for violence against United Nations staff. There needs to be a shared recognition that the job of humanitarian worker is now, more than ever, a dangerous job. Soldiers - who may spend only a small part of their time in dangerous, life-threatening situations - are instilled with an awareness of security and are given security training. Humanitarian workers, on the other hand, who may spend most of their time in equally high-risk environments, are not taught to be aware of risks; and it is time we were.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“I know that this is a high-priority issue for all of my colleagues who are agency heads, particularly those who are managing humanitarian agencies where staff are at risk on a daily basis. We believe we must equip all humanitarian staff for dangerous work through security training, to include how to read the warning signs in volatile settings, how to deal with armed marauders, how to spot hidden landmines, how to extricate themselves from trouble and how to deal with forced confinement. But in-house training by the United Nations agencies, although extremely important, is not enough. We have to improve our communications systems, our field structures, our equipment, our security consciousness.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“If humanitarian agencies are to carry out our primary task of assisting civilians, humanitarian workers have to be given better tools to ensure their protection. I am honoured to follow the Deputy Secretary- General in making these remarks. She has wisely made the issue of staff security one of the top priorities for her and for all of us. Staff security has also become my highest personal concern at WFP. In 1998 - a year in which WFP lost 12 of its staff members, seven of them murdered - we created a security task force to examine ways to better protect our people. Our greatest achievement so far has been an agency-wide security training programme for every employee. In 11 months we have trained more than 5,400 people, and, over the last two-year period, we have quadrupled our expenditures for staff security.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“Food stocks are stolen or destroyed, fields are burned. Hunger is an integral part of the tactics of Violence in Somalia, the southern Sudan, Angola and Afghanistan. It was also used in Kosovo in a systematic way not seen in Europe for half a century. The tactic does not vary that much whether it is used in northern Afghanistan or northern Uganda. Delivering the food aid crucial to responding to humanitarian needs has put workers in harm's way. Sometimes warring factions see the delivery of food aid itself as a political act, and therefore those who deliver it are targets. Of course this is unacceptable. The international community must take concrete steps to ensure that the safety of our aid workers it totally protected and that we put a stop to this alarming trend.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“When you add deaths in vehicle accidents caused by work in difficult terrain and the deaths of short-term contract employees, the figures climb even higher. The mechanical business of delivering aid in war zones is especially hazardous. The World Food Programme, for instance, often handles the logistics of moving both people and supplies for all of the United Nations agencies and many non-governmental organizations in spots such as East Timor, Kosovo and Angola. One of the saddest moments for all of us last year was when a WFP-chartered shuttle from Rome to Pristina crashed, killing all 24 people on board. A growing factor in the security picture has been the resurgence of the use of hunger as a weapon of war. People are wilfully starved because of their politics, their religion, their ethnicity or just because of where they live.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“Their deaths were all the more horrible because they were execution-style, premeditated and cold - deliberate acts of violence aimed at the United Nations itself. Those providing food, shelter and medicine - the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, WFP, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and our many non- governmental organization partners often become victims in humanitarian crises. According to the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator (UNSECOORD), UNHCR and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have each lost 25 staff members since 1992; UNICEF and WFP have lost 27 each; and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has lost 30 civilian staff.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“Since 1992, as the Deputy Secretary-General noted, United Nations agencies have lost 184 civilian staff to violence, including air crashes. Since 1994, there have been 59 incidents of kidnapping and hostage-taking that have affected 228 of our colleagues. In 1999, there were 292 violent robberies, assaults, rapes and vehicle hijackings. One recent victim, Saskia van Meijenfeldt, a dedicated young Dutch woman who worked for the World Food Programme (WFP), will always stand out in my mind. I think of her often. She and her colleague Luis Zfifiiga were shot in the head at point blank range after an ambush in Burundi. Mr. Zfifiiga was the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) chief of staff in Burundi.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source
“Ms. Bertini: I thank you, Mr. President, and the members of the Security Council for this invitation to address the Council, on behalf of the United Nations agencies, on what is the most important issue facing us today. In more and more crises, the United Nations flag has become a target rather than a shield, and all too often aid workers must risk their lives to save the lives of others. It is hard for us sometimes to appreciate what a humanitarian worker goes through on a daily basis. For instance, in Somalia, the Sudan and Afghanistan, United Nations relief convoys have been hijacked and our drivers have been beaten or killed. In Angola and Afghanistan, our planes have been fired on. Members of our staff have been held hostage in Sierra Leone, the Balkans, the Great Lakes, the Caucasus and elsewhere.”
2000-02-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4100 (2000) · source