YouSaid · the spoken record

Brahimi

lines on the record: 382
first: 1992-07-15
most recent: 2021-09-07
sittings or episodes: 17
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

“Political Islam is now a reality in many Muslim majority countries, from Indonesia to Morocco. We see it in various shades and forms. It is important and urgent that the various religious, ideological and political families that live in our shared world learn how to put an end to mutual exclusion, and understand instead that it is necessary and beneficial for all if we accept living together in tolerance, mutual respect and cooperation.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“Its leaders and representatives are now received officially in regional and international capitals from Jakarta to Moscow and from Ankara to Beijing. The Taliban thinks that it now represents the overwhelming majority of the people of Afghanistan and that it governs on their behalf. In fact, it is no different from the authors of a coup d’état or a political party that won an election. Many of its compatriots do not support it. It must understand that the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Afghans, men and women, rushing to the Kabul airport or to the borders of each of their neighbours are but the tip of the iceberg — many more Afghans criticize the Taliban and do not welcome its rule. I would like to conclude with a point that concerns not only Afghanistan, but a large number of other countries.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“I have the impression that the international parties involved in Afghanistan realize that boycotting the Taliban in the 1990s was not the best option. Kept in total isolation, the Taliban had a distorted image of the rest of the world. I sometimes wonder if Mullah Mohammed Omar, with whom I had three long meetings, would have allowed the destruction of the Giant Buddhas of Bamiyan had the movement and Government enjoyed full international recognition at the time. Likewise, would Osama Bin Laden have been given the opportunity and protection he needed to prepare and execute the attacks on 11 September if the Taliban had enjoyed international recognition? Just as the United Nations and the international community are asking themselves those questions, so should the Taliban look back and ask itself questions.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“The United Nations should hold the Taliban accountable for those commitments and ensure that that guarantee extends, not just to the staff of the United Nations, but also to the staff of humanitarian governmental and non-governmental organizations. I understand that the Security Council will examine the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on 17 September. Circumstances in Afghanistan being what they are at present, UNAMA is needed more now than ever before. The Council should perhaps now limit its action to a technical rollover of a sufficiently long period — let us say six months, for example — and take time to prepare the strong mandate UNAMA will need in the coming new phase.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“The local staff stayed on the job and performed in a remarkable fashion. The Taliban did not interfere with them. The United Nations should obtain a clear guarantee fromthe Talibanthat, likelasttime, it shallnotinterferewith humanitarian operations — those of the United Nations itself and those of other international, humanitarian governmental and non-governmental organizations. I am consciously encouraged by the recent report from Martin Griffiths, the United Nations humanitarian chief, that the Taliban has committed to guaranteeing the safety, security and freedom of movement of all humanitarian workers, men and women alike, and humanitarian access to people in need.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“I do not claim to have the answer to that question but what I hear from young, bright Afghans, in and outside of Afghanistan, is that it is necessary and urgent to give peace a chance. As a first extremely urgent step, it is for the Secretary-General, acting with the full support of a united Security Council, to send a Special Representative to Kabul to start a frank discussion with the leadership of the Taliban. At the same time, an urgent, important humanitarian programme needs to be put in place. The United Nations and its agencies and large non-governmental organizations in the country have the experience needed to implement such a programme. Their local staff is highly competent and dedicated. During the Taliban rule in the 1990s, the United Nations pulled out all its international staff, as it has done this time.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“The international community would like to resume its support for the people of Afghanistan but many, perhaps most, do not wish to deal with the Taliban and are not ready to grant immediate diplomatic recognition to the Government the Taliban is about to form. On its side, the leadership of the Taliban does not seem to speak in a single voice. Some among them say they will return to the views and practices which were theirs when their regime was defeated following 11 September 2001. On the contrary, others say they shall respect and reach out to their opponents and try to form with them a genuinely inclusive Government. In the meantime, the country’s State institutions are paralysed and the people of Afghanistan are abandoned. Famine and despair look like an inescapable fatality for millions of men, women and children. What should be done?”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“At the centre of the mandate and action of the United Nations in Afghanistan is the protection of the fundamental rights of all Afghans, especially the most vulnerable, namely, women and girls, the internally displaced, ethnic and religious minorities and human rights defenders, inter alia. To continue its work, the United Nations must have the Council’s support. It will have to establish a system of cooperation with national and local authorities which, at present, means the Taliban. To say that the humanitarian situation is dire would be an understatement, and needs are most urgent. Yet, the flow of aid has stopped abruptly and the inclination of donors is to abandon Afghanistan now that the Taliban has regained control of the country.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“Amrullah Saleh, Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and Mr. Ahmad Massoud, son of legendary guerrilla leader the late Mr. Ahmad Shah Massoud, to resist in the Panjshir Valley was defeated. The Taliban now exercise practically sole control over the country’s entire territory. Afghanistan today is not the Afghanistan I knew in the late 1990s and from 2001 to early January 2004. I therefore do not claim to have any expertise or inside information — only a little experience and mainly deep feelings of sympathy, concern and respect for the great people of Afghanistan. On human rights, there is little to add to what Mrs. Robinson forcefully said a moment ago.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“Five years ago, the Council adopted resolution 2334 (2016) — a landmark decision that set out clearly the obligations of those responsible for addressing the key barriers to achieving peace, including the relentless ongoing settlement of occupied Palestinian territory. Is it not high time to put an end to the failed policies that so unjustly betray the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and a life of dignity? Mrs. Mary Robinson, our President, has eloquently and clearly set forth some of the key concerns and hopes of The Elders, including on Afghanistan. Now that it is my turn to say a few words, I shall speak only on Afghanistan, but I do not have enough time to say everything that needs to be said on the subject. As of Sunday — the day before yesterday — the brave attempt of Mr.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“Mr. Brahimi: It is an honour for me to address the Security Council on behalf of The Elders for the second time. On the first occasion, four years ago, I spoke mostly on Palestine (see S/PV.7977). Alas, things in that unhappy occupied country have not improved — quite the opposite. The occupying Power is responsible for what is now an overt apartheid situation. Its excessively harsh oppression and systematic dispossession of Palestinians has embarrassed even some of its unconditional supporters around the world. The question of Palestine has been on the Council’s agenda since soon after the United Nations came into existence, in 1945.”
2021-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8850 (2021) · source
“Some warn that their country may become an apartheid State; others denounce practices that are already creating an apartheid system. Be that as it may, Palestinians have rights. They have individual rights like all human beings and they have collective rights like any other people in the world. And they have the right to fight for their rights with all the legitimate means available to them. The Charter of the United Nations, international law and international humanitarian law, as well as all norms of international solidarity, call for effective support to be given to the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people against occupation and oppression. Such support will in fact help liberate both Palestine and Israel.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“Only a genuine, just solution to the Palestinian problem will open the way to lasting peace and cooperation between Israel and all its neighbours. The Arab Peace Initiative provides a sound basis for that to happen. Issued at the Arab Summit in Beirut in 2002, the Initiative has been ignored by the Israeli Government all these years. Unanimously, Arab countries called on Israel and all Israelis "to accept this Initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for peace and stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the Arab countries and Israel to live in peace and good neighbourliness and provide future generations with security, stability and prosperity." Israeli politicians of the left and of the right and the media in Israel and civil society routinely speak of the danger of apartheid.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“If the Council could make such a visit, its members would see how urgent it is to enforce the many binding resolutions that the Council has adopted since the June 1967 war, starting with resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and including the most recent, resolution 2334 (2016), which focused on the illegality of settlement building. In that connection, is there any need to remind the Council that resolution 2334 (2016) is already being flouted? The recent Israeli Government decision to legalize the so-called outposts in the West Bank once again demonstrates its disregard for international law and the Council's decisions. The not-so-discreet contacts of the Israeli Government with some countries in the region cannot be a substitute for peace with the Palestinians.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“They could thereby see for themselves all the harm that has been done to the Palestinian people, as well as what the occupation is doing to the psychological and moral fibre of the men, women and children of both the occupying Power and the occupied people. In that connection, I would like to put on record The Elders appreciation for the work of the peace movement in Israel and its brave human rights defenders such as B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence, and the Israeli Committee against House Demolition, as well as the writings of such outstanding authors as Gideon Levy and Uri Avnery.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“As I am sure the Council knows, many today think that the Quartet has outlived its usefulness. Nevertheless, there is a crying and urgent need for the Security Council to play an active role in that regard. The Council might wish to begin by organizing a visit of all its members to Israel and Palestine. Remarkably, considering the longevity of this issue on the Council's agenda, and the frequency of its visits to other conflict zones, there has been no field visit for many decades. On that trip, the members could take the opportunity to talk to all parties, but above all to civil-society representatives in Israel and Palestine.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“But what kind of life is it for them - a densely crowded environment, half-destroyed cities, no work, undrinkable water, electricity available for only a few hours a day when it is available at all, and their basic humanity robbed by constant humiliation and the need to depend for survival on the charity of others? To add insult to injury, the irresponsible failure of the Palestinian leaders, especially those of Fatah and Hamas, to reconcile and unite is a huge hindrance both to the daily life of the people and to the struggle of civil society, prisoners and others to mobilize national, regional and international support for the fight against occupation. Despite James Wolfensohn's personal commitment and commendable efforts, the Quartet achieved little before the appointment of Mr. Tony Blair, and since then has been totally absent.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“There, another dismal milestone is being marked this year, the tenth anniversary of the imposition of a blockade that amounts to collective punishment of all of Gaza's 1.7 million people. I have participated in only one of The Elders visits to Gaza, and that was in 2010. The misery in that unhappy, overcrowded strip of land is difficult to describe and more difficult to endure. A young woman student told us, "Israel put us in a concentration camp. Those who call themselves our leaders are taking away the air we breathe". Only through the tireless efforts of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the World Food Programme and other United Nations agencies, as well as persistent interventions by the Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for the Middle Peace Process, are Gazans able to survive.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“The West Bank is fragmented by the separation wall and a multitude of other Israeli-imposed controls that affect Palestinian dignity and prevent the people from going about their normal business unhindered. The Palestinian population is indeed extremely vulnerable and in desperate need of protection from the international community. That protection should be provided for under international law, notably the Fourth Geneva Convention. Regrettably, however, in the Palestinian territories today the Geneva Conventions are referred to more in the breach than the observance. I would particularly like to draw the Council's attention to the dire situation in the Gaza Strip.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“Yet none of these groups calls on the United States to force this supposed imminent choice, no matter how many times Israel demonstrates that it prefers a different, far easier option: continued occupation." Since 1967, the Palestinian people have endured grave acts of oppression, violence and collective punishment. During that time, Israel has built approximately 125 settlements and more than 100 so- called outposts on occupied Palestinian land, all in violation of international law. They have placed roughly 650,000 illegal settlers in Palestine, with 350,000 in the West Bank and 300,000 in East Jerusalem. They have imprisoned 800,000 Palestinians and destroyed 48,000 homes. They have revoked the residence permits of 250,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza and more than 14,000 in East Jerusalem.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“Together, these three ensure that for the Israeli Government, continuing its occupation is far less costly than the concessions required to end it". I believe that the article implies that there is a fourth pillar sustaining the situation, and that is the near- total paralysis of the Security Council. Which of those pillars might change in order to break the deadlock? Apparently, not America's unconditional support for Israel. Thrall says, "Americans are told that Israel will have to choose, and very soon, to give Palestinians either citizenship or independence, and choose to either remain a democracy or become an apartheid State.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“We fully share Mandela's view that the Palestinians should have their State, that the two States of Israel and Palestine should live side by side in peace and that the security of all States in the region should be assured. The sad reality, however, is that 50 years after the start of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, little of consequence has been done to bring about a viable Palestinian State on those territories. I am sure that many Council members read Nathan Thrall's 2 June article in The New York Times. With regard to the ongoing occupation, he says that this "resilient and eminently sustainable arrangement has stood on three pillars: American backing, Palestinian weakness and Israeli indifference.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“Mr. Brahimi: I am deeply grateful to the President for his kind invitation. I am greatly honoured to be back in this Chamber, this time as a member of The Elders. Our founder, Nelson Mandela, was passionate about Palestine. He spoke about it repeatedly and always forcefully. He discussed his views with Jewish leaders in South Africa and the United States, and he thought he had convinced some of them that his support for the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and freedom was politically and morally right. When he launched The Elders, he gave our group three priorities. Palestine was one of them. In response, The Elders visited Palestine and Israel four times in the past eight years. Neither Prime Minister Netanyahu nor any member of his Government has ever agreed to meet them.”
2017-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7977 (2017) · source
“The damage to the credibility of United Nations on some issues will adversely affect its mediation efforts everywhere. In conclusion, the Organization's universality, its impartiality and its consistent adherence to the principles enshrined in its Charter are the most powerful weapons in a United Nations mediator's arsenal. If you equip your mediators well, if you support them well, then they will be that much more likely to provide the help the victims of war demand and achieve the peace this Council seeks.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“Often, such agreements exclude key parties whose support is needed for the implementation of the agreement, or who do not serve or represent the interests of all the people of the country concerned. The credibility of the United Nations and the world's faith in its relevance suffer greatly when the mediation of certain conflicts is left unattended for long periods of time, or ignored altogether. That is certainly the perception in many parts of the world with respect to the Middle East peace process and several other conflicts. When the Security Council is perceived to be more concerned about the suffering of some than others, selective in the enforcement of its own resolutions, or employing double standards, the credibility of the United Nations as a whole is affected.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“If a political deal is reached easily and without painful compromises by all sides, one should not ask if it will unravel, but when. The mediator, therefore, needs all the help he or she can get, and a United Nations mediator in particular needs much help from the Security Council. That help begins with giving the mediator the time and space he or she needs to work out solutions, to overcome prejudices and to reconcile competing narratives of the conflict. It means resisting pressures to initiate competing mediating efforts and standing firm against pre-cooked or hastily conducted agreements that are imposed from outside or that do not address the core issues.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“The mediators' hand is significantly strengthened when the principles and approaches he or she adheres to in conducting the mediation are seen to be supported by all the members of the Security Council and the membership of this Organization as a whole. That means, in particular, that there must be only one channel of communication with the parties. In mediating the post-election crisis in Kenya, Kofi Annan insisted firmly that no one else interfere, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fully supported that approach. Kofi Annan received much support from every quarter, but everyone accepted his lead and responded to his requests. The result was the remarkable success achieved against almost impossible odds. Impossible odds are generally faced by all mediation efforts. Miracles do not come easily or too often.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“That a mediation should be inclusive and involve dialogue with all parties does not mean that any offence, by anyone, should be condoned or ignored. The outrageous, sickening, criminal destruction of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, just a few days ago, has been rightly condemned by the whole world. I happen to have known some of the victims. They were the doormen, the waiters, the cleaning ladies and other staff of the hotel. They were poor, honest, dignified men and women. All of them were Muslims, working hard to provide for their families. No perpetrator of such an act can claim to be an adherent of Islam, let alone to be acting in its name. Attacks of that nature are cold-blooded mass murders, period. The criminals behind them must not go unpunished. I will now move on to the second key principle, if I may.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“These include far more tangible economic benefits for ordinary people and intensive, ongoing mediation with all concerned. It goes without saying that a mediator should never act to placate his or her own ego, play to the media, or prioritize the interests of external actors. Rather, the mediator should put the concerns and aspirations of the people - all the people - of the country concerned at the forefront. In the case of Afghanistan, the interests of the Afghan people should override those of the United Nations itself, those of NATO, those of the neighbours and those of any other country. If the interests of the people of Afghanistan are thus served, exclusively and properly, we will see that everyone else's interests will be very well served indeed. But let there be no misunderstanding here.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“But we also failed, later, to reach out to many constituencies who might have joined the political process if they had been asked. It should have been clear to us, all along, that those who were absent or kept away would have no stake in the success of the agreement and would obstruct its implementation, and that is exactly what they have done. President Karzai and the United Nations pleaded for an expansion of the International Security Assistance Force, early on, fearful as they were of how vulnerable the peace process would be to violence waged by those excluded from it. In Iraq, Darfur and elsewhere, and in Afghanistan, the obstacles to a durable peace will not be overcome by military means alone. A variety of other tools are equally, if not more, important.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“Straightforward and uncontroversial as these are, it is quite challenging to adhere to them in practice. For example, I believe that the mediator must understand a conflict in all its complexity before passing judgement and taking decisions. He or she should recognize the importance that culture, tradition, pride and even saving face play in all phases of the process. In the short time available, I shall focus only on two of those principles. First, the mediator should include in the peace process all the parties to the conflict without any exception. At the Afghanistan peace talks held in Bonn in 2001, we were under immense pressure to conclude an agreement in just a few days, and it was not possible to pursue a genuinely inclusive political process. Political realities demanded that.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“Regional organizations, including the African Union, have acquired remarkable skills in the field of mediation. They are creatively developing their own cooperation, amongst themselves, with civil society and with the United Nations. A few Governments, some non-governmental organizations and a number of individuals have also successfully mediated conflicts throughout the world and continue to do so. The United Nations, meanwhile, remains the leading actor in this field. In the course of its history, it has achieved many successes, but it certainly can improve further, as members of the Council and the Secretary-General know far better than I do. There are several principles at the heart of United Nations mediation, all of which deserve careful attention.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“Mr. Brahimi: I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for inviting me to address today's open debate. It is a great honour indeed and a particular pleasure to speak during the presidency of a distinguished President from Africa. Our continent, Mr. President, has had more than its fair share of conflicts. Some of those have been resolved, and in other cases the situation has improved. But there is no room for complacency. Far too many of our people are being killed, tortured, harassed, humiliated or sent into exile or internal displacement. Much remains to be done in Africa to end conflict, consolidate peace and create the conditions for sustainable development. The United Nations is doing its part. Witness the deployment of over 100,000 peacekeepers in some 18 missions - the largest share of them on the African continent.”
2008-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5979 (2008) · source
“In particular, funding and civilian capacity are two of the important gaps that need to be addressed most urgently. The manner in which the Council discusses and decides on peacekeeping mandates may contribute significantly to the solution of these problems. The international community spends billions every year on peacekeeping. It is clearly not good enough that, in some cases, we have entered host countries to the sound of the population's cheers, only to bow our heads in disbelief and embarrassment in the face of that same population's disappointment, anger and even hostility a few months later because we have been unable to deliver tangible peace dividends. However, this is not inevitable; we can and should do much better.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“The Secretary-General correctly states that rule-of-law assistance has often overemphasized technical dimensions and paid less attention to political and strategic considerations and that, until national stakeholders see the utility of supporting rule-of-law development, technical assistance will have little impact. The Council does not need to be reminded of the importance of the role that the United Nations plays in helping countries to manage and resolve their conflicts and to rebuild their national institutions and economies. Precious experience has been gained over the years, and United Nations missions perform better today than they did a few years ago. But we must not be complacent. Quite a few missions are struggling to find the right balance between the goals set for them and the resources that they have been able to obtain.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“In that connection, I am pleased to see that the Secretary-General has just issued a new guidance note on a common United Nations approach to the rule of law, which highlights that the role of the United Nations is to facilitate the processes through which various national stakeholders debate and outline the elements of their countries' plans to strengthen the rule of law and secure sustainable justice, and that the aim of United Nations rule-of-law assistance is to help those national stakeholders to develop their own visions, agendas and approaches to reform and programmes. Process, leadership and decision-making must be put in the hands of national stakeholders as early as possible.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“No; what we needed was better and more effective use of our political leverage on that issue. We should have played a stronger and a more proactive political facilitation role in uniting the various national actors behind a common vision and a national plan for strengthening the rule of law in the country.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan is a non- governmental organization that has been active in Afghanistan since the early 1980s. It is funded by the Government and the people of Sweden, and it now employs 8,000 Afghans, including doctors, teachers and engineers. Yet it does not count more than 15 internationals among its staff. The United Nations itself runs very important and successful demining activities, with 7,000 to 8,000 Afghans and only around 20 internationals. I often say that, if I could return to Afghanistan in the year 2001, one of the things I would do differently would be to place priority on strengthening the rule of law. What do I mean by that? Do I mean that we should have had more foreign experts focusing on rule-of-law issues, drafting laws and training judges?”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“I believe that such an approach would move us towards much smaller, more focused missions. At the same time, leaders of peacekeeping missions should not forget that other United Nations entities have preceded them in the country where they themselves have just arrived; those entities may even have been working there for years and years, perhaps decades. The new mission must endeavour to complement - not duplicate or replace - the work of the United Nations agencies already there. Allow me to insist on the importance of the light-footprint approach and on the necessity of systematically exploring the possibility of using local capacity as early and as extensively as possible. Others are doing this; why not the United Nations?”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“Perhaps more important, we must avoid putting together "template" missions that set out complex and ambitious tasks for imagined armies of expert civilians who are to carry out the same laundry list of tasks in dramatically different post-conflict settings. It would pay out handsomely for us to take the time to look at the capacity that exists in-country and to see how the United Nations could partner with domestic institutions, rather than setting up our own heavy and costly structures. To state the obvious once again, mandates must be based on the actual - not the perceived - needs of any given country. We cannot fully understand those needs until we have been present for a while, engaged in a dialogue with leaders and civil society, and until we have, together with them, formed a clear understanding of what is really needed.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“I have the impression that one of the key recommendations contained in the 2000 report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (8/2000/809) is not always fully taken into consideration when peacekeeping mandates are discussed. That is the recommendation that the Council should give the United Nations achievable mandates and ensure that the mission is provided with all the resources - staff, funds and equipment - that are necessary to do the job. We must also ask whether the United Nations, given its conditions of service, will ever attract qualified staff in sufficient numbers. And we must ask whether we will continue to have difficulty persuading qualified individuals, especially women, to work in non-family duty stations.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“Some suggestions have been put on the table, such as having national Governments assist with developing civilian cadres and rosters of rapidly deployable civilians. Those are worthwhile suggestions and they must be explored. I personally believe that the real need is in the field of the rule of law and my favourite option would be for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations itself to be enabled to establish its own roster of retired policemen, judges and so on. I know for a fact that in many countries large and small, in the North and in the South alike, such capacity does exist and awaits to be mobilized, but perhaps those difficulties in identifying experts, along with the lack of programmatic funds for peacekeeping operations, offer a good opportunity to the Council to re-examine its own approach to peacekeeping mandates.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“In Afghanistan, which had been ravaged by 23 years of war, we met countless Afghans with skills that the United Nations could have used. If we had made it a priority at the outset of the mission to recruit Afghans, we could have hired many of them to serve in all parts of the Administration, in Kabul as well as in the provinces, and a very large number of positions within the United Nations mission and agencies might have been filled by locals. Even if we could not find the expertise we needed in the country, there was an Afghan diaspora - at least Smillion-strong ~ most of which was across the border in Pakistan and Iran. The second issue is the size of our missions and the fact that we are never able to recruit our authorized staff in a timely manner. We then attribute many of the mission's failures to the shortfall in staff.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“You will recall, Sir, that we tried to approach our mandate in Afghanistan with what we called a light footprint. That concept is really very simple. We should have as many international staff as we need to get the job done, but not one single staff member more than that. Our goal in the mission, individually and collectively, should be from the outset to work ourselves out of a job. We should not suddenly realize, as our mandate is coming to a close, that we have overlooked the need to build national capacity. That is one area in which I believe we continue to do rather poorly. First, we assume that each country we enter has little or no capacity of its own. Perhaps that is because we do not look hard enough.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“United Nations trust funds have been established in a few missions to make funding available from voluntary contributions. However, 13 per cent of the contributions have to be paid to the United Nations for what are called programme support costs. Nobody has been able to explain to me why such a staggering tax is imposed on those trust funds. It is, fortunately, possible to negotiate a substantial reduction of that tax, but it takes months to bring such negotiations to a fruitful end. It is no wonder that many donors balk at contributing to those trust funds. In addition, missions complain about the cumbersome procedures for accessing funds. As a result, after all these years and struggles, we are still unable to use the trust funds effectively. I now come to the issue of civilian capacity.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“It needed even more ingenuity and the patient support of many dedicated and able ambassadors, including one now present in this Chamber, United States Ambassador Khalilzad. Peacebuilding does not occur just by sending United Nations staff to a country and putting our flags in the ground. Funds are needed. The most complex operations, from Haiti to the Sudan, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Afghanistan, have peacebuilding activities at the very core of their mandates, ranging from police reform and the strengthening of judicial institutions to elections and the refurbishment of prisons, yet they have no allocations in their budgets for those activities. That creates a huge gap at a time when the greatest risk exists of relapse into conflict.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“In Afghanistan, while hundreds of millions were contributed to United Nations agencies in the early days, very little was available directly to the ministries and other national institutions. Besides, I am sure that everyone must have seen the recent Oxfam study that said that a staggering 40 per cent of the funds donated go back to donor countries in the form of salaries for expatriates and the like. Thus, we had to resort to creative measures to establish a mechanism within the Government, with support from donors and the United Nations Development Programme, to ensure that the very modest salaries of all civil servants were paid. That was a real exploit that had to be repeated every month. Rebuilding roads, hospitals and schools had to wait.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“In Afghanistan and elsewhere, United Nations officials are often asked how much of the funds donated to help these countries is actually spent by the United Nations and international non-governmental organizations on themselves and why. They do not understand why the funds pledged to them actually go into two very separate pots - one pot that was intended for the host country and a separate pot that would pay for refurbishing United Nations buildings, purchasing fleets of big white vehicles, and bringing lots of highly paid international staff. As if to add insult to injury, while the pot that pays for refurbishing our own offices, running our generators and paying our own personnel fills up rather quickly, the other pot does not.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“So what did we do? We bought, for each minister, one car, one desk, one chair and one computer. That served only to embarrass the minister in front of his officials because, in his department, there were no desks and no chairs, windows were broken and there was no electricity and no heating. We next embarrassed ourselves when we invited Afghan ministers and other officials to the inauguration of the beautifully refurbished offices of one of our agencies. While Government offices still had no electricity, no heating and no water, that particular building of ours had been redone fast and to the highest international standards. Its transformation did not go unnoticed by the Afghan population.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source
“Looking back to Afghanistan in December 2001, the political challenges were great, but we had one important factor working in our favour - there was enormous international attention focused on the country and a strong commitment to making the peace process succeed. That, we knew, would bring us a lot of good will and political support. Most important, we also expected it to provide us with some cash. As I told the many observers present with us at the Bonn peace talks, we needed to arrive in Kabul with money in a bag - to take it with us - because we had to begin providing some peace dividends soon after our arrival. However, while we had plenty of ideas, we had very little money to pay for them, and I must confess that what little cash we did have we did not always use wisely. For example, we needed to get the ministries up and running.”
2008-05-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5895 (2008) · source