YouSaid · the spoken record

Colonna

lines on the record: 47
first: 2022-09-22
most recent: 2023-10-24
sittings or episodes: 6
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

“The Charter of the United Nations entered into force 78 years ago today. We are here to serve it and to serve the cause of peace. On this difficult day, France calls on everyone to shoulder their responsibilities before the Charter of the United Nations and humankind.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“The President of France wanted to go to Ramallah today after his meetings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He just arrived and is meeting with President Abbas at this very moment. We must all mobilize to find a political path forward. The Security Council must be able to exercise its responsibility in that regard. It is high time that it unambiguously condemn Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel; call for respect for international law, including humanitarian law; and demand the delivery of aid to the people of Gaza. That is why France voted in favour of draft resolution S/2023/773 presented by Brazil — and I thank for Brazil for its commitment and efforts — and why France will continue to support any Council initiative that is fair and based on our common principles. The Council must act now.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“We must take action to recreate the conditions conducive to a lasting political solution that can meet the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians and the Israelis to live in peace — not pitted against each other, but side by side. The conditions for this lasting peace are well known. They are indispensable guarantees to Israel for its security and a State for the Palestinians. The only viable solution is a two-State solution. That is what France has always defended and will continue to defend. I reiterated that in Cairo on Saturday. President Macron will say it again today to the Israelis, Palestinians and regional partners. We must continue to support the Palestinian Authority and even strengthen it with a view to a decisive renewal of the political process with all parties involved.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“France is also chartering a special flight with 50 tons of emergency humanitarian aid for the Palestinians to assist the efforts undertaken by Egypt, which we encourage. Our total assistance to the Palestinians will thus reach nearly €110 million by 2023. We also have a duty to prevent a conflagration in the region. France is committed to preventing the spread of this conflict. Certain players must refrain from attempting to take advantage of the current situation. We are telling them in no uncertain terms. We are warning them against any interference in the conflict, which could trigger a downward spiral. A conflagration would not benefit anyone in the region or beyond. The gravity of the situation reminds us that among our duties is the essential duty to pave the way for peace.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“The Secretary-General has rightly said that the entry of those trucks is a matter of life and death for the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. The number of those convoys must be increased. More must be done, as the needs are immense. Every civilian counts. Every minute counts. France is committed to addressing the humanitarian emergency. Just as the European Union has done, France has increased its humanitarian assistance. Since 7 October, it has contributed €20 million in additional humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza, through the efforts of United Nations agencies, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross and humanitarian non-governmental organizations. I pay tribute to them, as well as to the resolute efforts of the Secretary-General.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“Any loss of civilian life is a tragedy. To that end, we must ensure safe, swift, unhindered and sustainable humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip. We must also ensure respect for international humanitarian law and its principles, which I would recall here: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. Lastly, we must also call for a humanitarian truce that, ultimately, will lead to a ceasefire. I talked about that in Cairo on Friday, at the Cairo peace summit, organized by Egypt, whose efforts I commend. Our Prime Minister reiterated it yesterday in the French Parliament. Since Saturday, several humanitarian convoys were able to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. More of them must continue to enter Gaza.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“The President of the French Republic reiterated that today in Israel. I went there nine days ago and saw the pain and the suffering of the Israeli people. Israel has the right to defend itself, the duty to do so — while respecting international law, in particular international humanitarian law — and therefore to protect civilians. We all also know that Hamas does not at all represent Palestinians. In the Gaza Strip, where Hamas reigns with terror and holds the population hostage, it only brings suffering and violence from the fighting and a horrific humanitarian crisis. Given the humanitarian crisis, our duty, and that of Israel, is to ensure that civilians, including women and children in Gaza, are provided, on an ongoing basis, with basic necessities, such as water, food, medicine and fuel. Civilian lives must be protected.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“No one can challenge the fact that on 7 October, Hamas, a terrorist group, launched an offensive against a Member State of the United Nations — Israel. France was also affected by the terrorist attack — 30 of our citizens lost their lives, and nine others are missing or being held hostage. I reiterate our call for all hostages to be released immediately, without conditions. Children, including French children, are presumably being held hostage today in Gaza. No one in the Council must accept that. All hostages must be released. In the light of the attack, I would like to reiterate that France stands in solidarity with Israel and firmly supports its security. Israel has the right to security. Israel has the right to defend itself and protect its people so that such an attack never happens again.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“Ms. Colonna (France) (spoke in French): I thank the Secretary-General, his Personal Representative and Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, and the Deputy Special Coordinator for their briefings to the Council. I welcome the Secretary-General’s personal commitment, given the very worrisome and, frankly, dangerous situation. It is worrisome in terms of the humanitarian aspect and dangerous because of the risk of conflagration in the region. The Council must act now and shoulder its responsibilities. It is its duty — it is our duty. We have the duty to unequivocally condemn the terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas and other terrorist groups against Israel — a large-scale, inhumane and reprehensible attack, and an attack on civilians, who were murdered in cold blood, tortured and raped.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451 (2023) · source
“In recent months, Prime Minister Pashinyan has shown his sense of responsibility, his desire for de-escalation and his commitment to reaching a negotiated solution with Azerbaijan, based on recognition and respect for the territorial sovereignty of both of the two countries, within clearly delimited and demilitarized borders. France is mobilized and will continue to be so, within the Council as in all relevant forums, for a just and lasting peace in the South Caucasus, to the benefit of all the peoples of the region. France stands ready to work with all those pursuing the same objective.”
2023-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9422 (2023) · source
“The Council must contribute actively to resolving the crisis. It must defend the principles of the Charter and international security by providing its active support for defining the parameters of a solution negotiated between Baku and the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. It must clearly state its determination to ensure respect for international law at all times and everywhere, and it must remain vigilant against any attempt to drag Armenia into these tragic events and to use them as a pretext to call into question its territorial integrity.”
2023-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9422 (2023) · source
“This is unfortunately not the first time that France has alerted the Council to the seriousness of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. This is not the first time that France has called on the Council to mobilize to avoid a human tragedy and a worsening of this crisis, which threatens to profoundly destabilize the South Caucasus region. The events of recent days confirm it: we cannot remain passive and look away from what is currently happening in Nagorno-Karabakh, lest we become complicit in the mass exodus of a population that is already very hard-hit. As the Council is aware, several reports indicate that since yesterday, there are many currently preparing to depart, while almost 10 per cent of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh has been displaced owing to the offensive launched by Azerbaijan on 19 September.”
2023-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9422 (2023) · source
“If Azerbaijan is truly interested in reaching a peaceful negotiated solution it must now provide tangible guarantees. It must engage in good faith in the discussions, excluding any use of force or any threat of the use of force and accepting that the dialogue concerns rights and guarantees for the population, with the support of the international community. It must ensure amnesty for the forces that accepted the ceasefire. It must restore, without delay and unconditionally, traffic through the Lachin corridor, in accordance with the order issued by the International Court of Justice on 22 February 2023, which has since been confirmed by the Court. Finally, it must accept an international humanitarian presence in Nagorno-Karabakh. Doing so is essential as winter approaches. Without those guarantees, there can be no solution.”
2023-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9422 (2023) · source
“What is at stake is the possibility for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to be able to continue to live there with respect for their rights, their history and their culture. Such a guarantee cannot exist when the strongest exercise deliberate coercion on the weakest, when the threat of permanent military intervention looms and when Nagorno-Karabakh has been the object of a blockade for several months now that prevents people from accessing food, medicine and energy. France took note of President Aliyev’s remarks yesterday affirming his desire to live in peace with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and preserve their rights. Those words commit Azerbaijan, which today bears responsibility for the fate of the population.”
2023-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9422 (2023) · source
“With the greatest firmness, France immediately condemned that unacceptable offensive that contravenes the principle of the peaceful settlement of disputes as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. And France is far from alone; many countries around this table have also expressed their clear rejection of violence and arbitrariness and called on Azerbaijan to show restraint and comply with international law. As was to be feared, the results of those actions took a particularly heavy toll, causing several hundred injuries and dozens of deaths, including among civilians, including many children. A ceasefire was announced yesterday, which was essential. It is also essential that it be respected. It is not the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan that is at stake here. Nobody disputes it, and nobody is threatening it.”
2023-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9422 (2023) · source
“Ms. Colonna (France) (spoke in French): I thank Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča for his briefing. France requested the holding of this emergency meeting of the Security Council given the seriousness of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. After having amassed a large quantity of troops and military equipment for several weeks, on 19 September Azerbaijan decided to launch a large-scale military operation, which mobilized massive land and air resources and affected the civilian population. It was an operation that no one could believe was not premeditated, even as efforts towards a negotiated solution had intensified the day before and the delivery of humanitarian aid had resumed for the first time in three months.”
2023-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9422 (2023) · source
“The primacy the rule of law over the rule of force, international solidarity and support for those most in need are principles that lie at the heart of President Zelenskyy’s peace formula. That is why, with every passing day, more and more of us endorse it. I call on all States that have not yet done so to work towards that goal.”
2023-09-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9421 (2023) · source
“On 21 September, like on every day since the beginning of the war, France will mobilize to ensure that this aggression fails, for the good of us all. France will continue to act in accordance with our common principles. The first such principle is self- defence, as set forth in the Charter. We will continue to provide Ukraine with military and civilian support to help it resist this aggression and defend itself. The second principle is justice and dignity. We will continue to support Ukrainian and international courts to ensure that there is no impunity for the crimes committed by Russia. The third principle is solidarity. We will continue and increase concrete support for the countries hardest hit by the global food crisis caused by Russia, and we will boost our humanitarian aid to people in need all over the world.”
2023-09-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9421 (2023) · source
“Everyone understands that pitting the aggressor against the aggressor does not bring peace, justice or stability. If we allow Russian aggression to be rewarded today, let us make no mistake, we will have to reconvene the Council because other aggressions will occur, here or elsewhere, and no one will be safe anymore. Almost all the countries around this table have, in their more or less recent history, experienced the trauma of war. They have experienced first-hand the destruction and human tragedy that war brings. They know that war is never a solution. Tomorrow we celebrate the International Day of Peace, as we do every 21 September. In that context, all of us here have both a responsibility and a moral duty to act to put an end to Russia’s aggression, as expressly requested by the General Assembly.”
2023-09-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9421 (2023) · source
“It is a war against the shared heritage of humankind — be it cultural heritage, which Russia is targeting in Odesa and elsewhere, or global food security, with the sudden and cynical termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and more than 270,000 tonnes of grain systematically destroyed by Russian bombing in August alone. For a member of the Council to use hunger as a weapon is yet another transgression, following on a litany of others, in the moral framework within which should frame our action. This is a war that concerns us all. That is why we will not waver. In the face of this aggression and the destabilization it is causing throughout the world, only a handful of States — and what States they are — support Russia’s catastrophic choices. The General Assembly, like the Council, is largely united around our common principles.”
2023-09-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9421 (2023) · source
“Yes, this war is a war against Ukraine, against the Ukrainian people, but it is also a war against the rules of international life. For it is a war against the most fundamental principles of our shared Charter of the United Nations: first and foremost, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States. It is a war against the very idea of the United Nations. It is a war against the foundations of our collective security, at a time when Russia has harnessed the security of civilian nuclear facilities as a lever to advance its aggression.”
2023-09-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9421 (2023) · source
“On 24 February 2022, Russia chose to engage in a war of aggression against a sovereign State, in violation of all its international commitments and the principles, which, for eight decades, have governed relations among nations — a war with no other motivation than the Russian desire to revive a fantasized imperial past, even though that has been condemned by history. Ukraine is obviously the primary victim of this war. Ukraine and its people are suffering atrocities, crimes, bombings and torture on a daily basis. Thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken from their families and transferred to the Russian Federation. That is an abomination. Ukrainian women, men and children have been subjected to mass rape, which has been used as a weapon of war — another crime.”
2023-09-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9421 (2023) · source
“Ms. Colonna (France) (spoke in French): I would like to thank the Secretary-General for his statement. I would like to begin by applauding the statement delivered by the President of the Republic of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. For more than 18 months, he has embodied and led the Ukrainian nation, giving a face and a voice to the millions of Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom with admirable courage. His appeal to the Security Council, whose mandate is focused on international peace and security, is something we must respond to.”
2023-09-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9421 (2023) · source
“We will also remain committed to the protection of civilians and to helping the nearly 18 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. Ukraine, a country that was attacked when it posed no threat whatsoever to Russia, continues to seek dialogue, and has placed all these principles at the heart of its vision for peace, which has been constantly reiterated since last year. That is why we support it. This support will last for as long as it takes.”
2023-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9380 (2023) · source
“But our efforts will only be meaningful if they create the conditions for a just and lasting peace, in keeping with the Charter’s fundamental principles of State sovereignty and territorial integrity. Let us be clear: any solution that endorses Russia’s illegal annexation of whole swathes of Ukrainian territory will only pave the way for future conflict. To think otherwise would be a fatal mistake. We must respond to this aggression, which has violated all the principles in which we believe at the United Nations, with solutions based on law and justice. That is why the fight against impunity for Russia’s crimes in Ukraine is so important. That is why the safety and security of Ukraine’s civilian nuclear facilities is a priority, at a time when Russia is irresponsibly endangering them by occupying Zaporizhzhya.”
2023-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9380 (2023) · source
“While Russia deploys its militias to plunder the resources of the African continent, France has increased its development partnerships and become the world’s fourth largest donor of official aid. And while Russia is unacceptably engaging in blackmail in the renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and while it is Russia that is hindering freedom of movement in the Black Sea, the European Union is pursuing and improving its “solidarity corridors”, which have enabled the export of over 38 million tons of grain. After 500 days of an illegal, unjustifiable and doomed war of aggression, it is essential that we step up our advocacy for peace. In this respect, I would like to salute the many initiatives that have emerged in recent weeks. They show that attachment to the ideal that founded the United Nations remains widely shared.”
2023-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9380 (2023) · source
“Let there be no doubt: if we allow this aggression to bring rewards, other aggressions will follow, in Ukraine or elsewhere. While this war concerns all of us in this Chamber, its consequences weigh heavily on populations the world over, particularly those in the poorest and most vulnerable countries. The Russian aggression is having too many negative consequences everywhere. While Russia pretends to show solidarity but offers nothing to help others, on 22 and 23 June 3 in Paris, we organized the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, which produced concrete results, including on debt management, and set a clear course for leveraging funding for the countries that need it most.”
2023-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9380 (2023) · source
“What is happening in Ukraine concerns all our States, because that aggression, which openly calls into question the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, creates the risk of setting a precedent, and the way we respond to it will largely determine our collective stability and security in the decades to come. All those who may be inclined to think that this war is too far away, that it is a European issue, or that it does not concern them, must understand that. If we allow force to take precedence over the law, for sovereignty and territorial integrity to be violated with impunity and for the aggressor and the aggressed to be placed on an equal footing, we will be contributing to creating the conditions for other wars.”
2023-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9380 (2023) · source
“We founded the United Nations at the end of the Second World War by making a collective commitment: to ensure that the horrors of war would never be repeated, to give priority to the peaceful settlement of disputes and to respect common rules and principles to govern relations between States. It is those principles and rules that Russia — despite being a permanent member of the Council with a special responsibility as such — has chosen to violate in committing its senseless aggression against a neighbouring country.”
2023-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9380 (2023) · source
“Ms. Colonna (France) (spoke in French): The Security Council met at the ministerial level on 24 February (see S/PV.9269), after 365 days of an abominable war chosen by Russia alone. The day before, the General Assembly had called once again on Russia to cease its aggression (see A/ES-11/PV.19), but it has continued. Russia has now been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than 500 days. For 500 days, it has been destroying, bombing and deliberately targeting civilian populations and infrastructure. For 500 days, it has been committing abuses and war crimes, abducting and deporting thousands of children, using rape as a weapon of war and torturing and killing people. That is 500 days too many.”
2023-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9380 (2023) · source
“That is why we and our partners will continue to give Ukraine the support it needs for as long as it takes, because there will be no peace and stability anywhere if aggression is rewarded — no peace and stability anywhere. One year on, Russian aggression must stop. The rules of international law must at last be respected, and Ukraine must regain its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The International Court of Justice demanded it on 16 March 2022. We therefore call on Russia to finally show itself worthy of its responsibilities as a permanent member of the Security Council and put an immediate end to its war of aggression against Ukraine.”
2023-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9269 (2023) · source
“It is one year later, and the facts are clear: there is an aggressor, Russia, which denies its responsibilities, and an aggressee, Ukraine, which defends itself but also speaks of peace and has made a proposal to that end respectful of the principles of our shared Charter and the values of the Organization, which are the foundation of our collective security. This is the path to be followed that the General Assembly, by a very large majority of 141 States, called for yesterday (General Assembly resolution ES-11/6), as it has done in recent months in resolutions condemning Russian aggression and illegal annexations. Ukraine is exercising its right to defence, a right recognized by the United Nations Charter.”
2023-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9269 (2023) · source
“Accordingly, we again call on the United Nations to investigate Iran’s transfers of drones to Russia and North Korea’s deliveries of missiles and ammunition to Russia. For a year, Russia has been using nuclear rhetoric irresponsible for a nuclear-weapon State and endangering the safety of Ukrainian power plants, which it has not hesitated to occupy to support its aggression. I therefore would like to commend the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency and its Director General to ensure the safety and security of the Zaporizhzhya plant and other nuclear power plants in Ukraine. One year on, many countries are forced to deal with growing food insecurity and energy price pressures as a direct result of the Russian war.”
2023-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9269 (2023) · source
“It has been one year of inhuman suffering for the Ukrainian people, whose resistance and courage commands admiration; one year of war crimes and crimes against humanity; one year of abuses, executions, shelling of civilian targets, torture, rape, abductions and deportations of children; and one year of systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, crimes that the International Criminal Court is investigating and for which it will, when the time comes, establish the responsibilities of both the perpetrators and their sponsors. It has been one year, and millions of lives have been stolen, destroyed or disrupted. It has been a year in which Russia has blatantly violated numerous Security Council resolutions. This is the case, for example, with resolution 2231 (2015), on Iran.”
2023-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9269 (2023) · source
“Ms. Colonna (France) (spoke in French): I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this meeting and to express my special thanks to the Secretary-General and Mr. Dmytro Kuleba for their statements. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine. It had already occupied part of the country’s territory for eight years. It did so with no other justification than its obsessive desire to resurrect the past — which had nonetheless been condemned by history — and since then, it has used the most extreme violence to deny the identity of a country and a people. Today marks one year of Russia sowing death and destruction, one year — 365 long days — of it flagrantly violating the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, even though it is a permanent member of the Security Council.”
2023-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9269 (2023) · source
“I now call on the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“The time may seem long for the victims and their families, but they must be certain that those crimes will not go unpunished. We owe it to them. It is not only our safety that is at stake, but also the universal principles that bind us. I now resume my functions as President of the Council. I call on the Prime Minister of Norway.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future.” (The Gulag Archipelago, pp.177-178) In writing those lines, Solzhenitsyn was referring to the decades of crimes committed by the Soviet Union on its own territory. Unfortunately, those words aptly describe the crimes committed today by Russia outside its borders. The International Criminal Court is investigating facts that, according to its Prosecutor, could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. We will see what its conclusions are. But as of today, we can and must say that those responsible will be identified, prosecuted and, ultimately, tried.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“The same manipulation is at work when we speak of referendums in territories that have been conquered by force and subjected to terror, as well as when some threaten us with the possibility of using all means possible, while we, together with others, refuse to participate in any escalation whatsoever. Faced with those who deprive words of their meaning, our task, our duty, our work, what we do around the Council table, is also to restore meaning. In conclusion, I would like to quote a Russian author. “We have to condemn publicly the very idea that some people have the right to repress others.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“Therefore, the regulation of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation was modified under the French presidency of the Council of the European Union to allow the International Criminal Court to participate in joint investigation teams that bring together several national jurisdictions, including the jurisdiction of Ukraine. What we are doing makes sense. We are combating impunity, but we are also defending the integrity of our international order. Russia’s choice of war under false pretexts and its blatant manipulation of a concept as serious as genocide — which is the crime of all crimes, a crime that, following the Second World War, justified the development of the international criminal justice project — is deeply disturbing. The International Court of Justice itself noted the abusive nature of that false assertion.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“For three months, they helped the Ukrainian justice system to meticulously and patiently establish the facts, and we donated a mobile laboratory for DNA analysis. Now that new atrocities in Izyum have been revealed to the world, we just decided to send another mission to support the investigators on site — because, while Russia is using disinformation and propaganda, justice must be based on facts. Of course, we have also supported the International Criminal Court. We have provided both financial and human support, by providing judges and investigators, while maintaining strict respect for the Court’s independence. Finally, our support extends to all jurisdictions, which must be able to easily cooperate with each other.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“This is the first time that so many States have referred a situation to the Court, which is a sign of the importance that we collectively attach to what is at stake. As the Council knows, the Court itself will act in complementarity with the Ukrainian justice system, as well as with the other national jurisdictions concerned, including the French courts and those of several States present at this meeting. In that context, justice must be done. France is therefore working with many other partners to strengthen, in all the jurisdictions, the collection of evidence and reliable information. That is why France has taken very concrete action. As soon as the information on the crimes committed in Bucha became known, in April, we sent two teams of investigators to Ukraine.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“If everything is permissible here, then it will be even more permissible elsewhere, and the possibility of a war of aggression will only grow. Justice, ultimately, is a political imperative. We will have to ensure that individuals be held accountable for the crimes for which they are responsible, regardless of whether they committed them, ordered them or planned them. But it is the very idea that such crimes, such attacks on our common humanity, are possible, that must be fought in word and in deed. For that, a framework has been established, that of a professional and specialized justice system. At its peak, 43 States, including France, have referred a matter to the International Criminal Court.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“The war, which began on 24 February, has also been accompanied by abuse and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. We have seen many violations of the laws of war and many actions for which there must be accountability. In Bucha, Chernihiv and in so many other places, unspeakable crimes were committed. The liberation of Izyum also uncovered new atrocities committed by the torturers. The message of France today is simple — justice must be our common imperative. There can be no peace without justice. Justice, of course, is an imperative for the victims, each of whom has the right to recognition and reparations for all their suffering. Justice is also an imperative of international security, and I say that to those who see this war as just another conflict.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“I thank Prosecutor Khan for his briefing. I shall now make a statement in my capacity as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France. It is with a great sense of gravity that I take the floor at this meeting dedicated to the situation in Ukraine and, more particularly, to the crimes committed there. The aggression that Russia decided to launch alone against a sovereign State, Ukraine, whose only fault was to want to live freely, constitutes a flagrant violation of the fundamental norms of our common charter, the Charter of the United Nations. The non-use of force, the peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of States are principles to which we around the Council table all subscribed . Each of those principles was blatantly violated.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“Their presence today underscores the importance of the subject matter under discussion. I now give the floor to His Excellency Secretary- General António Guterres.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representatives of Belarus, Czechia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Türkiye and Ukraine to participate in this meeting. In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite Mr. Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to participate in this meeting. In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite His Excellency Mr. Josep Borrell Fontelles, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I wish to warmly welcome the Secretary-General and the Prime Minister, Ministers and other high-level representatives.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source