YouSaid · the spoken record

Egeland

lines on the record: 421
first: 2003-12-09
most recent: 2022-01-27
sittings or episodes: 20
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

“Remember that the Syrian refugees who recently sheltered in the 73-year-old Shatila camp for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon met the fourth generation of refugees, Palestinians born there, because the Security Council did not do what it should have done for the Palestinians to enable them to return in the 1950s. We need independent monitoring of returns and conditions in areas of return in Syria according to international standards in a scale-up and diversification of legal aid programming. I shall end there. We are ready to do our part to rebuild hopes and futures for Syrian children, but we need the Council’s help to do so.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“After more than a decade of crisis, displaced Syrians deserve solutions and hope. But there are still no real relocation programmes to third countries; there is little chance of integration where refugees have received protection; and conditions inside Syria are still not conducive to a mass return. Human rights groups have documented how some returnees have been detained and tortured. Hundreds of thousands have only rubble and destitution to return to, and there is no system for monitoring, assisting, protecting and supporting those who do return. We call for the cooperation of all members of the Council to give options for Syrian refugees.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“We urge a rethink by donor Governments, development agencies and the private sector. Counter- terrorism measures and sanctions have similarly prevented the timely supply of critical machines, training, commodities and consumables. We therefore welcome the recent United States Government amendments on humanitarian general licences, but we need action on bank de-risking challenges and help to reduce the impact of sanctions on fuel, electricity and the public and private sectors. The seventh and final point is on solutions for refugees. The first Syrian refugee babies — and we were witnesses to that — were born in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and in Jordan’s Zaatari camp. Those babies are now 10 years old. They have never seen the land of their ancestors. Their chances of reclaiming the property of their families are reduced each year.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“We urge for unimpeded access for the maintenance of the northern Allouk water station to ensure its continuity for half a million people reliant on that water. We ask all actors to respect water-sharing agreements and to ensure that water is not used as a political bargaining chip. The sixth point is that we must rebuild civilian rubble. Civilians affected by war have the right to assistance and essential services, irrespective of who controls the territory. That is similar all over the world. Yet any longer-term programming for the rebuilding of homes, schools and services inside Syria has become highly politicized, in particular what may be termed reconstruction. Children’s schools and basic services should not be held hostage to progress in political negotiations elsewhere.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“An essential lifeline to millions of Syrians and the protection of thousands of humanitarian workers are at stake. The Security Council therefore needs to ensure a continued United Nations-led cross-border response from Turkey, while also improving conditions for cross-line responses out of Damascus and ensuring a continued transparent accounting of aid delivery in Syria. I urge the Council to engage with all parties in control of territory to reduce bureaucratic impediments to a cross-line response. Fifthly, on water, millions of Syrians are devastated by severe drought and the reduction of water from the Euphrates River. The bombing of a water station on 2 January has worsened critical access to water for people in Idlib city. We call on all parties to ensure that water infrastructure is not attacked.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“The United Nations-led deconfliction system for Syria needs to be relaunched, with rebuilt trust among humanitarian and medical actors and with the participation of all relevant parties, including Russia. To be effective, the system needs continuous monitoring of both the purely civilian nature of deconflicted sites and the monitoring and reporting of all attacks, including near-misses. There must be immediate investigations of attacks and accountability for potential war crimes. The fourth point is on cross-border and cross-line relief. As Martin Griffiths again mentioned, the United Nations-led cross-border operation to the north-west must continue beyond July. It cannot be replaced by us in a non-governmental-organization-led response or by cross-line programming at this time.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“Neighbouring countries, in particular Turkey, already generously host millions of refugees. Now is not the time to close borders. Now is the time for all, including Europe and others, to jointly shoulder the responsibility to ensure that Syrian civilians are granted their right to protection and asylum, in accordance with the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Thirdly, on deconfliction, hospitals, displacement camps, apartment buildings and markets are still bombed and attacked in Syria in blatant violation of international humanitarian law. Deconfliction is the tool that we, as humanitarians, have to ensure that conflict parties, with air forces and heavy weapons, are aware of — and therefore must actively protect — civilian, medical and humanitarian sites.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“The humanitarian space and action need to be depoliticized so that we can reach all people in need. Secondly, we can, and must, prevent a bloodbath in Idlib. Three million people who are extremely vulnerable live in opposition-controlled areas in the north-west. Tents were buried in snow there last week. We cannot have a war in what is, in reality, a gigantic string of displacement camps. We should remember that many of the fighters and their families were sent to Idlib on buses from besieged areas elsewhere as part of negotiated agreements. All conflict parties, including the Russian and Syrian Governments, and those who can influence armed opposition groups, including Turkey, must renew their efforts with United Nations mediators to reach a negotiated solution and prevent a potential bloodbath.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“Syrian civilians feel prisoners of a human-made, political stalemate that has crippled hope among children and youth. We ask for help from Council members and influential Powers with parties and actors in the region in the following areas. Forgive me for being blunt, but I think that the situation demands it. First, on access, humanitarian work is still hampered by administrative, logistical, legal and physical barriers in virtually all parts of Syria. We need more effective humanitarian diplomacy with parties and actors so that our aid can reach all Syrians in need. Russia and others can help on the Government side, where we are, for example, still unable to provide legal aid to displaced people and returnees to Syria. Turkey, the United States and others can help with the de facto authorities in opposition-controlled areas.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“Mr. Egeland: I returned to Syria yet again in December, travelling to Dara’a in the south, which was recently struck by renewed armed conflict, as well as Damascus and eastern Ghouta. While Syria has faded from the international headlines, the situation on the ground has become dramatically worse. The armed conflict continues to cause death, destruction and displacement among civilians, as we saw in recent days in the north-east, as just described by Mr. Griffiths. At the same time, the economic crisis, exacerbated by drought, is now so deep that families had this recurrent message when I met them: “We have gone from war to hell.” The gap between assessed needs and the humanitarian funding that we have available continues to grow. We have virtually no funding for early recovery.”
2022-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8957 (2022) · source
“I should like also to thank the non-governmental organizations, the United Nations agencies and all of the partners that have developed the agenda for the protection of civilians and have made humanitarian work more 20 effective in these last, long and tough but very rewarding years.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577Resumption1 (2006) · source
“There are virtually hundreds, if not thousands, of civil society groups and non-governmental organizations following this, in the east, in the west, in the north and in the south. I have been heartened to see that an overwhelming majority of Member States now believe that this is the core of what the United Nations is all about. As this is my swan song, I should like to thank you, Mr. President, and the members of the Council for your kind words. I should like to thank the secretariat of the Security Council for always helping us. I should like thank my staff, which has been writing all of these long drafts for me to be presented here.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577Resumption1 (2006) · source
“When I started my work, the worst cases of abuses of civilian populations were found in pockets of southern Sudan, in eastern Congo, in northern Uganda and in Liberia. In all of those cases, we have made progress. But the situation has become worse in other areas. In those other areas, including Darfur, Gaza and Iraq, there has not been any united action, at either the national or the international level, to put an end to the suffering of the civilian population. Only through re- achieving unity of purpose and unity of action will we be able to make progress on these issues. I have been heartened to see growing support for the agenda of the protection of civilians.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577Resumption1 (2006) · source
“So in 2007 we will really be back to the darkest ages in terms of not protecting civilian populations. And it is really a question of crimes against humanity and war crimes - in certain cases amounting to genocide. I will on my many missions never forget the abused women of eastern Congo, the kidnapped children of northern Uganda, the camp population in Darfur or the relatives of the killed civilians in Iraq and the Palestinian areas and elsewhere. There is, of course, one major remedy to this situation, and that is united action, as so many have stated today - united action by all internal actors, their Governments, civil society and all military and armed groups, as well as united international action.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577Resumption1 (2006) · source
“Mr. Egeland: This has been another day of sitting and listening to many good interventions and proposals and, first and foremost, the expressions of support of Security Council members for what we are trying to do to protect civilians. Certainly the good news is that that there are fewer conflicts and we are probably doing better humanitarian work, better peacekeeping work and better good offices mediation work in the United Nations than ever before. We are making progress overall. The bad news is that the armed men in the remaining armed conflicts, wars and internal strife are more ruthless than ever. They are better armed than ever, and their whole purpose seems to be to make the situation as bad as possible for the defenceless civilian population.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577Resumption1 (2006) · source
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Council for their attention to these issues of grave and mutual concern today and throughout the duration of my tenure as Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. In times of difficulty for humanitarian access overall, my access to the Council has always been impeccable. Together, we can make a continued positive difference. We cannot afford to fail.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“My Office is working with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to develop preliminary guidance, and efforts are also under way to work with regional organizations to better define their role in the protection of civilians. It is important to expand our notions of the protection role that peacekeeping operations can play, not only through the provision of physical protection, but through supporting civil order, the restoration of judicial systems and the strengthening of the rule of law. We must also ensure, along with our colleagues in peacekeeping and political affairs, that we are able to develop and draw on the skills of regional organizations.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“The establishment of the Central Emergency Response Fund is a significant advance, and will help us to make headway towards ensuring a predictable humanitarian response to acute protection crises. However, the impact of more predictable humanitarian funding will be limited if there is insufficient funding for peace mediation, peacebuilding or peacekeeping operations to address their mandated protection responsibilities. I urge the Council to ensure that appropriate and adequate resources are available to peacekeeping missions that enable missions to discharge their responsibilities for the protection of civilians in all phases of a mission's mandate. My final concern is to ensure that sufficient guidance and support are provided for peacekeeping operations.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“International protection, whether by peacekeepers or humanitarians, can be only an interim response. Civilians will continue to suffer until protection is complemented by conflict prevention, conflict resolution and political solutions. It is important to ensure that humanitarian negotiation and mediation skills continue to be actively deployed even in the seemingly most intransigent environments. I welcome the efforts that have been taken to strengthen the capacity of the Department of Political Affairs, as well as the introduction of the Peacemaker Initiative. Our close cooperation with that Initiative will be key to ensuring that protection concerns are adequately reflected in peace processes and mediation initiatives. Fourthly, there is a need for comprehensive, predictable funding.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“My Office remains committed to establishing effective monitoring systems to assist the Council. We will be able to provide a systematic analysis of protection trends, and we are establishing a comprehensive information management system for the protection of civilians. Secondly, the Security Council must make more effective use of the mechanisms at its disposal to prevent violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law. Targeted sanctions can be used more effectively to support the creation of a more secure environment for the civilian population by sending a clear message to the perpetrators that such violations are unacceptable. Thirdly, conflict mediation and the timely and effective use of good offices constitute a critical tool at our disposal, which we must engage at the earliest opportunity.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“I would like to stress the importance of the continued dialogue with the authorities of Myanmar under the Secretary-General's good-offices mandate. I hope that those discussions will yield tangible results in the near future. In conclusion, the opportunities to strengthen the protection of civilians lie in the hands of the Council. I urge members to firmly exploit the opportunities and use the tools at their disposal. I will leave the Council with five issues as future priorities. First, I urge the Council to remain committed to regular thematic briefings and debriefings following the field missions of my successors, briefings by my colleagues, and consultations with non-governmental organizations under the Arria formula. That will equip the Council with the best information available to facilitate its decisions.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“The number of displaced persons has doubled since 2004, and an unprecedented two thirds of the population is now in need of emergency assistance. In Uganda, systematic advocacy and the concerted attention of the Council have begun to bear fruit, as the current fragile dialogue with the Government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army have led to the first prolonged cessation of hostilities this decade. Thirdly, let me just mention the countries that must concern us because they are the ones where we see the re-emergence of concern for the protection of civilians. I have already expressed my concerns about the serious threat to civilian protection in Sri Lanka. Myanmar now has a displaced population of over half a million people to whom humanitarian access is severely restricted, and the situation remains of serious concern.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“More than 400,000 Somalis live in deplorable conditions after having endured multiple displacements, years of drought and, now, massive flooding. The rising tension between the Islamic Courts and neighbouring forces may lead to even more catastrophic conflict. With improvements in security in some parts of the country, I am concerned that the United Nations policy of non-engagement with the Islamic Courts will bind the hands and feet of the humanitarian agencies, preventing us from meeting our humanitarian mandate to provide assistance to those most in need, wherever they are. In Darfur, I deeply regret that, despite one of the largest humanitarian operations in the world and massive, sustained advocacy, civilians continue to be subjected to rape, murder and repeated forced displacement.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“The worst aspects of the protection crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories are reflected in the deaths of more than 110 children under the age of 17 this year - more than twice the number of deaths in 2005. The complex nature of those conflicts and the use of terror seriously challenge our capability to ensure the protection of civilians. But that should not deter members from challenging the disproportionate use of force, attacks against protected civilian installations and restrictions on humanitarian access and operations, whenever they occur. During my tenure as Emergency Relief Coordinator, I have repeatedly come before the Council to highlight the neglected protection concerns in Somalia.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Otherwise, where mandates are short-sighted and the foundations of stable recovery are deeply flawed, we will find ourselves repeatedly returning to unfinished work, as we have now done for the fifth time in Haiti. My second category includes those many countries that face widespread and chronic protection crises resulting from repeated cycles of violence. We must now recognize that the conflict related to the Middle East crisis has become so deeply entrenched that it has created one of the world's most serious protection crises. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that there are at least 1.2 million refugees from Iraq living in neighbouring countries, with unconfirmed figures indicating that 40,000 to 60,000 people a month are crossing into Syria seeking refuge, with totally inadequate support.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“In countries emerging from conflict, such as Angola, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Southern Sudan, protection concerns remain, even though emergency relief may no longer be our most pressing priority. In such situations, the Council must recognize that protection needs relate more specifically to issues of reconciliation, transitional justice and land or property rights. The inequalities and perceived injustices that stem from violations of human rights, if left to fester, will challenge sustainable peace and security. Missions need to be properly resourced in their final phases, and protection-of-civilians indicators need to be used to better define those resources.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“I welcome the recent presidential statement from the Council (S/PRST/2006/45) calling upon the LRA to immediately release all children, women and non- combatants. The situation in Sri Lanka is also particularly disturbing, with repeated reports of continuing recruitment. I hope that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam will honour its commitment to release all children from its ranks by 1 January. I would now like to turn to a number of trends and reflect on how we can improve the protection of civilians under three distinct categories: countries emerging from conflict, those where conflict is deeply entrenched and those where the effect of conflict and violence against civilians must be addressed before it takes root.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Over the past three years, we have seen, at long last, modest progress being made on the issue of children associated with fighting forces. The numbers have declined some 20 per cent, with an estimated 250,000 children still being exploited as soldiers, cooks and spies and for sexual purposes. Progress has been due mainly to the large-scale demobilization of children in West Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, even though we continue to see active recruitment in many countries. Long-term 06-63968 support for reintegration is critical in order to protect children from recruitment or re-recruitment. After my most recent mission to Uganda, I remain very concerned about the conditions of children held by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Women victims, no longer branded as deviants, are now seen as survivors of an atrocious crime. With the stigma broken, more women are seeking assistance. When I met presidential candidate Kabila earlier this year, I asked that military, political and administrative leaders be tried and held accountable for rape committed on their watch. Mr. Kabila then agreed to do so if elected. We now need him and other leaders of conflict-ridden countries to live up to their responsibilities. I ask the Council to consider the pervasive nature of sexual violence when reviewing peacekeeping mandates as well, to ensure that force composition includes dedicated female policing units and that adequate support is provided for response and prosecution where required.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Senior Government officials in the Sudan continue to deny that such acts occur, and they have yet to take any serious action. While this persists, those who rape will continue to enjoy more freedom of movement than those living in the camps. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 25,000 cases of rape were reported last year, with thousands more occurring this year and countless others unknown. Targeted violence on that scale requires much more effective and concerted action by the Security Council. Resolution 1325 (2000) gave us clear standards for the specific protection of women in conflict, but we must now require stronger reporting, full compliance and legal recourse. In Goma, there have been 10 prosecutions for sexual violence. That has already had some effect.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Rape and sexual violence are not simply an unfortunate consequence of conflict; increasingly, they are a deliberate and devastating weapon against individuals as well as targeted communities. Despite recent ground-breaking International Criminal Court indictments for the use of rape as a war crime, sexual violence continues unchecked and unchallenged. I am outraged at our almost complete inability to address this scourge. And I am deeply disturbed that we have not taken more decisive action to prevent it, as 06-63968 well as respond to it, through our political and humanitarian means. In Darfur, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported an explosive increase in sexual assaults this summer. Over a five- week period, more than 200 women were attacked around Kalma camp alone.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“We now have more predictable operational leadership for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons, established through the so-called cluster process or through humanitarian partnerships of United Nations agencies and non- governmental organizations with Red Cross and Red Crescent partners. The establishment of the Central Emergency Response Fund is also a significant advance and makes headway towards ensuring a predictable and effective response to acute protection needs. While those developments will go some way towards improving protection and assistance on the ground, they cannot replace the responsibility of States. The third concern is sexual violence.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Just last October, fighting in Sri Lanka led to 1,000 families being displaced for the fourth time from the northern part of the Batticalca district when humanitarian access was suspended. States bear the direct responsibility for the protection of all civilians, including internally displaced persons, and must be held to their obligations. In at least 12 countries, six million internally displaced people receive no assistance or protection from their Governments. The humanitarian community has squarely taken on the long-standing challenge of internal displacement through our humanitarian reform agenda.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“While the global refugee population has dropped by 20 per cent over the past three years, the number of internally displaced persons declined only by a modest six percent in 2005, despite resolution of long-standing conflicts and significant return movements. And we have seen the numbers increase again over the past several months, with waves of new displacement in many countries. Since 2004, I have repeatedly briefed the Security Council on my missions to Darfur, where direct targeting of civilians has led to repeated cycles of displacement. People have now been displaced multiple times as the victims of shifting conflict and restrictions on humanitarian access.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Members of the media, acting as the world's witnesses to atrocities and humanitarian needs, alerting all of us to our responsibilities, have also been increasingly subject to attack. In Iraq alone, 26 journalists have been killed this year. Attacks on humanitarian personnel have a terrible impact on our ability to sustain humanitarian operations. I urge the Security Council to address more systematically the deliberate targeting of our humanitarian and associated staff. These acts must be unanimously condemned by the Council and the perpetrators held to account. My second long-term concern is protection and assistance for internally displaced persons. Large-scale internal displacement continues to be one of the principal characteristics of conflict.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“The murder of 17 Action Contre La Faim (ACF) workers in Sri Lanka on 5 August was a vicious reminder of this fact. The targeted abduction and murder of aid workers in Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq have effectively cut off many of the neediest civilians from our assistance. Individual incidents such as these are shocking, and the overall trends are even more alarming. In 1997, 39 humanitarian workers were killed. By 2005, this number had risen to an annual toll of 61. The number of violent incidents involving humanitarian workers more than doubled in the same period, with the most attacks occurring in the Sudan and Somalia. It is the national staff of humanitarian organizations that face the greatest risks.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Access and protection have improved, as peacekeepers prioritize those locations where security has most constrained humanitarian operations. However, such actions have clear resource implications for peacekeeping operations and require the Security Council to consider force composition as well as resource requirements, if peacekeeping missions are to fulfil this important element of their mandate. Despite such improvements, however, serious obstacles to access persist in many countries. Arbitrary arrest and detention, verbal and physical abuse, and bureaucratic impediments continue to be used by authorities around the world to restrict our access to populations in need. The most brutal means of denying access is the deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“At that time, we at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that access was constrained or obstructed for more than 10 million people in some 20 conflict-affected countries. There have since been definite improvements, most notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, northern Uganda and southern Sudan. We have seen that concerted efforts by States, peacekeepers and humanitarian organizations can deliver positive change and sustained access. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, the country with the largest war-affected population, humanitarian organizations and peacekeepers have established a common access and protection strategy based on their distinct and 3 complementary roles.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Pending their eventual prohibition, I urge Council members to support a moratorium on the use of cluster munitions, a weapon which belongs in the garbage cans of history along with landmines. In reviewing my seven briefings on the protection of civilians to the Council, you will find that the key concerns are still the same as those listed in my original ten-point action plan. They have been the recurrent themes of all my country-specific briefings to the Security Council over the past three and a half years. The first pillar of my 2003 commitments was to work with the Council to improve humanitarian access to those most in need of protection and assistance.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Suicide bombings aimed at causing maximum casualties and terror among civilians have become a regular feature of violence in too many conflicts. And then there is the use of indiscriminate weapons. In August, I voiced my outrage at the unacceptably large number of cluster bomb strikes in southern Lebanon. The use of cluster munitions, by anyone, anywhere in the world, is, in my view, immoral. Just like landmines, they continue to kill and maim even after the conflict has ended. The victims are children at play or adults trying to rebuild their communities out of the rubble. In southern Lebanon alone, we have more than a million unexploded bomblets that lie hidden in fields, olive groves, and gardens, causing one of the biggest impediments to a speedy return of the displaced and to the rapid reconstruction of homes and livelihoods.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“For example, the Iraqi population wakes up every morning to a staggering number of civilians who have been executed, maimed and tortured by sectarian militias cleansing entire neighbourhoods and areas of men, women and children belonging to the "wrong" religious or ethnic group. More than 100 civilians a day, an estimated 30,000 since May 2006 alone, have been killed. Nowhere in the world do more civilians die right now from violence directed against them than in Iraq. In Gaza, since September, Israel has launched some 15,000 artillery shells, mostly into densely populated areas, killing civilians and children and destroying essential infrastructure. Palestinian militants have launched some 1,700 devices into Israel with no 06-63968 attempt to distinguish between combatants and Israeli civilians.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“In fact, civilians have become the primary object of violence more frequently than in the past. Evidence indicates that violent attacks against non-combatants increased by 55 per cent between 1989 and 2005, with the most significant increase occurring in the last five years. The reasons for that are many. The proliferation of non-State and informal armed groups and their supply of ever more sophisticated weaponry and equipment is one reason. Another one is the intentional, reckless and often disproportionate use of military weaponry and tactics with little or no regard for their impact on the civilian population.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“That is why this regular thematic debate on the protection of civilians matters so much. When the lives and safety of civilians are at stake, regardless of where, neither strategic nor economic or other political interests should deter members from acting swiftly upon their united responsibility to protect. Since my briefing to the Council in December 2003 (see S/PV.4877) - my first such briefing - we have witnessed a steady decline in the number of conflicts. Recent analysis indicates that the number of conflicts has indeed declined by 40 per cent since 1989, yet we have been far less successful in affecting the conduct of hostilities and in altering the impact of conflict. Parties to conflict have increasingly demonstrated a wilful disregard for the basic tenets of international humanitarian law.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Thereby, members will live up to the expectations of tens of millions of vulnerable men, women and children for a United Nations that is united. I have seen during my tenure as Emergency Relief Coordinator that we have succeeded in providing security when in the end there was united action taken by all members. We are seeing vast progress in Liberia, in Sierra Leone, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in South Sudan thanks to that. We have not had the same unity of purpose or action in Darfur or in Gaza. Our readiness to act, to 06-63968 sanction and to fund must be the same in Uganda, in Chad or Cote d'Ivoire as it is in Afghanistan, Kosovo or Iraq. Our responsibility to protect must transcend singular interests and become a core principle of humanity across all civilizations.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“The real measure of our United Nations success will be judged by the extent to which our actions have made a difference in securing the protection, the rights and the freedoms of the civilian population. Last year, as Members of the United Nations, Council members solemnly pledged to accept the responsibility to protect civilian populations. We are, sadly, still far away from seeing that responsibility translate into predictable and adequate action to provide protection for all beleaguered and threatened communities irrespective of time, place and circumstance. That responsibility to protect must be depoliticized, become a truly shared interest and translate into joint action by all members of the Council and by our global Organization.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“Mr. Egeland: It is very good to be back one last time in this capacity. Over the past three years, I have been encouraged to see that concern for the protection of civilians has steadily gained prominence in the Security Council's deliberations and has been reflected in United Nations humanitarian and peace operations. When fighting takes place predominantly amidst the civilian population, or is waged directly against them, and when the main consequential losses are sustained by civilians, then it is imperative that the safety, security and well-being of civilians be at the heart of our approach to international security and crisis management.”
2006-12-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5577 (2006) · source
“This time it has to be different - we have to see a real change on the ground, and people must be made accountable for what they do and what they do not do, whether they are on this or that side. But, I certainly agree with Russia and others to say that of course the Government has a particular responsibility now to protect the civilian population, and the Government, as it now acts, is not doing what it could do to protect the civilian population of its own country, the Sudan.”
2006-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5571 (2006) · source
“I would urge those who can influence the situation - the Asian countries, the Arab countries, the Islamic countries, the African countries, as well as the donor countries - to help to influence the Government, all parts of government, the rebels, 06-62675 everybody, to make concessions. There must be massive international pressure now on the parties, because, as was observed by several speakers, including the representative of the United Kingdom and others, there is a very real disconnect between what I saw on the ground and what comes out of many of the meetings, including the Addis Ababa meeting, which was a great success and where there was a declared commitment. The reality is that in recent days it has deteriorated. That was also the reality after the Abuja Agreement and the Abuja talks.”
2006-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5571 (2006) · source
“But what we really need now is security. When night falls, there is nobody there. You are not there, as humanitarian workers; African Union soldiers are not there; Government protection is not there. There is nobody when armed men now increasingly infiltrate our camps or attack our communities." At times, I have felt that perhaps the talks among those who can decide on peace, who can decide on security, should not take place in hotel rooms in capital cities, but should take place in one of the camps. Dorti would be a good case in point - that is a camp that everybody had to leave because it was so bad. The negotiators - those who have authority on all of these questions - should bring their families, their children and their wives. Then I think we would have much more progress, much more quickly, on all of those issues.”
2006-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5571 (2006) · source
“China observed, very correctly, that the humanitarian situation depends on progress on the security front and on the peace front, which the Council will be discussing this afternoon. Indeed, if the situation deteriorates further on the security front, if we do not make progress in the peace talks, the whole humanitarian operation could falter. That is my main message today. A lot is at stake. The lifeline to 3 million to 4 million people is really in danger for all of the reasons that I have mentioned. What we fear now is that a lot of time will be lost before serious peace deals are made and before we get the security force on the ground that could protect the civilian population. Today, the reality is that the women come to me and say, "Thank you for the blankets, thank you for the Band-Aids, thank you for our daily bread.”
2006-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5571 (2006) · source