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

“I met with Vice-President Machar and his mediation team, the Government and the LRA delegations, and with the Acholi religious and cultural leaders who are observing the talks. I commended Vice-President Machar for the progress of this African-led peace process and offered increased United Nations support for the South Sudanese mediation efforts. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UNICEF already have staff members providing technical support to the mediation team, and the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) will dispatch someone over the weekend. Norway has provided financial support for the peace talks through OCHA, and several other European donors have indicated their willingness to also support these efforts. That is critical to keep the process moving forward.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“The Government will need to rapidly increase social services in the north, including the return of teachers, doctors and nurses. The Prime Minister told me that the Government was working on this through the Joint Monitoring Commission and the Government's peace, reconciliation and development plan. The international community must soon make the necessary investments in peace and hold the Government accountable for effective protection of the civilian population and a real reconciliation process. As the Council is aware, Riek Machar, the Vice- President of the government of South Sudan, has been facilitating talks between the Government of Uganda and the LRA. On 26 August, the two sides signed a cessation of hostilities agreement. I Visited Juba on 11 September to address the humanitarian aspects of a 3 possible peace agreement.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“IDPs in Acholiland are cautiously beginning to move towards their homes. We stopped along the country road to talk with a family who were making bricks for a temporary house two kilometres from their ancestral lands so that they could begin farming again. If peace continued, they planned to finally move home in January. The number of night commuters has fallen to 10,000, from a high of 40,000 when I reported to you last year. Few of the remaining children are moving because of insecurity now. Most continue to move to the towns every night because of social problems at home related to prolonged displacement, such as domestic Violence and overcrowding. We will use the better security environment to continue to improve the situation in the IDP camps and to prepare for the return of more than 1.5 million people.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“Four million people - six Rwandan genocides - is the 06-52438 death toll of war and preventable disease in the last eight years. We must not fail to stop - once and for all - this tragedy. Let me turn now to Uganda. The picture in northern Uganda is more promising than it has been in years. We can see improvement on almost every indicator. Since the negotiations between the Government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) began in Juba earlier this year, security has increased dramatically, allowing us to do much more on the humanitarian front. We can now reach 54 of the 102 IDP camps without military escorts, up from 34 in May. I was able to spend a memorable night in a family hut in Opit IDP camp, something no United Nations staff member had been able to do for many years.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“In Ituri, MONUC has been successful in disarming militia members, but the programmes needed to reintegrate them into civilian life have been insufficient. Unless these problems are quickly fixed, these fighters will return to the life of the gun. The challenges ahead in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are enormous. It will be a marathon, and we are still only half way. We cannot stop now or we will lose what we have gained. The Council should show its strong commitment to the Democratic Republic by maintaining MONUC's strength and maintaining the pressure on the Government to end impunity and promote the rule of law and good governance. The conclusion of the elections is the beginning of the rebuilding process, not its end. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen the worst haemorrhage of human life in this generation.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“In 2007, we will expand our humanitarian programmes and intensify early recovery efforts to meet the needs of the more than 1.6 million IDPs who returned home in the last year, often with little assistance. The national disarmament and reintegration programme run by the Commission Nationale de Desarmement, Demobilisation et Reinsertion (CONADER) is not working effectively. In Pweto, in the southwest, I met with a group of Mayi-Mayi who had voluntarily disarmed weeks before. However, CONADER claimed that it no longer had resources to serve them, and MONUC military observers had to take it upon themselves to share their rations to avoid looting by the Mayi-Mayi of the civilian population. Other Mayi-Mayi groups who were ready to come out of the bush have not because they want to be sure they will be taken care of.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“The MONUC Force Commander has invited the humanitarian community to look at ways to reduce the humanitarian impact of those operations. We accept this offer. 06-52438 Thirdly, the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has improved. Compared to my last Visit three years ago, there are more humanitarian staff working in more areas, including some areas that were totally inaccessible for years. When we went out to meet with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in remote locations in the bush - Pweto, Luhago and Gety - I was impressed with the work done by United Nations and NGO colleagues, often under very difficult circumstances. However, the humanitarian effort still lacks the resources it requires to meet the overwhelming needs. For example, we do not have money for the food pipeline beyond the next three months.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“Secondly, I am concerned about the impact of FARDC military operations on the civilian population. Since the beginning of the year more than 500,000 people have been newly displaced in eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In most cases, the displacements follow a Government army operation against a militia group. Too often, civilians flee because of the fighting and then are victimized by the FARDC, who blame them for supporting the militias. In the Kivus and Ituri, MONUC provides logistical support for those operations. The only long-term security solution in the country is, of course, through one competent national army with the exclusive right to bear arms. Nonetheless, we cannot accept such a huge cost on the civilian population caused by the recent operations to disarm.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“One woman told me she had been raped repeatedly for more than a week by a group of soldiers who kept her bound so tightly - by hands and by feet - that she had permanently lost the use of her hands. Dr. Mukengere, the heroic director of Panzi Hospital, told me that mutilations often followed the rapes. Those required extensive surgical interventions. I do not believe that the FARDC is systematically addressing this issue. Although some military prosecutions have occurred, often because of the efforts of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), far too little is being done. This Council and the Member States involved in security sector reform in that country must exert more pressure on the FARDC to end this pattern of abuse and violence against civilians.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“I told President Kabila and the military and civilian leaders that I met that they had to publicly condemn 2 impunity and act firmly to fire or demote perpetrators. President Kabila replied that the contradictions in the Transitional Government had made the latter difficult for him, but one could act more firmly after the elections. In South Kivu alone, more than 1,000 women who had been raped have been treated so far this year at the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where I Visited. We do not know how many more suffer without treatment in inaccessible parts of the province. I was deeply shocked by the stories of the women who had been abused by the members of the national army - the FARDC - and by militia groups.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“Mr. Egeland: Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Council on the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Uganda, where I visited last week. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I Visited Kinshasa and then went into the field in Katanga, South Kivu and Ituri. I would like to share three main conclusions from my mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. First, the United Nations and the Transitional Government have made a lot of progress, with increased security and successful elections, but we have not been able to make enough of an impact on impunity. Sexual abuse has become a cancer in Congolese society that seems to be out of control. Military and civilian authorities are still Virtually unaccountable for crimes against civilians.”
2006-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5525 (2006) · source
“On Monday, I will launch the flash appeal there, and at the same time here in New York, where donors will be asked to come. I will then travel to Jerusalem for consultations with the Israeli authorities. I also hope to visit Gaza. As my colleague Mr. Nambiar has said, the situation in Gaza remains as critical as ever. After that, I intend to report back to the Council, with its kind permission, next Friday, 28 July.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“From the indicated entry points, this will then be distributed to the people most in need. For that purpose, we have already identified cargo consolidation points and requested the parties involved to identify focal points in their government and military forces who will discuss the modalities and technical aspects of that concept. Our country team, with the support of OCHA, is currently in Beirut working to produce a flash appeal that will address the most pressing humanitarian concerns for a period of three months. We ask for your generous and immediate contributions to this appeal, which will be launched on Monday. At the request of the Secretary-General, I will be travelling to Lebanon this afternoon, where I will be able to assess the humanitarian situation, consult with humanitarian colleagues and the Government.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“06-43869 Yesterday I had the opportunity to hand over to the Israeli Permanent Representative here present a formal request to the Government of Israel. Today I could do the same to the Lebanese representative. The request calls for the acceptance and guarantee of safe passage routes - so-called humanitarian corridors - into and out of Lebanon, privileging land-bound humanitarian convoys and supplies via the northern border town of Aarida - indicated on the map before the Council - sea-bound cargo via the ports of Beirut, Tripoli and Tyre, and air-bound cargo via Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport. Additionally, within Lebanon, including in the south, we are urgently asking for the opening of humanitarian corridors for the distribution of urgently needed relief items and the deployment of humanitarian workers.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have deployed a three-person coordination support team to Lebanon, which will work closely with the resident coordinator and the country team. We are also looking into deploying civil military coordination officers to the area. Our colleagues from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Lebanese Red Cross are undertaking a big and very impressive operation. My colleagues and I have consistently called upon all parties to the conflict to live up to their obligations under international humanitarian law and to grant access to humanitarian workers and relief items to those most affected by the hostilities.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“The World Health Organization (WHO) emergency staff is undertaking health assessments and monitoring health threats, with a special focus on the most vulnerable groups and areas. WHO is supporting the Lebanese Ministry of Health and coordinating with health partners. WHO also aims to establish public health services for displaced populations and provide emergency supplies. Colleagues from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have also established joint coordination centres for humanitarian activities in Tyre and Marjayoun. They have successfully dispatched convoys with humanitarian aid to some affected villages.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is undertaking border monitoring in countries surrounding Lebanon, for refugee outflows, and has pre-positioned stockpiles of emergency shelter material in Jordan and Syria. In Beirut, UNHCR is assisting refugees, asylum- seekers and internally displaced persons, helping them to get access to public shelters and assistance. UNHCR has a presence in three mountain areas and is also in beleaguered Sidon, in the south. The World Food Programme (WFP) has arranged for food loans to Lebanon and has pre-positioned food supplies ready to be deployed. A humanitarian logistics capacity is being set up to meet the food needs of the displaced people, taking into account the food aid activities of other partners.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“More than one third of those affected are children. There may still be some 115,000 third-country nationals from some 20 countries in Lebanon. It has been reported that there are more than 100,000 Lebanese now located in Syria, many of whom need assistance. The United Nations humanitarian agencies are increasing our capacity to respond on the ground inside Lebanon. UNICEF has strengthened its capacity in Lebanon to conduct assessments, in particular of schools that are being used as temporary shelters for displaced people. Key needs there include lack of water, sanitation and health care. UNICEF is also preparing to deliver critical emergency supplies in the areas of essential drugs, water, sanitation and recreation.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“Too many critically ill and wounded persons cannot, however, reach hospitals in time, as they are blocked by the bombardments or road destruction. With the number of people in shelters increasing, access to safe drinking water is also a growing concern. Some reports suggest that small dispensaries and clinics in the south of the country are beginning to run out of medicines. The Lebanese Government has requested international humanitarian assistance and has appealed for medical supplies, materials for shelter and construction, tents, blankets, generators and firefighting equipment. While figures as to affected populations remain only indicative, current planning figures suggest that there are more than a half million conflict-affected people, including the internally displaced and those unable to relocate.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“As a result of the targeting of petrol stations and fuel- storage facilities, it is estimated that Beirut has only days of fuel supplies remaining. Access problems are severely hampering humanitarian action. It is either too unsafe or physically impossible, due to destruction, to move relief supplies into or around large parts of the country. There are sufficient food supplies, including wheat stocks, to cover national consumption for one or possibly up to three months. The primary concern is the disruption to food supply chains and the ability of the local population to purchase food from functional markets. In the cities, hospitals are functioning, but they are overwhelmed by the number of wounded and are suffering from power outages.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“With the conflict in Lebanon now in its second week, the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen. The most severely affected areas are southern Lebanon, Beirut and the Beka'a Valley. More than 300 people have reportedly been killed and 1,000 wounded. A third of the casualties are reportedly children. In northern Israel, rockets continue to rain down on civilians and civilian infrastructure, with some 30 persons killed and 200 wounded, including children. In Lebanon, there is widespread destruction of public infrastructure, including residential housing, health facilities, schools, roads, bridges, fuel storage, airports and seaports. Of concern for future humanitarian relief operations is the destruction of roads and bridges linking Beirut to the populations of southern Lebanon.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“Mr. Egeland: On behalf of the humanitarian workers of the United Nations system, I wish to thank the Security Council for its continued interest in and support for our work. The war, the terror and the attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure have to stop in Lebanon and northern Israel, as they have to stop in Gaza. Too many children, women and elderly people, as well as other civilians, have already lost their lives or are struggling to survive their wounds. The United Nations humanitarian agencies would again want to repeat the appeal of our Secretary- General for an immediate cessation of hostilities. This is the only way civilians can truly be protected and humanitarian work can become effective as we try to reach the civilian populations.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493 (2006) · source
“It is our collective responsibility to provide protection to civilians, who continue to bear the brunt of conflict, and I hope that the next time we come back we can report further progress. But all of us must work very hard in the coming months.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“If we are left alone in Darfur or elsewhere, our personnel would be in impossible situations and it would immediately lead to a paralysis of life-saving operations. The next weeks and months will be crucial in deciding whether we go from the present situation of totally inadequate protection or whether we can move on to a more predictable peacekeeping situation in Darfur and elsewhere. For our part, I would like to reiterate that OCHA will give all possible support to Council members as they take the protection agenda further forward. Our collective hope must be that we find new, more creative ways to place civilians at the heart of our actions as the United Nations, in more coherent and comprehensive planning, in activating our good offices and in ensuring effective political mediation everywhere.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“The representatives of Japan and Argentina, among others, also proposed that a matrix be prepared clarifying roles, responsibilities and timelines for carrying out protection activities in peacekeeping missions. I believe that that would serve as a valuable tool in clarifying what actions should be taken, by whom and when, so that we all can be accountable. 32 I thank delegations who have reiterated today the grave concerns of the international community over the failure to adequately protect civilians who continue to suffer in Darfur and elsewhere. We need to have significant breakthroughs in Darfur; we need to have breakthroughs in Eastern Chad and elsewhere. As humanitarian workers, we have probably gone further than ever before into dangerous terrain, and that was gratefully acknowledged by members of the Council.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“I am grateful today for the recognition by many speakers of the need for Security Council mandates and the United Nations peacekeeping missions to reflect more realistically protection needs on the ground. I look forward to working more closely with Security Council members and with my colleagues in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) to achieve this fine-tuning of our responses to the various countries' situations. Importantly, speakers have today also proposed that reporting on the implementation of the provisions of resolution 1674 (2006) should be included in the reports of the Secretary-General in reference to concrete country situations. That will indeed be a very important reality check for all of us.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“We should be equally predictable in our solidarity and in our protection of women, children and civilians under threat everywhere. It comes at a critically important time, and it comes at a time where there is a new Security Council resolution. That is a new opportunity for us. It also comes at a time when force commanders, more than ever before, want and are asking for help to protect civilian populations. Force commanders need more resources, more tailor-made resources and clear guidance on how to actually undertake protection when facing threats of imminent violence. We owe them our help so as to enable them to protect civilians under attack around them.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Ambassador Allan Rock again made a number of valuable points on behalf of Canada, as he has in many of his previous presentations. And so have all the others. We have taken careful note of them and they will be important for us as we develop and draft further reports to the Secretary-General and come back to the Council with more proposals. I think the Council can be proud of what has happened in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burundi, South Sudan, Angola, and of the progress that we are making in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). What I have tried to do today, and what we have tried to do in our drafting the Secretary-General's report, is to say that we need to be more predictable, because I have also mentioned a number of countries' situations where we are not seeing the same progress.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Mr. Egeland: I sincerely want to thank Council members for all their expressions of support and the reaffirmation of the commitment to the protection of civilians that we have heard today. I think the Security Council has truly made great progress in its work to protect civilian populations in the past couple of years. The Council has probably done more than any Security Council before you ever in this regard. Peacekeeping missions are better, their mandates are better, there is more support for the work of protecting civilians, and there is more response in the Security Council to our proposals, our ideas and our appeals as humanitarian workers on the frontlines of humanity. There has also been a rich selection of proposals from Council members and from other Member States.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Where we fail, countries emerging from crisis are at serious risk of spiralling back into conflict, as the current situations in Timor-Leste and Sri Lanka make clear. Together with my humanitarian colleagues, I stand ready to continue to work with you and Member States towards the creation of a real culture of protection and a safer world for all.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“A dozen indigenous communities are on the verge of extinction. We cannot stand by as passive witnesses to the loss of life and the loss of cultures. In conclusion, I sincerely believe that progress to ensure better protection for civilians has been made - just not enough. The numbers of innocent civilians who continue to be killed and live with the constant threat of Violence are unacceptable. We must work together, at all levels and using every tool at our disposal, to provide adequate protection for those living in the midst of conflict around the world. There is much at stake. In these dangerous and polarized times, it could not be more important to reaffirm the rule of law, which lies at the heart of the protection agenda.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“We grapple, in particular, with how to meet the specific protection and assistance needs of indigenous groups and ethnic minorities, which are amongst those at greatest risk. The situation faced by ethnic minorities in Colombia is one case among many that illustrates that challenge. Indigenous people and Afro-Colombians are increasingly under pressure from illegal armed groups. Minority leaders are victims of forced abduction, torture and assassination. Several hundred persons from indigenous communities have been assassinated, mostly by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas and paramilitary groups. Children are forcibly recruited by the armed groups, and women and young girls raped. Many are forced from their ancestral lands and reduced to begging in urban slums, which is slowly eroding their traditions and culture.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“In Uganda, where there is no peacekeeping presence, OCHA and DPKO are starting to work with the Ugandan security forces to facilitate civil-military relations and strengthen the capacity of national security forces to provide protection. 5 Those actions will have limited impact if we fail to address the need to uphold and respect the universal values enshrined in the tenets and rules of international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. The new Human Rights Council is a welcome addition to the international architecture to safeguard the rule of law, but if we are unable to fulfil our responsibilities or enforce the legal frameworks that we have created, and impunity prevails unchallenged, we will consistently fail to protect civilians caught in conflict. Such protection must be provided consistently and without prejudice.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“The perceptions of the local population are critical to understanding where risks lie. Joint planning is also essential. In the mission planning for Darfur, DPKO, OCHA and other key United Nations actors have worked in close collaboration to ensure better provision for the protection of civilians. That should set the standard. In general, integration is most effective where it is formulated around a common objective, such as protection. The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo serves as a positive example of that. In Cote d'Ivoire, similar initiatives are now being taken where an expanded inter-agency committee has been created that brings humanitarians together with key actors from the peacekeeping mission to work collaboratively to provide protection.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“We need to work with the Security Council to ensure better provision of information, strengthened analysis and comprehensive planning of our protection response. The mechanism that has been established through Council resolution 1612 (2005) to monitor and report on the impact of armed conflict on children is already showing some results. Work is in progress to ensure that a reporting mechanism on broader protection concerns is dovetailed with that initiative. Agency colleagues are working together to build on the methodologies and practice already developed, and pilot protection monitoring mechanisms have been established in Darfur, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Better methods of analysis are also needed to ensure that local populations are included as a crucial element in our decision-making processes.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Why, for example, has no action been taken by the Security Council or by the national authorities against those publicly and loudly responsible for Radio Guiglo, which inspired and directed mob violence against civilians and humanitarian organizations in January? And why are we not using sanctions strategically in other crises? And where embargoes are in place, but are violated, why is stronger action not being taken? For example, the report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia has documented daily arms shipments to militias and warlords that fuelled the fighting which then engulfed the only two hospitals in Mogadishu. Protection is a collective responsibility. To strengthen protection response, we in the Secretariat have our own responsibilities to fulfil.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Targeted sanctions and embargoes are also yet to be used optimally, despite our efforts to develop guidance for their effective use. Targeted sanctions should be employed at the earliest opportunity where violations against civilians prevail to signal our concern and serve as a first step to protect. I would have hoped that the sanctions Committee had been more consistent, for example, in the case of Cote d'Ivoire and elsewhere, where we have seen deliberate attacks on civilians, as well as on United Nations personnel and assets. In cote d'Ivoire, individual sanctions levied against three members of the Jeunes Patriotes and the Forces nouvelles did have an immediate ameliorative effect. But why did we stop there?”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“International protection, whether by peacekeepers or humanitarians, can only ever be an interim response - a band-aid. Without political solutions, tragically, civilians continue to suffer and the humanitarians are left to deal with intractable conflict and open-ended displacement. We must activate, strengthen and resource the Secretary-General's good offices more often and earlier, seize every opportunity for mediation and speak out when political solutions are needed. The appropriate space and channels for that to work need to be created and better individual training provided. I welcome the opportunity to take these discussions forward with the Department of Political Affairs to strengthen mediation capacity in the field.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“In Afghanistan alone, 24 humanitarian colleagues have been killed since the beginning of the year, including four working with Action Aid who were summarily shot in the head by the roadside in Jawzjan less than a month ago. On the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, restrictions on access for humanitarian goods and supplies, coupled with limitations on the movement of United Nations and humanitarian personnel, continue to pose severe problems for humanitarian agencies operating in the occupied Palestinian territories. One of the most important tools at our disposal is conflict mediation and the timely and effective use of good offices. A number of Violent crises highlight the grave cost in human lives of inadequate timely mediation. That situation also underscores the fact that conflict can only ever be resolved at the political level.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Recent reinforcements authorized by the Council for the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) that include additional formed police units are most important. The round table consultations also highlighted the difficulties of interpreting imminent threats of violence on the ground. Peacekeepers must be given tools, guidance and support if they are to respond to those threats and provide better protection. Humanitarian access is the first stepping stone to the protection of civilians. The Security Council must make every effort to ensure that access is granted and respected. By not responding more forcefully in cases where that access has been unreasonably denied, we risk placing humanitarian personnel in jeopardy, further exposing them to possible attack. Humanitarian workers remain at considerable risk to violence.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“In 2002, the Council adopted the aide memoire (S/PRST/2002/6, annex) to assist in the process of formulating peacekeeping mandates to properly address protection needs. It is now time for that vital tool to be reviewed and updated and put to better use. My Office stands ready to support that process. Secondly, new creative approaches to peacekeeping are required, and the composition of missions must be amended. Instead of being adapted to allow for a flexible response to emerging threats, new tasks are often simply added on to old ones. In Cote d'Ivoire, new threats for civilians have emerged, with groups like the Jeunes patriotes using street Violence and criminality to advance their agenda. Soldiers are not trained to meet those challenges.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“First, peacekeeping missions must be equipped with better and more comprehensive mandates and the means to fulfil them. In two round table consultations that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has held with Council members, other Member States, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and agency colleagues, we examined the implementation of protection mandates of the peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Cote d'Ivoire. From those consultations it is clear that our people on the ground are too often ill-equipped to fulfil their duty to protect. Realistic and well-designed mandates for missions and practical support for their implementation are fundamental to the effectiveness of their efforts.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“But in the case of armed conflict within their own territories, they all too often lack the capacity and the will to do so. The humanitarian community helps create an environment where will and capacity can be re-established or recreated. The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue has shown that a humanitarian presence can have some beneficial effect, deterring violence. However, let us be honest: a humanitarian presence has limitations. In many situations, such as in today's eastern Chad, security is so precarious that civilians, and often humanitarian staff, need physical protection, which today is virtually non-existent. That is where the role of the Security Council in defining and facilitating the role and capacity of peacekeepers is so crucial.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Protection has been made a central responsibility of peacekeeping mandates. That commitment acknowledges that it is by how well the United Nations protects that our missions will be judged. The Security Council has created a range of protection tools to place at its disposal. These must be used more effectively. The Council's presidential statement of June 2005 (S/PRST/2005/25) rightly expressed grave concern over the limited progress to ensure the effective protection of civilians in many situations of armed conflict. It stressed the urgent need to provide better physical protection and underscored that the establishment of a secure environment for all vulnerable populations should be a key objective of peacekeeping operations. States have the primary responsibility for the protection of their own people.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, serious attempts are being made to stem the violence and address impunity, with the surrender and imprisonment of prominent Mai-Mai and armed group leaders and the International Criminal Court's indictment of a former commander of the Union des patriotes congolais for human rights violations. But in a context where hundreds of thousands of civilians continue to suffer from ongoing Violence in areas such as Katanga, Ituri and the Kivus, the impact of those actions is limited. Nearly all serious violations committed against the civilian population by all parties still go unchecked. A key question is how we can we make the recently adopted resolution 1674 (2006), on the protection of civilians, offer a real platform for action.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“In North Darfur, intra-rebel fighting prior to, and after, the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement has displaced thousands and has included horrific acts of violence. Janjaweed incursions moving further into Chad have brought with them fear and have significantly threatened the civilian nature of refugee camps. Between 12 and 14 April, 118 people were shot or brutally hacked to death in a massacre in Djawara and three other Villages 70 kilometres east of the Sudanese border. Recent analysis from human rights colleagues of the United Nations mission indicates that this may be the beginning of a 3 new phase of violence in which armed groups, militias, rebel groups and the army are intensifying their targeting of civilian populations.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Mortality studies undertaken by the United Nations and the International Rescue Committee in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Uganda exemplify that toll. It is estimated that up to 1,200 people are dying in silence every day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The mortality rate of 1.54 per 10,000 people per day in northern Uganda not only exceeds emergency thresholds but is greater even than that for Darfur last year. In Darfur and in eastern Chad, attacks against civilians continue to be undertaken by the Janjaweed, other militia groups, elements of the Sudan Liberation Army and Government forces. In late May, militia attacks around Mukjar, in West Darfur, killed over 25 civilians, displacing scores more.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“For the most part, provincial health structures, water and sanitation, food supply and social services are functioning. However, in the past six months alone, 110,000 people have been displaced by violence, with the numbers continuing to rise. The failure to address that displacement will result in growing humanitarian needs. In certain African countries the situation is far more precarious, from a humanitarian perspective. Conflict has decimated whatever fragile infrastructure was in place, and people have become infinitely more vulnerable. As a result, civilians die in exponentially larger numbers from the associated disease and malnutrition than from the violence itself.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“Those figures represent a worsening trend since President Bush delivered his address to the World Affairs Council in December 2005 and estimated that over 30,000 civilians had been killed between March 2003 and the end of 2005. Whatever caveats are applied to those figures, the undeniable truth is shocking: scores of defenceless civilians are continuing to be intentionally and brutally 06-40877 killed on a daily basis, mostly in indiscriminate sectarian violence and terror, but also as Victims of combat operations. With the targeting of mosques, school buses and markets, no one is immune. Neither the national authorities nor the massive international involvement have been so far able to effectively protect the civilian population. Currently, there is no humanitarian crisis in Iraq, as many had predicted. There would be.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source
“We know that the real figures are much higher and that general mortality is once again on the rise among the hundreds and thousands of people in Darfur to whom there is limited or no humanitarian access. However, it appears that it is in Iraq that the greatest numbers of civilians are being killed by indiscriminate acts of terror and sectarian and conflict- related violence. The figures vary and are controversial, but those quoted by Iraqi Government sources are staggering. Official Iraqi Health Ministry figures from the main mortuary in Baghdad reveal that the mortuary has received over 6,000 bodies of Iraqis killed since the beginning of the year.”
2006-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5476 (2006) · source