YouSaid · the spoken record

Elman

lines on the record: 41
first: 2015-01-30
most recent: 2021-09-23
sittings or episodes: 4
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

“Now is the time for policymakers to turn this ambitious agenda into coherent policies that guide the future of peacebuilding.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“The Environment of Peace explores how environmental deterioration exacerbates insecurity and, on the positive side, how environmental sustainability can support peace. The Environment of Peace will launch a report in May 2022, in the run-up to the fiftieth anniversary to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, also known as the Stockholm Conference. The report will not only reveal security challenges linked to environmental change; it will also look at the risks and opportunities for peace that arise from the transition to a greener and more sustainable future. It will also show how global cooperation and collective action can help address the enormous challenges that we are facing The momentum that currently exists for the climate and security agenda is undeniable.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“However, the Council needs to ensure there is a genuine effort to co-create policy and peace processes with the people affected. Mandating and deploying more environmental security advisers can assist in forging such cooperation opportunities for learning and coordination. Armed conflict, hunger, poverty, inequality, migration, violations of human rights and pandemics all affect one another in ways that make peacebuilding more complex. We need to stop putting them at a distance and stop thinking that they are this or that agency’s business, not ours. I am proud to sit on the panel of an initiative called the Environment of Peace, which is looking at how the different security challenges that I am describing in my briefing combine and interact.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“Peacebuilding practitioners and civil society organizations must be empowered to respond to their changing environments. They need to be able to access technical and financial resources, as well as educational materials, that are fit for purpose. Risk-assessment information should be made available to them. The Security Council and the wider United Nations system must be receptive to bottom-up solutions and community-led processes. In a space where so much to learn and unearth remains, policymakers must create the right conditions for durable, locally based solutions to emerge and succeed. I know first-hand how motivated peace activists are to partner with the Security Council to integrate climate-related security risks into local peacebuilding programming and strategies.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“We realized that our peacebuilding goals and our mediation efforts could not succeed or be sustained unless we addressed the broader environmental issues related to security — whether it be the locust- and draught-induced scarcity of resources that multiplies the threat of intraclan conflict, the decrease of tuna swarms that drives Somali fishing communities towards piracy, or the flooding that continues to drive regional displacement and vulnerable people to violent extremist groups. The impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are also changing what it takes to build peace for local peacebuilders. Because we are experiencing climate related shocks and stresses so often in our environments, our peacebuilding and security strategies now need to be more resilient to environmental change.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“We contribute to security sector reform and advocate for more inclusive peace processes that support women and youth to participate meaningfully in the processes that ensure their well-being. And we founded the first rape crisis centre in Somalia, where we are working to end sexual violence in conflict, exploitation and abuse. Those are just some of the areas of our institutional focus, but we are not scientists or academics. We are peacebuilding practitioners on the front lines of a 30-year conflict that remains volatile to this day. We began working on climate change issues because our lives and daily realities are at the nexus of climate change and security.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“The discourse around climate change and security still fails to adequately meet the needs of affected communities, or to represent the voices of those who are disproportionately affected by climate-related security risks. I work in Somalia, where I serve as one of the directors of the Elman Peace Centre, a peacebuilding organization founded in Mogadishu in the early 1990s and established in response to the armed conflict. We work on preventing and countering violent extremism. We facilitate the disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration of youth and adults associated with different armed groups, including defectors from designated terrorist organizations.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“That is welcome progress, although it is still too painfully slow for the vulnerable communities at the front lines of these issues, which are confronted with the realities of climate-related security risks every day and are fighting for survival. For front-line activists at the cusp of climate and security, there is little support available to effectively assist them in furthering climate resilience on local and regional levels. The toolkits, recommendations and research that are being produced primarily target Governments, United Nations peacekeeping missions and, at times, large international non-governmental organizations, with very few investments being made into the technical capacity-building and knowledge management of grass-roots civil society organizations.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“Ms. Elman: I thank the Security Council for the opportunity to address it today at this open debate on the maintenance of international peace and security. We are in a planetary emergency that will make the task of maintaining peace and security even harder in the coming decade and beyond. As climate change and other environmental crises gather pace, they are touching every aspect of life. World international peace and security is no exception. The Security Council has held several thematic debates on climate and security, and many of the Council members assembled here today have displayed support for the Council’s engagement on climate and security.”
2021-09-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8864 (2021) · source
“In that process and through such work, we have countless times heard from the people of fragile States and countries in conflict, directly appealing for more support for reconciliation. That is the reason those countries request funding. I leave Council members with a thought and a request that the President and the members of the Council consider working with the mechanisms that exist within the United Nations family today. The Peacebuilding Fund, with the Council's support, can invest in reconciliation in the countries we are discussing.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“Although women, in particular young women, are more likely to become victims during war, they have created pathways to peace through advocacy and informal networks and, with new technology, have even created viral movements. However, the lack of financial assistance to complement peacemaking and the culture of human rights is one of the biggest setbacks for peacebuilding today. Outside of my work with the Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre in Somalia, where I focus on the disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration of young men and women who are involved with armed groups, I also have the extreme honour of serving as an adviser to the Secretary-General's Peacebuilding Fund - a testament to his commitment to including women, in particular young women, and those from the Global South in decision-making processes in peacebuilding.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“After 20 years of celebrating resolution 1325 (2000), I urge the Council to not just symbolically celebrate the document but to utilize it to advance women's inclusion in adjusting the challenges to reconciliation and mandate that there is inclusive gender decision-making in the design, implementation and monitoring of reconciliation strategies. That means consulting women from the beginning, including those that are displaced and with disabilities; taking the steps necessary to increase the number of female staff in mediation, observation and the negotiation of peace agreements; and adjusting the protection needs of all humanitarian workers and women human rights defenders, who are increasingly targeted, disappeared and abducted for getting involved in those very processes.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“Yet, efforts at trauma healing, forgiveness and reconciliation among former combatants, local communities and clans have been led for years by Somali non-governmental organizations. Successful strategies for peacebuilding and national reconciliation must involve as many sectors of the population as possible. Most important, such strategies must seek to build consensus. Women-led civil society groups all over the world that are able to speak to the underlying drivers of violence and significantly influence the reconciliation process are systematically excluded. There are countless examples of women's peace and reconciliation efforts, in Somalia, Northern Ireland, Liberia, the Balkans, Bosnia and more. The evidence speaks for itself.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“It means the absence of certainty for potential defectors from the parties to the conflict regarding the fate they expect if they risk their lives to escape from groups like Al-Shabaab, for example; the impact of high corruption and the lack of adherence to international human rights laws by Somali Government institutions; the lack of parallel efforts to disarm and transform clan militias; persistent clan conflicts and discrimination and the country's prevalent politics of exclusion and marginalization. Such problems permeate traditional justice mechanisms. In addition, the biased treatment of women and discrimination against minority clans perpetuate grievances.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“We know that a reconciliation process that almost exclusively involves political parties, with voters often left out of the talks, will most likely not succeed. We know that to achieve true reconciliation, the process must embrace a long- term, nationwide solution. The most urgent task is often rebuilding public trust in institutions - formal and informal alike. Such trust is worryingly lacking in the conflicts we hope to solve today. Violence will continue to ensue if people no longer believe that they can solve their problems through trusted channels, such as Government institutions. Reconciliation is a process; it is not a single event and it cannot be a process that is exported outside of the country. I witnessed at first-hand every day what the lack of a legal framework for reconciliation means.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“There were many civilian casualties and countless militias, armed to the teeth, were stationed at the front lines of a city whose border was literally divided by just a single rope. The international community stepped in immediately to de-escalate the tensions and the leaders of the two regions were taken out of Somalia for peace talks. The signing of the agreement was celebrated abroad and echoed in national media. The very day the leaders returned, devastating fighting erupted once more, leaving more innocent people dead. Yet, when the women, young people and religious leaders of that very community are asked what it would take for the young men on the front lines to drop their weapons, the answer is simple - just talk to them. They are accessible. If offered a chance at peace, those with the most to lose will participate.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“Past efforts in my country, which proceeded from the assumption that political and diplomatic methods could be grafted unto existing systems and attitudes, without first developing new social and economic foundations for change, were part of an unfortunate norm in the crises and conflicts the Council and member States are committed to solving. It therefore gives me encouragement that, under the United Kingdom's presidency, we are now debating the toughest and, arguably, most important part of the peacebuilding cycle - reconciliation. I am reminded of a terrible clash between forces loyal to Galmuldug and Puntland forces in Somalia, in the city of Galkayo, where I was doing some work recently on disarmament programmes. Fifty thousand people were displaced.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“Ms. Elman: I am grateful for the invitation to brief the Security Council this morning. I am from Somalia, a State that collapsed devastatingly in 1991 and remains somewhat trapped in a spiral of prolonged violent anarchy and warfare to this day. The first attempt at reconciliation was actually at the height of the conflict in 1991. During the early days of the war, a manifesto was produced and was supported by many of the rebel leaders. However, since not all of the rebel leaders were signatories, the process failed. Since then, countless attempts at ending the conflict and building peace humanitarian initiated and continue to this very day. Somalia, as an example ofa country in a protracted conflict, is certainly not unique.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668 (2019) · source
“Finally, I conclude by emphasizing the need to strengthen the capacity of the relevant officials likely to encounter and identify possible victims of trafficking in persons, which includes civil society organizations at the grassroots level.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“Communities are not informed well enough to know that traffickers masquerading as employment prospects are leading them down a fatal path. More often than not, those who were forced into sexual slavery are left with false promises of employment abroad and then further exploited for debt bondage and other forced labour. Very recently, that has also extended to include military service. I urge the Security Council and its members to use the authority and legitimacy of the Council to denounce human trafficking in conflict, reinforce global norms against it, counter the emerging narrative that normalizes slavery in conflict and promote accountability. I urge the Security Council and its members to report on efforts to better implement existing mechanisms for countering trafficking in persons in general, not limiting it only to conflict.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“Dismantling the operations of trafficking networks has been mostly unsuccessful in Somalia, with the majority of interventions focused on rescue, negotiations of release and reactionary approaches, as opposed to prevention. Yet organized networks are accessible. Their contact persons are traceable, and a testament to how a 17-year-old boy or a 16-year-old girl knows exactly who to reach and can find a way to get out of Somalia through a perilous journey facilitated by a trafficker who takes them via the sea and to Libya with the promise of reaching Europe or elsewhere one day. The information is there but the intent, resources and the strategy for ending human trafficking in conflict have not been at an adequate level.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“Because of weak governance, the south and central regions of Somalia are now used as transit routes for international trafficking, while other parts of the country are regions of destination, transit and origin for victims of international human trafficking, as well as local trafficking between the regions. Local trafficking and forced labour mostly affect women and girls in Somalia in the domestic work sector. The victims are mainly women and young children, and most are trafficked for domestic work, forced prostitution and, as recent reports indicate, even organ removal. Conflict and insecurity breed desperation, and traffickers present themselves as a ticket out of all of that.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“This has introduced many gender-specific constraints in the reintegration process for women and girls when the conflict subsides. Another role that women play in human trafficking that is often overlooked is that of perpetrators, organizers and mobilizers of trafficking. We have worked on exposing numerous small organized operations led by women who prey on the most destitute segments of society - such as those living in IDP camps - and go to IDP communities with the promise of employment, food, clothing and anything else to draw in the desperate. The most worrisome part of human trafficking in Somalia is that, because of the conflict, people are not even aware of the real risk and how to protect themselves and their children from it.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“The father is living in conditions of slavery in which he has been forced to service the armed group in order to save his son. The same children who are forced into armed groups and manage to escape and surrender to Government security forces are then forced into labour again, only to be used as informants by Government security forces. All parties to the conflict in Somalia are guilty of forced labour and enslavement in some way. Through my work with survivors of sexual and gender based violence, I know that women and girls, as it relates to human trafficking in conflict, are primarily viewed as victims - the spoils of war given the forced temporary marriage, sexual slavery, impregnation by militants and abandonment or ostracizing from their communities, which are all too rampant.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“His son was forcibly recruited by Al-Shabaab and, after being apprehended by security forces on front lines, he was handed over to our care and placed in our programme for children disassociated from armed groups. His son has been with us for nearly a year now. His father begged us to keep his son safe because, just days prior to our meeting, Al-Shabaab militants went to his home and demanded that he hand over his remaining, 10-year-old, son. When the father appealed to keep his son, he was told that he would have to either hand over his son, supply them with arms or pay a monthly fee of $30. What options but to provide labour to terrorists or criminal organizations do communities living in the mix of disaster, extreme poverty, oppression and conflict have?”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“He did not know that the man was charging other men to have sex with his daughter, or that the money he was receiving was a product of her enslavement. The abuse continued for nine months before she escaped. Human trafficking is severely exacerbated in situations of conflict and extremist groups like Al-Shabaab, Da'esh and Boko Haram survive off of the forced labour, domestic servitude and sexual slavery they inflict on the civilians living in chaos of conflict. Last month at the General Assembly here in New York I commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the children-in-armed conflict mandate. I spoke about what has been achieved in the past two decades. Last week I met with a father of one of the children in our programme with whom we were planning an exit strategy for his son.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“Women and girls were forced into transactional labour, such as sex for food, sex for medical aid, sex for protection and sex to pass checkpoints and to reach distribution sites. A 14-year-old refugee from Yemen who ended up in an IDP camp in Mogadishu, along with her elderly father and younger siblings, is currently staying at one of our safe houses after escaping a forced marriage - one that was offered as a solution to the extreme poverty her family was living in. Her small dowry, of $20, became a lifeline for the rest of the family. She did not leave her family to be a wife, she became a sex slave. The house became a brothel. For three months, her father received $20 from the man he gave her to, without any contact with his daughter.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“In 2011, the majority of those whom my organization was assisting were internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in hovels in makeshift camps in Mogadishu and its outskirts, primarily women with children in tow, or child-headed households - people who had tracked by foot for days to make it to the capital in order to receive some sort of humanitarian aid. On arrival and on route, they were sexually abused, tortured and extorted for what little they had in their possession. Some of their family members never made it, as they died along the way. Within the IDP camps in Mogadishu, sexual abuse became rampant, and a culture of impunity created opportunities for it to remain so.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“On the heels of a recent visit to Somalia by the Secretary-General, who called for urgent and immediate action to alleviate the situation, we note that there is a very high probability of a recurrence of the famine that caused more than 260,000 people to starve to death across the country in 2011. I am afraid we have not learned much since then. We did not prepare and we did not plan. And so here we are again. In the same way that we were blind to the signs of a drought and famine unfolding before us, we are still blind to what undignified contexts of such desperation do to the affected population.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“Ms. Elman: The scale of human trafficking in Somalia is devastating. What is even more disturbing is that, despite the widespread systemic enslavement of people, it is not constituted as a crime against a person or a crime against humanity in my country. Rather, it is normalized by virtue of circumstance. Forced labour in conflict is rarely viewed as slavery, and it is the selective understanding of modern slavery is that creates space for this crime to thrive, and why it continues to remain low on the priority list during humanitarian crises globally. The world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis right now, with more than 20 million people, in four countries, at risk of starvation, Somalia being one of them.”
2017-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7898 (2017) · source
“Women's meaningful participation, whether in high-level political positions or in peace processes, must be a core component of all peace and security efforts, including those aimed at addressing protection, implementation and protection challenges for women and girls. I call on the Security Council to make the full and systematic implementation of the women and peace and security agenda a central priority in all areas of its work.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“Ahead of next year's elections, it is imperative that the United Nations supports a process that leverages the political inclusion and participation of women, strengthens Somalia's security sector and promotes respect for human rights. During the past year's State formation process in western Somalia, not a single woman was elected at any level of the new Administration, despite the overwhelming numbers of female candidates. I am confident that transformative and fundamental change with relation to women's leadership and participation can happen in Somalia. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), which calls for women's inclusion in all efforts to mitigate and respond to conflict.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“The experience of the African Union Mission in Somalia has shown that policies to limit the use of mortars or other indirect-fire explosive weapons can help save civilian lives. The implementation of international humanitarian law in a gender-responsive manner is key to enhancing the protection of civilians. Women must have equal access to accountability mechanisms, reparations and non-discriminatory medical care, including safe abortion and post-abortion care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Women must also be granted equal nationality rights. Women in Somalia remain largely underrepresented as political leaders, candidates, civil servants and elected officials.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“and by peacekeeping personnel across other missions to be included in all public reporting on the human rights situations in any given country; mandate that sex-disaggregated data be included in peacekeeping mission reporting; and see to it that United Nations protection focal points provide clear, accessible and confidential complaint mechanisms to survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse. Protecting civilians is also about ensuring that people can live without fear. In Somalia, as in places such as Syria, Gaza, Nigeria and Ukraine, we have witnessed civilians in populated areas being targeted, injured and killed by explosive weapons. The impact of explosive weapons in populated areas must be addressed, and international cooperation is needed to set stronger standards to protect civilians.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“To protect women from these human rights abuses and to ensure accountability, I urge the Security Council as a matter of priority to insist on accountability for atrocities committed by all armed groups and security forces, including addressing sexual and gender- based violence and civilian casualties; reinforce efforts to ensure justice systems are re-established, with investigations and prosecutions conducted in accordance to international standards; ensure that troops are adequately vetted, prepared and trained, and that they engage in confidence-building measures with the local populations, including those displaced; hold troop-contributing countries accountable for these crimes and call for the investigation and monitoring of human rights abuses by AMISOM.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“I speak on behalf of the 14 year-old girl, her mother and the thousands of other survivors in urging the Security Council to reinforce the United Nations zero tolerance policy and prevent those deployed to protect communities from themselves becoming the violent perpetrators, too often with impunity. Mechanisms for reporting human rights abuses, including sexual and gender-based violence, must be gender-sensitive, confidential and non-discriminatory, as the fear of stigma, discrimination and possible retribution often deters survivors from coming forward and seeking judicial or other forms of assistance. This requires engagement with affected women in a safe and respectful manner as well ongoing consultation.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“This means consulting women from the beginning, including those displaced and with disabilities. The Council must take the necessary steps to increase the number of female staff in peacekeeping operations, including in their military and police components alike; ensure that all missions with protection-of-civilian mandates have adequate logistical support and resources, including the full deployment of human rights officers, gender experts and women protection advisors; and address the protection needs of all of us humanitarian workers and women human- rights defenders, who are increasingly being targeted, abducted or disappeared. The Security Council must also simultaneously and urgently act to prevent the blatant misuse of power and the sexual exploitation and abuse we are witnessing in Somalia and in other countries.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“In 2014, however, we witnessed the deliberate exclusion of women from these processes in Somalia, when more than 700 women were dismissed simultaneously from their posts within the Somali National Security Forces. In addition, women-led civil society groups who are able to speak to the underlying drivers ofviolence and the protection rights and needs of women, are often undermined, harassed and threatened. I speak from personal experience, and I have lost too many friends, colleagues and family members. In order to advance women's inclusion in addressing these challenges, I urge the Security Council to mandate inclusive, gendered decision-making in the design, implementation and monitoring of protection-of- civilian strategies, including those responding to acts of gender-based violence.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“In many contexts, as in the case of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, women continuously report feeling unsafe. Food-distribution sites are set up in areas not easily accessible. Women and girls must collect food, firewood and water for their families, often risking rape and abduction when doing so. Latrines continue to be built without locks and without regard for the need for sex-segregated facilities to ensure safety and privacy. Sanitary napkins and other basic hygiene supplies are still deemed luxuries and not necessities. There is a need for more responsive channels for women to communicate with humanitarian officers and peacekeepers about their immediate protection concerns. This communication is often dramatically enhanced when women themselves are serving in roles such as peacekeepers and police.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“I am here today, with a heavy heart; as a representative of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security; as one of the Directors of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre in Somalia, an organization founded by my late father, who was killed advocating for human rights; and in my capacity as the Youth Ambassador for Somalia on Youth to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. I returned from the comforts and safety of Canada to Somalia five years ago because I believe that we all have a role to play in the peaceful transition out of conflict. I have seen first-hand the catastrophic consequences of violence against civilians and of protection strategies that are gender-blind and have failed to meaningfully include women.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source
“Ms. Elman: Just days ago, in Mogadishu, the mother of a 14-year-old girl called me. Her daughter was raped two years ago by a Ugandan soldier in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The soldier returned to Uganda, where he remains in detention awaiting trial. The mother often calls me, not seeking an update on the case, but to help her daughter. Her daughter has now been labelled the "girl who was raped by the infidel" and ostracized by her community. The nature of my work, providing emergency, life-saving services to survivors of sexual and gender- based violence, is to respond to such calls and provide any support I can.”
2015-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7374 (2015) · source