YouSaid · the spoken record

Fontaine

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11

first

2022-04-11

most recent

2022-04-11

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1

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un-security-council

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1. “I visited an underground maternity ward in Lviv that is staffed 24/7 by a team of tireless women, assisting births amid air raid alerts. Local women’s organizations are mobilizing grass- roots networks to care for the most vulnerable, even in the darkest of circumstances. Their courage and commitment are a light in the dark. Most of all, I would like to entreat all those with the power to end the war to actually use that power. The lives and future of millions of children hang in the balance. The math is simple. Every day that the war continues, children will continue to suffer. As humanitarians, Council members can count on us to continue our work, but there is only so much we can do. It is time to end the war. Ukraine’s children cannot afford to wait.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

2. “We continue to reiterate the need to ensure that children who have been separated from their families and live in institutional care are protected and that every effort is made to obtain caregiver consent and the approval of authorities before such children are evacuated or relocated. In closing, I would like to express how proud I am of our United Nations teams, both inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries. The work that they do is indispensable. I would also like to salute the remarkable resilience of Ukrainian doctors, nurses, teachers and social workers, especially women, who have been at the forefront of the response. I was personally deeply impressed by the care that they provide to children and families.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

3. “Resources are already overstretched, and local residents live in a state of uncertainty as the sound of air raids and warnings from local officials are heard regularly, reminding them that the front lines may soon reach them, too. I am particularly concerned about the widespread presence of explosive remnants of war, which expose children to the risk of death and horrendous injury. Eastern Ukraine was already one of the world’s most mine-contaminated stretches of land, even prior to the recent escalation. That reality is rapidly extending to other parts of the country. We are also carefully monitoring the health, rights and dignity of women and girls, as the risk of exploitation and abuse grows.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

4. “We are providing families with much-needed humanitarian cash assistance and increasing awareness to minimize the risk of explosive ordnance. In Zaporizhzhya, I visited a reception centre set up by local authorities, run mostly by women professionals, for displaced persons to access health and psychosocial services, have a warm meal and rest temporarily. Those services are critical, but they are not the solution. Many of those who were able to flee early have been able to find sanctuary in other countries. It is not clear how those who are being displaced now will actually fare. They have been exposed to violence for longer and have fewer resources at their disposal.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

5. “The solidarity expressed for Ukrainian refugees has been a very, very welcome development, one that surely should be replicated globally for all seeking protection and asylum, no matter where they come from. UNICEF and our partners are doing everything we can. Inside Ukraine we continue to face extremely difficult operating conditions. We have seen some progress in recent weeks with our teams and supplies able to reach Sumy, Kharkiv and Kramatorsk, among others. But that is not enough. Ongoing hostilities prevent us from reaching those most in need in many areas of the country. We saw that last week in Kramatorsk, when our teams were actually forced to stop offloading supplies and had to evacuate to safety following the nearby explosions. We are also helping local authorities to identify and register unaccompanied and separated children.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

6. “They have been forced to leave everything behind: their homes, their school and often their family members. I have heard stories of the desperate steps that parents are taking to get their children to safety and children being saddened that they are unable to get back to school. A social worker told me a story about parents who were forced to send their children with a truck driver just to get them away from the line of fire. Such unaccompanied children, of course, are at much higher risk of violence, abuse, exploitation and trafficking. Women face a particular risk. We are extremely concerned by increasing reports of sexual violence and other forms of gender-based violence. Fortunately, there has been an outpouring of support from neighbouring countries to welcome refugees.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

7. “In the Donbas region, a whole generation of children have already seen their lives and education upended during the past eight years of conflict. We applaud the efforts of the authorities to ensure the continuity of education. However, that can be only a temporary solution. Lessons from the pandemic show the importance of children learning in school with their peers and teachers. I met families in Zaporizhzhya that told me that they had wanted to stay in their homes but were forced to flee when the shelling and violence became too much. Thousands of others are now trying to leave before the fighting closes in around them. They face further dangers along the way besides crossfire and explosive remnants. In just six weeks, nearly two thirds of all Ukrainian children have been displaced.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

8. “Although still unconscious, Vlad is expected to live, unlike so many others. All the systems that help children survive are also under attack. The hostilities have damaged or destroyed hundreds of residential houses. Attacks on hospitals, health-care facilities and medical equipment and the killing and injuring of health-care professionals are making it even harder for people to access emergency care, basic health care and medicine. Hundreds of schools and educational facilities have been attacked or used for military purposes. Others are serving as shelters for civilians. Nationwide school closures are impacting the learning and the future of 5.7 million school-age children and 1.5 million students in higher education.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

9. “The situation is even worse in cities such as Mariupol and Kherson, where children and their families have now gone weeks without running water or sanitation services, a regular supply of food or medical care. They are sheltering in their homes and on the ground waiting for the bombs and violence to stop. As of yesterday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights verified that 142 children had been killed and 229 injured. We know that those numbers are likely much higher. Many of them were caused by crossfire or the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. I met one of those children in an intensive care unit in the hospital ward of Zaporizhzhya. Vlad, a 4-year- old, was shot twice in the stomach as he was escaping with his family from a contested area.”

   2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

10. “I note the tragic irony that our teams were actually off-loading life-saving humanitarian supplies only a kilometre away when so many lives were taken by that needless act of violence. The attack on Kramatorsk station is unconscionable, and yet it is just one of many instances in this war where we have seen a blatant disregard for civilian lives and international humanitarian law. Inside Ukraine, children, families and communities are under attack. Of the 3.2 million children estimated to have remained in their homes, nearly half may be at risk of not having enough food. Attacks on water-system infrastructure and power outages have left an estimated 1.4 million people without access to water in Ukraine. Another 4.6 million people have only limited access.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source

11. “Mr. Fontaine: First, I would like to express my appreciation to Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and to Ambassador Ferit Hoxha for having convened today’s meeting. I would also like to thank Ambassador Woodward and the United Kingdom for hosting this briefing during that country’s Security Council presidency. I have just returned from a mission to Ukraine, and I must say that in my 31 years as a humanitarian, I have rarely seen so much damage caused in so little time. Friday’s attack on Kramatorsk train station was particularly horrifying. The station has been a critical route for thousands of families fleeing Donetsk oblast, an area that has seen some of the war’s worst violence and destruction. When the station was attacked, it was filled with families desperate to escape the mounting violence.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9013 (2022) · source