YouSaid · the spoken record

Griffiths

lines on the record: 722
first: 2018-04-17
most recent: 2023-10-18
sittings or episodes: 57
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

“That means that food and other essential goods, nearly all of which must be imported, should soon become more affordable for the people of Yemen. Efforts to resolve the threat posed by the FSO SAFER tanker are also progressing. The new United Nations proposal to replace the FSO SAFER vessel and, in the meantime, move the oil into a temporary vessel has received strong support. I believe Mr. David Gressly was here in New York recently, briefing members of the Council informally on the matter. Work can begin in May, if we can raise the funds — approximately $80 million is needed. As we have heard from Mr. Grundberg, we are also hopeful that the new Presidential Leadership Council may help to resolve fragmentation which has, at times, created challenges for aid agencies. We join Mr.”
2022-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9017 (2022) · source
“People who need to travel abroad from Sana’a for medical care or other reasons would at long last be able to do so. That is all good news, so long as the truce holds. Beyond the truce itself, there may be more good news on the horizon. The $3-billion economic support package announced at the recent Yemeni consultations convened by the Gulf Cooperation Council is extraordinarily welcome. That includes fuel support, development assistance and, crucially, a new $2-billion deposit in Yemen’s Central Bank — split between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which should be congratulated on that decision — to help stabilize the currency. The Yemeni rial has already recovered 25 per cent of its value since the announcement of the truce.”
2022-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9017 (2022) · source
“More fuel ships are now arriving in Al-Hudaydah, helping to ease severe fuel shortages. For months, those shortages have been driving up prices, depriving people of health care and other services. That, in turn, has exposed women and girls to more risks as they travelled further and further away to seek water or cooking gas. The truce is also aimed at facilitating the movement of people, goods and humanitarian assistance by resuming commercial flights from Sana’a airport and working to reopen roads in Taiz and other areas, as we have heard. Communities living near front lines — including in Taiz, where residents have suffered for years as their city has been encircled by conflict and its roads have been blocked — would then become easier to reach.”
2022-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9017 (2022) · source
“Mr. Griffiths: As we have heard from Mr. Grundberg, after so many years of conflict and crisis, hope has become something of a scarce commodity in Yemen. However, today, I think we may well be hopeful that we are seeing the kinds of changes that could very possibly help pave the way towards a brighter future for the people of Yemen. The truce that Mr. Grundberg has just described is an incredibly important step forward. It is already having a positive impact on the humanitarian situation. Despite reports of limited clashes in a few areas, mainly in Ma’rib and Taiz, hostilities have dropped sharply across the country. Civilian casualties have fallen to their lowest level in months — a major improvement after weeks of escalating conflict earlier this year.”
2022-04-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9017 (2022) · source
“In conclusion, like others, I remind the Council of what it already knows well, that is, that the world cannot afford this war, and neither can the people of Ukraine. And like others, I call on all Council members and Member States with influence to support all efforts, from wherever they come from, in the pursuit of peace and the alleviation of humanitarian suffering. For the sake of the people of Ukraine, for the sake of those around the world who cannot afford to bear the additional burden this war imposes on them and on all of us, we must, as the Secretary-General said, silence the guns.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“We will need sustained financial support for needs in Ukraine. And, like the Secretary-General, I want to stress, as he has done insistently, that funding must not be diverted from other crises. Afghanistan is but one example. As the Council heard from David Beasley last week (see S/PV.9008), conflict, climate shocks and the coronavirus disease, compounded by the soaring food and fuel costs indicated by the Secretary-General, could push another 47 million people globally into severe food insecurity. The total number of people around the world who will not know where their next meal will come from could be driven to the astonishing number of 325 million people. That is, by a long distance, the highest in our recent history and well over double what it was three years ago.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“My counterparts in Moscow received those suggestions and assured me of their intent to carefully study those ideas, which I left with them. We agreed to remain in close contact. I came away from the meetings believing that we have a very long road ahead of us. But it must be travelled, and we will travel it. Tomorrow I plan to travel to Ukraine for discussions with senior authorities from the Ukrainian Government in Kyiv on Thursday on the same issues and others that they will undoubtedly present to me, as well as to see first-hand with our Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad, the humanitarian response. Thanks to generous donor contributions, mainly from Governments represented in this Chamber, the humanitarian response since February has been scaled up, allowing us to meet the needs of 1.5 million people.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“Yesterday in Moscow, I had long and frank exchanges with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, and his Deputy, Sergey Vershinin, and then separately with Alexander Fomin, the Deputy Minister of Defence. In my meetings with those senior officials, I also discussed, in addition to the possibilities of humanitarian ceasefires, the issue of humanitarian convoys and safe passage, including the four that I have already referred to. I outlined possibilities for building further on that cooperation, sharing specific suggestions for mutually agreed upon military freezes to allow for evacuations of civilians and the safe passage of life-saving aid — in effect, for humanitarian pauses in different parts of Ukraine to save lives and bring back a modicum of safety for those living in those places.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“We are bolstering protection of gender-based violence services through agencies to provide specialized care for survivors and the wealth of civil society organizations in Ukraine. Those services are designed and carried out directly in collaboration with and through Ukrainian civil society, including, in particular, women-led organizations. Today I am addressing the Security Council from Geneva, having just returned from Moscow overnight. As all are aware, the Secretary-General, as he said earlier, charged me to bring both sides together on humanitarian grounds to explore both specific and sustained ways to reduce humanitarian suffering, including, inter alia but in particular, the pursuit of a humanitarian ceasefire.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“Following the notification to both parties — a formal process that we and the International Committee of the Red Cross are engaged in — four United Nations convoys in total have provided critical support to people in some of the cities encircled by war and affected by ongoing fighting. Several more are planned. Those are initial steps, but it gives us a basis to now expand, taking our efforts up to scale and expanding much more beyond one convoy a day. I want to join the Secretary-General and the Under- Secretary-General in what they have already said in expressing my concern about the growing number of reports we have received of human trafficking and sexual violence, exploitation and abuse in Ukraine and the region. As always, the horrific incidents that we are seeing overwhelmingly impact displaced women and children more than others.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“The World Food Programme has reached more than 1.3 million people with cash and food assistance, and it plans to increase that number to 2.5 million people this month. Health partners report that more than 180 tons of medical supplies were delivered in Ukraine, with another 470 tons on the way. That will address the health needs of around 6 million people in the months ahead. I am also pleased — that seems an odd word to say in the context of Ukraine — that, after much effort, in the past day another convoy was dispatched from our humanitarian hub in Dnipro to the far east. Today food, winter clothing, non-food items, medicine and hygiene kits were offloaded to the Ukraine Red Cross and will reach the hands of those most in need.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“We restate here that civilians must be allowed to move to safer areas without the fear of attacks and at their own choice and selection. It is vital that all parties to the conflict respect their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and allow impartial humanitarian organizations safe, rapid and unimpeded access to all civilians in need wherever they are in Ukraine. As the world watches humanitarian needs soar in Ukraine, the United Nations and its partner organizations are making every effort to dramatically increase our support to affected civilians. As we noted before in this Chamber (see S/PV.8988), the work of the 6,000 volunteers from the Ukraine Red Cross, together with local non-governmental organizations in eastern Ukraine, continue to work tirelessly at the front line of assistance to communities.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“In total, more than a quarter of the population of Ukraine has fled in this extraordinary short time. Unfortunately, we can imagine that those numbers will continue to rise until we can find a pause and some peace. The ground and air offensives and counteroffensives are making life nearly impossible for many civilians in Ukraine. Families, the elderly, women and children have been trapped by fighting already for too long. For more than five weeks, the people of Mariupol have been caught up in fighting, and it is well documented that Mariupol really is a centre of Hell. Other cities — like Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv — remain cut off from essential goods and services. Perilous conditions are hampering our efforts to access civilians, or their ability to access us.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“Mr. Griffiths: As members just heard from the Secretary-General and from Under Secretary-General DiCarlo, Ukrainian civilians are paying far too high a price for this war. I want to speak briefly about humanitarian needs and what we are doing to meet them, before I then refer to my recent travels. As we have heard, at least 1,430 people have been killed in the past six weeks, among them more than 121 children, and we know that that is likely a serious underestimate. Homes and civilian infrastructure — bridges, hospitals and schools — have been damaged and destroyed. The current statistics on displacement tell us that more than 11.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes, of whom more than 4.2 million are now refugees in the generous neighbouring countries that Rosemary DiCarlo just referred to.”
2022-04-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9011 (2022) · source
“Ultimately, now more than ever before, we need action to show the people of Syria that they have not been forgotten, as they fear they have been. We also need to deliver aid that is so urgently needed by those communities, families and statistics.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“I echo the call of the Secretary-General to maintain the consensus on renewing resolution 2585 (2021), authorizing cross-border access for the United Nations and its partners. The Council has acted in unison on that issue since last July, and it is my sincere hope and that of the Secretary- General that the same spirit of cooperation will remain on that issue. We continue to work with the parties concerned to reinvigorate cross-line access to the north-west. It is not an easy task. I am hopeful that before the end of the month of March, we will see another inter-agency convoy delivering aid to people in need in that area. In the north-east, the United Nations must be able to coordinate the humanitarian response from within the country through its hub in Qamishli.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“There are two areas I would highlight that may protect us from those risks. First, as I already mentioned, we need funding, including for those early recovery programmes, in particular. Last year, our humanitarian response plan received 46 per cent of funding, which in itself is a relatively good statistic, but in a very grim environment. We are acutely aware of the rapidly rising humanitarian needs across the world, some due to man-made conflicts, others due to climate shocks and extreme weather conditions. With needs on the rise, the requirements for funding have skyrocketed. The funding environment is challenging but we cannot allow insufficient funding to be the cause of further hardship for Syrians, in particular their children. Secondly, we must ensure full humanitarian access to people in need, wherever they are.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“One important component of early recovery programmes that needs to be expanded is mine clearance. Mines and explosive ordnance killed approximately 805 people in Syria in 2021 and injured nearly 3,000 more. Around half of the population in Syria is estimated to live in areas contaminated with explosive ordnance. That, too, is a shocking statistic. Access to electricity is also critical to enabling early recovery. At present, one-third of Syrian households receive fewer than two hours of electricity a day. Public services, of course, are similarly underserved. The United Nations continues to engage with all parties on how to ensure that the situation of ordinary Syrians, which I have been describing, is not further exacerbated by the unintended impact of sanctions. We cannot fail the Syrian people, yet that is exactly the risk we face.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“We have seen positive work in early recovery across all sectors, from health to education to water and sanitation, including from your authorities, Madam President. Our 2022 humanitarian response plan is nearing finalization. It includes $1.1 billion of projects, which is a little more than 25 per cent of the overall requests for humanitarian aid to Syria, that will contribute to early recovery and resilience — much more than was the case last year. There are 570 projects in the plan are focused on early recovery and resilience. That includes, for example, 66 per cent of education requirements, 45 per cent of water, sanitation and hygiene requirements, and 22 per cent of health requirements. I am very pleased that the programming has increased on early recovery and resilience. We hope that this will also lead to generous funding.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“All that exacerbates an already problematic humanitarian situation. Already, as many as one in four children in some areas are stunted, resulting in irreversible physical and cognitive harm. Sadly, that also aggravates existing protection concerns. As in every crisis, the vulnerable suffer the most. For example — and I find this to be an extraordinary report — 71 per cent of communities have reported instances of child marriage and 84 per cent of those communities report the use of child labour. Against that backdrop, while we focus on life-saving interventions, as Mr. Pedersen mentioned, we must also intensify our early recovery efforts. People must be allowed to lead dignified lives and see a better life for themselves and their children.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“Today’s crippling economic crisis continues to push humanitarian needs to new heights. Very high levels of food insecurity, with 12 million people considered food- insecure, are at risk of rising further. The Syrian pound is reaching record lows, reducing purchasing power. The war in Ukraine is leading to soaring food and energy prices globally. That is expected to have a particularly negative impact on the region, including in Syria. Already food prices have hit record highs each month over the last five months; they have gone up and up and up. Basic commodities are expected to become not only less affordable but also less available. Families are increasingly unable to cover basic expenses with their incomes, as we have discussed here before, and the situation is only worse now.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“We continue to be concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Al-Hol, where some 56,000 people live. Incidents resulting in death and injury, including of children, continue, as we have discussed in this Chamber before. The protection of camp residents, most of them women and children, must be front and centre. At the same time, we need to maintain the civilian character of the camp. I take this opportunity once more to call for the full repatriation of third-country nationals from camps in north-east Syria. Each month the situation for Syrians becomes bleaker, as Geir has also mentioned. This month is no different. As we reported here last month (see S/PV.8978), 14.6 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, more than at any time since the start of the conflict. The graph keeps getting worse.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“Mr. Griffiths: This month marks 11 years of war, destruction and humanitarian crisis for the people of Syria. Such devastation finds few parallels in recent history. More than 350,000 people have been killed and nearly 14 million displaced from their homes. Basic services have been destroyed. Five million children born since the start of the conflict have known nothing but hardship, nothing but war. Those are terrible, sobering figures. Civilians continue to be killed or injured along front- line areas of north-west and north-east Syria, despite, as Geir has been saying, no significant movement in the front lines. In February alone, 18 civilians were killed in north-west Syria, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.”
2022-03-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9003 (2022) · source
“Attention and investment are needed in the longer term, too, to support Mr. Grundberg’s efforts. As my predecessor said every time he spoke in the Chamber, the efforts of the Special Envoy are to bring peace and resolution to the conflict, which is the hope of all of us and the greatest priority.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Nonetheless, all of those achievements are at risk, as aid agencies face alarming and unprecedented funding shortages, as I warned here last month (see S/PV.8966). It is astonishing to say that two-thirds of major United Nations programmes have already scaled down or closed in recent months for lack of money. It includes deep cuts to core services, such as food aid, water, health care and relief for people fleeing violence in Ma’rib and elsewhere. If I have one message for the world today, it is this — let us not stop now. The United Nations and its Members must keep working together to help the millions of Yemenis who urgently need and deserve it. They must show that being out of the headlines does not mean being left behind. We will look for generous pledging at tomorrow’s event and prompt disbursement.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“It will help us, as it is an objective review of humanitarian performance. On a separate and positive note, last week Houthi authorities in Sana’a signed a memorandum of understanding on the FSO SAFER tanker. That confirms the agreement in principle we announced last month — on which David Gressly, humanitarian leader in Yemen, has been working — and brings the world just one step closer to solving a very dangerous problem. We must hope that that will be achieved in May, at the latest. When I held Mr. Grundberg’s position, I frequently spoke to the Council about the difficulties that the United Nations has encountered in trying to reach an agreement on the issue. Let us hope that it works. I sincerely thank the Government of the Netherlands for its support and assistance in bringing in this private sector hybrid operation.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Over the past two years, agencies have worked very closely with donors, many represented in the Chamber, and other stakeholders to address those challenges and impediments through detailed negotiations. One of the key improvements is the completion of the three new needs assessments that produced the figures I cited earlier, but there is much more work to be done. Many more improvements are still needed, including in data collection, monitoring and other areas. They are possibly dull but absolutely essential elements of an effective humanitarian response plan. That remains a top priority for agencies and donors, working closely together this year and coming together tomorrow. The Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation, a massive operation and task, will be published in the coming weeks.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Those kidnappings, in addition to a rise in carjackings and other incidents, may signal the start of a very dangerous trend. Houthi authorities also continue to detain two United Nations staff who were arrested in Sana’a in November — a completely unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities. Beyond the security risks, humanitarian aid agencies also continue to face the familiar bureaucratic and other obstacles that hinder their work. Those problems are especially severe in Houthi-controlled areas, where they include restrictions on movement, attempts to interfere with aid operations and other challenges. Last year, 2021, those kinds of obstacles delayed or otherwise affected assistance for millions of people. Here, too, there have been some improvements.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Those and other achievements are the result of collective action — not the action of one. Last year, more than 200 aid agencies — the great majority of them being Yemeni non-governmental organizations — worked together, in coordination with international organizations, including the United Nations, through the response plan — we will be launching this year’s tomorrow — to help nearly 12 million people every month. That aid reaches all 333 districts across the country. That is what was true last year and that is what we must hope for this year. We have always been clear, however, that delivering that aid is much harder than it should be. We are especially alarmed about growing insecurity for United Nations personnel and other aid workers, including recent abductions of staff. Efforts continue at all levels to secure their release.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“First and foremost, for the dog that does not bark, there has been no mass starvation in Yemen, as we were so often reminded might be coming. The country started down that dark road several times, including early last year, only to be pulled back by timely, well-funded humanitarian action. That is an important success. The new increase in the food security numbers I mentioned earlier show how important it is to continue that effort to contain and repel the prospect of such starvation. Initial research also indicates that humanitarian action has helped keep morbidity and mortality rates steady during the conflict. In other words, without the level of the response, many more people in Yemen would have fallen sick and died. That is another critical result.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Much of what I have just described will already be familiar to the Council and the wider international community because, since 2015, donors have spent nearly $14 billion on United Nations appeals to reduce the suffering. It is an exceptional, extraordinary and generous sum. More than 75 per cent of that money has come from just six donors — the United States, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Commission, who footed so much of that bill. I would like to thank all donors for their exceptional generosity over the years. It has made an enormous difference, and it is important to take stock of what that generosity and the humanitarian programmes it spawns has achieved.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Fuel imports, as Mr. Grundberg reminded us, have also fallen sharply recently through Al-Hudaydah, where fuel volumes last month were less than half the average. That drop is contributing to fuel shortages and price rises, which are likely to become even more acute as energy prices globally continue to rise. All of this means that Yemen’s import-dependent economy, because of events that have nothing to do with Yemen, is even more fragile now than just a few weeks ago. The Yemeni economy needs the support of all of us, including through foreign-exchange injections and other measures, in order to avoid risking further damage. We are very hopeful that Governments in the region will also look to this as an urgent priority.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“The war has also accelerated Yemen’s economic problems, pushing more families into destitution. This collapse is among the largest drivers of humanitarian needs. We see this in so many of the crises that we discuss in the Chamber. Unfortunately, the outlook is grim. Yemen relies on commercial imports for about 90 per cent of its food and nearly all its fuel and other essential goods. Many of those goods could soon be much harder to obtain and only at a greater cost. About a third of Yemen’s wheat, as we were discussing before this meeting, comes from Russia and Ukraine, where the current conflict may restrict supply and push up food prices, which already nearly doubled in Yemen last year. And these could go much higher. There is no doubt of the consequences and of the harm that this will cause to the lives of so many Yemeni families.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“That is three of every four people — a vastly astonishing figure that is deeply troubling. Among them, 19 million will go hungry. That is an increase of almost 20 per cent since last year, and we believe — and I use these words carefully — that more than 160,000 of those will face famine-like conditions. Despite many calls for dialogue and a ceasefire — as Mr. Grundberg has just reminded us — hostilities persist along nearly 50 front lines. This includes Ma’rib, where the Houthi offensive continues to this day, two years in, and Hajjah, where clashes have escalated sharply in recent weeks. Last year, hostilities killed or injured more than 2,500 civilians and forced nearly 300,000 people to flee their homes — now amounting to 4.3 million people who have been displaced in Yemen since 2015.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Yemen suffers globally from the terrible statistic that it has the highest rate, as a percentage of its overall population, of people in need. That is why we so often hear that it is one of the gravest global humanitarian catastrophes. Tomorrow’s event is not just about the money, although that is tremendously important. It is also an opportunity for the international community to show that we are not giving up on Yemen, even after all these years, and with new crises emerging. That is a very important message because Yemen still urgently needs help. Hunger, disease and other miseries — as we have been hearing from Mr. Grundberg — are rising faster than aid agencies can roll them back. New nationwide assessments run by our humanitarian partners in Yemen confirm that 23.4 million people now need some form of assistance.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“Mr. Griffiths: I extend my best wishes to the Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates, Ambassador Nusseibeh. I thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Council. As we heard from Mr. Grundberg, after more than seven years of war, Yemen is becoming what humanitarians often refer to as a chronic emergency. And, as aid workers know, there are grave risks in chronic emergencies, namely inertia and fatigue. We must not give into those forces. Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will join the President of Switzerland and the Foreign Minister of Sweden in hosting a high-level pledging event for Yemen. Aid agencies are seeking nearly $4.3 billion to help more than 17 million people across the country this year.”
2022-03-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8995 (2022) · source
“We have the capacity and the know-how to meet the most urgent needs in Ukraine, on the basis of cooperation with the parties. But I would like to stress this last point: make no mistake, we are unable to meet the needs of civilians today. All those points that I have made are points in preparation and supply and redeployment and getting to the right place. But we are failing to meet the needs of civilians today. I hope we will not fail them tomorrow.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“I am deeply worried about the consequences on vulnerable people living half a world away. Food prices are spiking and supplies are uncertain. We did not need that either. People in the Sahel, Yemen, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan and Madagascar already face profound food insecurity. Record-level fuel prices mean life becomes harder still in places like Lebanon, where generators keep hospitals open and water treatment plants working. And with regard to the extraordinary generosity, which I welcome and praise, of donors to the launch of the regional plan and the Ukraine humanitarian response plan, we hope that will not divert those donors from other pressing humanitarian crises. This may be the latest one, but not the only one. We have planned, we have mobilized and we have fundraised to meet the challenge we face.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“On the third point, thanks to cooperation with the Russian Federation, my office sent a team to Moscow to work on better humanitarian civil-military coordination that can allow us to scale up, precisely to begin to establish a humanitarian notification system. This follows last Friday’s phone call between the Secretary- General and the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu. United Nations teams have held the first technical meeting with the representatives of the Ministry of Defence. I welcome cooperation by both sides and sincerely hope to see further progress in the hours ahead. People are watching as this unnecessary conflict engulfs cities and civilians. As well as what is happening in Ukraine, they have an extra sense of dread over the impact this will have on the wider world. I include myself in this category.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“Civilians in places like Mariupol, Kharkiv, Melitopol and elsewhere desperately need aid, especially life-saving medical supplies, the kind that have been brought in by the World Health Organization in these past days. Many modalities are possible, but safe passage must take place in line with the parties’ obligations under the laws of war. Thirdly, we urgently need a system of constant communication with parties to the conflict and assurances to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid. We have seen these systems in place in other countries, as Security Council members know well. A humanitarian notification system, as we term it, can support the delivery of aid at the scale needed. I have already conveyed these three points to the authorities of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“These are people all in harm’s way who have no hesitation in carrying out their mission. I see three immediate priorities to lessen the pain and suffering we are all watching unfold in real time. First, the parties need to take constant care to spare civilians and civilian homes and infrastructure in their military operations. That includes allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis, in the direction they choose. All civilians, whether they stay or leave, must be respected and protected. Secondly, we need safe passage for humanitarian supplies into areas of active hostilities.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“Médecins sans Frontières never left. It is training trauma surgeons and providing support for the people in that city. UNHCR is bringing in thousands of blankets, mattresses and other non-food items from Poland — I thank Poland — and shipping them to transit centres. And I look forward to hearing a lot more about the experience of children from Catherine Russell and the vital work of UNICEF and its partners. The Ukrainian Red Cross has distributed humanitarian assistance to thousands via its emergency stockpiles, including hygiene and food kits, warm clothing and medicine. I would like to take the chance to salute the more than 4,000 Ukraine Red Cross volunteers across the country, who are used to conflict; the community workers of local NGOs; and the truck drivers carrying basic necessities into volatile areas.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“This includes cities that we have seen so much on during these last days, such as Mariupol, Kharkiv and Kherson. Our response is being scaled up from hubs in Vynnytsya, Uzhgorod and Lviv. The United Nations and its partners — and we will hear from Catherine Russel in a minute — have already provided food to hundreds of thousands of people. The World Food Programme is setting up supply chain operations to deliver immediate food and cash assistance to 3 to 5 million people inside Ukraine. The World Health Organization has shipped trauma care, emergency surgery equipment and other supplies that will help thousands of people in days to come. And more supplies are on their way. UNHCR is providing assistance, albeit on a small scale at the moment, through a network of shops and supermarkets in Mariupol, in collaboration with NGOs.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“They cannot find what they need even if they have money to pay for it. As we have seen, even as the television cameras roll, many cannot even flee in safety either in this conflict. It has been 11 days of escalating violence, fear and pain. As of 6 March, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported at least 1,207 civilian casualties, including at least 406 dead. The real figure could be considerably higher. UNHCR reports that more than 1.7 million refugees have fled — and that figure is probably out of date already — in 11 days. Humanitarian assistance has continued in areas where security permits. Under the leadership of the Crisis Coordinator and the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in country, we have new plans now on how to deliver where humanitarian needs are most acute.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“The Secretary-General, at record speed, appointed Amin Awad, a person of the widest experience of fast- moving operations, including in that very region, as his Crisis Coordinator. Mr. Awad, supported by Osnat Lubrani, the experienced Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, is in Ukraine as we meet in this Chamber today. In the first days of the offensive, our staff, like so many in Ukraine, spent their days and nights working from bunkers and basements. And yet they managed to produce the two robust response plans, which Filippo Grandi and I launched last week in Geneva, to a very generous donor response. Do I need to describe what we have all seen and heard on the news? Simply put, millions of lives shattered. People cannot stay home with shops shut, power and water cut, shells falling and phones switched off.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“We estimated together who might be in need, who might be on the move and those vulnerable people who might need help at home. We looked at possible routes and methods of delivery. The World Food Programme mobilized its considerable logistics capabilities to get supply chains up and running from a standing start. We knew that the operation would need the best of talent. All humanitarian agencies, including my Office, sent in surge staff in the days before that offensive began. And as the unthinkable became the reality, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners started a scalable and agile, adaptable and resilient humanitarian operation fit for the changing situation.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“They had been working in the Donbas region, providing 1.5 million people there with humanitarian aid, which they have been doing quietly and without fanfare over the past eight years. And they are doing it still today, however and whenever they can. But of course, the humanitarian agencies also prepared for worse to come. Two weeks ago, few thought the scenario in which we find ourselves today — one of such intense conflict — was thinkable. It was essentially unplannable from a humanitarian operational perspective. And yet the humanitarian community did plan. We looked to the possible numbers, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration, our non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, UNICEF and the World Food Programme.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“Mr. Griffiths: I congratulate you, Madam President, on presiding over the Security Council in these extraordinary times. We are here, of course, to speak about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. And yet, none of us want to be here today. We already had enough on our hands — many other unnecessary and unwanted conflicts, leaving misery in their wake. We had no need for another war that would have such a swift and sweeping impact for what Filippo Grandi has called “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War”. Today indeed is not a day we had in mind. In the weeks before the military offensive began in Ukraine and despite the din of commentary, rhetoric and prediction, humanitarian organizations went about their business.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“We are extremely concerned about what we now see on the streets of some of the key large, modern cities of Ukraine — the way in which people are voting with their feet, the way in which basic services are being interrupted and the way in which civilian infrastructure is being damaged. In time, I am quite sure that we will discover who did what and who breached which requirements of international humanitarian law.”
2022-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8983 (2022) · source
“Mr. Griffiths: Let me respond to that if I may, or, indeed, try to respond to it. I can say that we have no confirmation of reports of radicals placing such weaponry in residential areas. The fact is that accountability at this stage for breaches of international humanitarian law, which we must see in time, is naturally, at this level of the conflict, level of violence and level of uncertainty, very difficult to establish. We are truly in the fog of war. It is a fog that obscures the future of so many of the people in Ukraine. I made several points in my briefing about our fears surrounding the impact on civilian objects and civilian infrastructure as a result of urban warfare. I mentioned, for example, our reminder that large-scale urban warfare also requires that we avoid wide-area explosive weapons.”
2022-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8983 (2022) · source