YouSaid · the spoken record

Hasan

lines on the record: 106
first: 1999-02-22
most recent: 2016-12-20
sittings or episodes: 10
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

“Paragraphs 17 to 27 of the second annex of Ambassador Amorim's report to the Security Council dated 30 March 1999 (S/ 1999/356) provide a detailed picture of the catastrophic effects that sanctions have had on all aspects of life in Iraq, including the serious decrease in Iraq's gross domestic product and a reduction in per capita income. These effects include the severe increase in mortality rates, particularly among mothers and children; severe malnutrition among a large proportion of children; grave deterioration in infrastructure, particularly water supplies, sanitation networks, electricity grids, hospitals and medical centres; shrinking of registration of children in schools to 53 per cent - a cultural and intellectual paucity as well as the destruction of the social fabric in general.”
2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source
“Among the reasons why the United States of America was able to impose its sanctions policy in the Security Council was the absence of any checks or balances in the Charter of the United Nations limiting the excessive use of sanctions. Article 41 of the Charter includes a general provision relating to coercive sanctions, but no other Article in the Charter clearly provides for any control over the use of this blunt instrument. The comprehensive sanctions imposed on Iraq have led to a humanitarian tragedy: the deaths of more than 1.5 million Iraqi civilians. The sanctions have destroyed the infrastructure of the economy and the foundations of life in general in Iraq.”
2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source
“The United States inaugurated its first-ever act of hegemony over the United Nations on 6 August 1990 by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Iraq in resolution 661 (1990) - merely four days after the events of 2 August 1990 - without providing the slightest opportunity to resort to peaceful means to resolve the issue. Those comprehensive sanctions were unprecedented. They will perhaps remain unique in the history of the United Nations and the Security Council. Those sanctions prohibited an entire State from all forms of import or export. The exception provided for in resolution 661 (1990), for medical and food supplies, had no practical application, because Iraq is prohibited from exporting any products that could earn the hard currency necessary to cover the cost of food and medical imports.”
2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source
“In the period from the creation of the United Nations to 1990, the Security Council resorted to sanctions on only two occasions: once against the racist regime of Rhodesia, and once against the regime in South Africa. Between 1990 and 1997, sanctions were imposed against 11 States. The majority of those sanctions were imposed in implementation of United States policy. The United States has used the United Nations as part of its diplomatic arsenal. Indeed, that fact was stated by Senator Jesse Helms before the Security Council on 20 January this year.”
2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source
“Mr. Hasan (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic): Allow me at the outset to express to you, Mr. President, our sincere thanks for convening this meeting to consider the issue of sanctions, which has become a source of concern for the entire international community, especially in the past decade - the "decade of sanctions", as it has come to be known. With the collapse of the socialist bloc at the end of the 1980s, the world became unipolar: the United States of America, with its use of illegitimate means to affect international decision-making, has been able to impose its views and priorities on the United Nations, including through its extremist use of sanctions.”
2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source
“We fear that the day will come when CNN, the news network, will force a programme of work on the Security Council - if it has not done so already. Fifthly, the role and task of the United Nations consist of the peaceful resolution of conflicts. The exception to this is the resort to coercive measures. The United Nations demonstrates its effective assumption of its role whenever it is restrained in such resort, as pointed out in the Charter. We have noted, however, that in recent times, the United Nations has had increasing recourse to coercive measures, as if they were the sole and preferable solution. This is, per se, proof of incapacity, not of power or strength.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“Indeed, the Council has dealt selectively with international crises. Palestinian civilians, for example, experience the worst kind of coercion, humiliation and forced migration as well as the destruction of their homes. Iraqi civilians, suffering from comprehensive sanctions, are exposed daily to attacks by American and British aircraft. Hundreds of them have been martyred as a result of this aggression, and roads, schools and laboratories have been destroyed. All of this is occurring under the very eyes of the Council, which has not taken any measures or called the perpetrators to account. Furthermore, other situations - less dangerous than the ones the Palestinians and the Iraqis are facing - are exaggerated.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“Here I must recall that the Charter has no mechanism for making the Security Council accountable to the States Members of the United Nations with respect to the legitimacy of its resolutions and to what degree they conform to international humanitarian law. It is crucial that we consider this very important issue. Fourthly, it is imperative that the Security Council adopt a fair and equitable policy, eschewing selectivity and double standards, that places the principles of the Charter before the narrow interests of the powerful members of the Council. The actions of the Security Council over this past decade have given us convincing reasons to doubt its integrity, its objectivity and its ability to be effective in the prevention of armed conflicts and in the protection of civilians.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“The Secretary-General, in paragraph 25 of his report to the Security Council, pointed out that "recent experience has shown that sanctions can have a highly negative impact on civilian populations, in particular children and women". It is clear that the Secretary- General was taking into account the suffering of the Iraqi civilians as a result of the sanctions when he wrote this paragraph, although he did not say that explicitly. The report published by the United Nations Children's Fund on 12 August 1996 gives documented figures showing that a half million Iraqi children under the age of 5 have died because of the sanctions.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“A crime of genocide occurred in Rwanda in 1994, when the Security Council could not muster the political will to stop the situation from deteriorating, as its member countries did not wish to expose their forces to danger in a struggle that did not threaten their interests. Another crime of genocide occurred, and continues to this day, in Iraq, because the Council took, on 6 August 1990, an erroneous decision by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Iraq. The victims of those sanctions so far have been one and a half million Iraqi civilians, and the fabric of Iraqi society has been rent in a way that will affect future generations.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“Thirdly, the United Nations, and in particular the Security Council, must adopt the principle of collective responsibility in the peaceful resolution of conflicts. The eruption of a given conflict means the failure of preventive diplomacy - that is, our collective failure. We should all bear our share of this responsibility, including the Council, whose part in this failure is quite clear since it bears primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. We cannot make the combatants solely responsible for the evils of war. On the other hand, mistakes, bad judgement or the abuse of the Security Council's mandate can sometimes result in catastrophes that are greater that those caused by armed militias in poor countries.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“As the Secretary-General pointed out, the deteriorating economic situation is conducive to the eruption of violent conflicts for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the political environment tends to be more favourable to conflict in times of recession than in times of economic growth. The Secretary-General reiterated that the money currently spent on military intervention and humanitarian assistance could be reallocated to support equitable and sustainable development, thus reducing the likelihood of the outbreak of war. We call upon the countries of the North to contribute to establishing a balanced and equitable world economy that preserves the rights and interests of the countries of the South.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“Secondly, when the Security Council and the United Nations deal generally with this very important issue, a global perspective must be taken that gives the utmost priority to the prevention of conflicts through activating the mechanism of preventive diplomacy and its machinery and making the United Nations a focal point for that preventive diplomacy. When considering the roots of intra- or inter- State conflicts, we find that one of the reasons for their outbreak is the inequitable and unbalanced international economic environment, which adversely affects the economies of developing countries and creates "hot spots" for conflicts.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“First, we expect the Security Council to take into account the views put forward by States that are not members of the Council in the open debate held earlier this year on the question of the protection of children and of civilians in armed conflict. Those views should be integrated into the Council's programme of work, in accordance with the functions of the Council, as contained in Article 24 of the Charter of the United Nations, under which it is to act as a representative of the States Members of the United Nations in the fulfilment of its duties, thereby complementing the work of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, United Nations agencies and the international community in general.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“Mr. Hasan (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic): I should like first of all to thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this open debate. Civilians constitute the vast majority of human casualties in armed conflict. They are the first victims of the belligerent international environment we live in today. The international community and its organizations should give the utmost priority to this issue. On that basis, we welcome the contribution made by the Secretary-General in the report he has submitted to the Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which is contained in document S/1999/957. We would like to make some observations on the issue under consideration.”
1999-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4046Resumption2 (1999) · source
“As a representative of a State subjected to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster due to the sanctions imposed by the Security Council and the aggression carried out daily by two permanent Council Members, I launch an appeal to the Council to abandon the double standard and to be true to the role assigned to it in the Charter. It must forthwith lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq and halt the aggression to which Iraq is subjected daily by the United States and Great Britain in the so-called no-fly zones.”
1999-09-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4043Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Partly for that reason, responses to appeals for humanitarian and security assistance have been similarly skewed. Such assistance should not be allocated on the basis of media coverage, politics or geography. Its sole criterion should be human need. "I am particularly alarmed by the international community's poor response to the needs of victims of war and natural disasters in Africa. Where needs are pressing, if we are not true to our most basic principles of multilateralism and humanitarian ethics, we will be accused of inconsistency at best, hypocrisy at worst." We emphasize the need for the immediate halt of disturbance and human suffering in East Timor.”
1999-09-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4043Resumption1 (1999) · source
“We warn against giving this question, the humanitarian question, dimensions that might turn out to be greater than its true size and using it for political expediency. I wish here to refer to the statement made by the Secretary-General in paragraph 8 and 9 of his report on the work of the Organization (A/54/ 1) just issued: "The humanitarian challenge is heightened by the fact that the international community does not respond in a consistent way to humanitarian emergencies. Media attention is part of the problem. The crisis in Kosovo, for example, received saturation coverage. The more protracted and deadly war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the resumption of Angola's savage civil war, received very little. Other wars went almost entirely unreported.”
1999-09-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4043Resumption1 (1999) · source
“We are confident that with disinterested assistance by the international community the Government of Indonesia will be able to bring the situation under control through tangible efforts including control of the armed elements, maintenance of security and extension of humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of the refugees and the disadvantaged civilians with the help of the International Red Cross. Resorting to threats of political seclusion or the interference of foreign troops will complicate the situation ad infinitum. Experiences of the recent past teach us this lesson. Any political solution by the international community should invoke the principle of Indonesia's sovereignty, consent and due regard for the United Nations Charter.”
1999-09-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4043Resumption1 (1999) · source
“We appreciate the Government of Indonesia's efforts to reach a just and internationally acceptable solution to the question of East Timor. The outbreak of acts of Violence, killings and destruction of property is deplorable and unacceptable. Thus, all of us are duty-bound to hasten to halt this humanitarian catastrophe as soon as possible. The right course for that lies in extending a helping hand to the Government of Indonesia to help it control the situation and restore security in East Timor.”
1999-09-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4043Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Mr. Hasan (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic): I am pleased at the outset, Mr. President, to congratulate you on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. We wish also to thank the delegation of Namibia for its successful leadership of the Council for last month. With grave concern we have followed recent developments unfolding in East Timor. We invite all parties to exercise restraint and to demonstrate wisdom in solving the problem in a peaceful manner in accordance with the United Nations Charter and the responsibilities of the Government of Indonesia under the 5 May 1999 Agreement. With satisfaction, we followed the popular consultation conducted in a peaceful atmosphere. The Government of Indonesia created conditions that brought about the success of the ballot process.”
1999-09-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4043Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Why does the United States insist that the emperor is wearing the fanciest of clothes? Iraq today says that the emperor is naked. The emperor is a liar, an arms merchant and a bloodsucker of the people. Many voices will be raised in the future to say the very same thing. As for the talk about the relations between the Iraqi Government and the Iraqi people, I do not believe the Americans are to be the judges of that. Let facts speak for themselves. The Iraqis are rallied around their Government and their leader, President Saddam Hussein, despite the siege imposed by the United States and despite hunger. Let me tell you this: hunger does not cause great peoples to kneel.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“I do understand that the world's super- Power need not lie. However, it seems that the power of the United States is a sham hiding behind unlimited intellectual and moral weakness. The report of the United Nations Children's Fund - whose Executive Director is the American Ms. Bellamy - states that the sanctions have led to the deaths of half a million Iraqi children under the age of five. Ambassador Amorim's report to the Security Council states that the sanctions have destroyed the social fabric of Iraq. The facts set forth by the United Nations regarding the situation in Iraq before the sanctions were imposed show that Iraq had attained the highest level of socio-economic development in the region, under the very same Government it has today, which does care for its people. So why do the Americans insist on denying these facts?”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Mr. Hasan (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic): Allow me also to apologize for taking the floor a second time. I do not know why the representative of the United States has insisted on availing himself of his right of reply, because each us has spoken and expressed our points of View. This is not a democratic way to work at the United Nations. The statement of the representative of the United States is completely trivial and undeserving of a reply. The report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council reaffirmed that Iraq is cooperating with the Iraq programme. Regardless of whatever paragraph laying the blame at Iraq's doorstep the United States attempts to insert here or there, the problem is that the programme cannot work or put an end to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Iraq.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“In a television interview aired on CBS in 1996, the American Secretary of State was asked about reports that half a million Iraqi children had died, more than the number of people who died at Hiroshima. Was that too high a price to pay? Mrs. Albright said that she thought it was a very hard choice, but that it was worth it. Those who believe that lifting sanctions is an unrealistic objective have to face the unassailable fact that the continuation of sanctions can only mean the continuation of the crime of genocide and that any cosmetic changes in the sanctions regime will not halt the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Iraq. There is no practical, legal or ethical alternative to the lifting of sanctions, none whatsoever.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Is there a greater affront to the United Nations than that hurled by James Rubin, Spokesman for the State Department, when he declared at the Democratic Party convention held in August 1996 that the United Nations could only do what the United States let it do, or by James Baker, the former Secretary of State, who said in a meeting held on 21 June 1995 that United States participation in the United Nations was not driven by any starry-eyed commitments to multilateralism, but rather by a sober recognition of the usefulness of the United Nations as a vehicle for American leadership. Let us recall that the American Administration takes pride in murdering the children of Iraq in the name of the Security Council.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Coincidentally, the Security Council is considering the question of child protection just a few days after the issuance of the UNICEF report that highlights the role of the Council. The Security Council and the United Nations as a whole must resolve this grave situation and assume responsibility in a sound manner in conformity with the Charter. The United States has greatly offended the United Nations by using it as a tool for the genocide it is perpetrating against Iraq and its children.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“The children of Iraq continue to suffer from leukaemia and other kinds of cancer. The newborn are maimed as a result of the use of that weapon. This radioactive agent is 5.5 billion years old - the age of the Earth. In addition, the children of Iraq are suffering because of the no-flight zones illegally imposed on Iraq since 1991. The imposition of such zones and the more than 250,000 sorties flown by British and American planes over Iraqi cities and villages strike terror into the hearts of Iraqi children. They are sometimes targeted by the American smart bombs. Is there any graver Violation of international humanitarian law? How is it possible for the Security Council to ignore the crimes being perpetrated by the United States and Great Britain in the Council's name and in excess of its mandate?”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“The maternal mortality rate rose to 294 deaths per 100,000 live births. The UNICEF report states that the deaths of more than half a million Iraqi children below the age of five for the period 1991 to 1998 could have been avoided had it not been for the imposition of comprehensive sanctions against Iraq. The above figures leave no doubt that a crime of genocide is being perpetrated against Iraqi children through the imposition of sanctions, which coincides with an equally horrible crime: the use by the United States and the United Kingdom of depleted uranium during their aggression against Iraq in 1991. In the first year of their use, these radioactive shells led to the deaths of 50,000 Iraqi children exposed to deadly doses of radiation unleashed by the use of those weapons.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Infant mortality rates have risen to be among the highest of the world. Serious malnutrition hits more than a quarter of the children of Iraq. Today, only 41 per cent of the Iraqi population has potable water. Eighty-three per cent of the Iraqi schools require major repairs. The UNICEF report published on 12 August 1999, which contains the results of field surveys on child mortality rates in Iraq conducted between February and May 1999, reveals the disastrous effects of sanctions. The field surveys covering 24,000 families have demonstrated that the mortality rates of children below the age of five have doubled from 56 per 1,000 live births from 1984 to 1989 to 131 per 1,000 live births from 1994 to 1999. Infant mortality rates have also risen from 47 to 108 deaths per 1,000 live births for the same periods.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Before the imposition of sanctions, Iraq enjoyed the highest per capita nutritional food basket in the region. Ninety-seven per cent of our urban population and 78 per cent of our rural population had gained full access to medical care. The Iraqi Government made huge investments in the fields of education and illiteracy eradication, and it successfully applied the principle of compulsory primary education. Then comprehensive sanctions were imposed on Iraq on 6 August 1990. By all standards, these are a form of collective punishment imposed on the people of Iraq. These sanctions moved Iraq from a state of relative prosperity into full poverty, as described by Ambassador Amorim in his aforementioned report. The matter is inextricably linked with children, as they constitute the prime victims of these sanctions.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Sanctions have also been the cause of death of more than a million Iraqi citizens from the other groups, particularly women and the elderly. Yet, the crime persists. This situation makes sanctions effectively equal to threats emanating from armed conflict. Is this the objective of sanctions, as provided for in the Charter? Definitely not. Prior to the imposition of sanctions on Iraq, according to statistics of the United Nations and its specialized agencies some of which are contained in Ambassador Amorim's report submitted to the Security Council on 30 March 1999 - Iraq succeeded in achieving a level of socio-economic development that surpassed the average development indicators of countries in the region and in developing countries in general. The gross domestic product was 10.4 per cent between the 1974 and 1980.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Debate on this topic in the Security Council must not in any way detract from the competence and views of the organ in which all United Nations Member States are represented: the General Assembly. Given its structure and the present balance of power, the Security Council is unable to offer creative solutions. Since the issuance of its presidential statement on this subject on 29 June 1998, the Council's conduct only gives rise to false hopes. The Security Council itself constitutes part of the problem. The proverb says: First, one cannot give what one does not have. For instance, under United States pressure, the Council insists on the continued enforcement of comprehensive sanctions against Iraq. These sanctions have caused the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children under five years of age, as indicated in the recent UNICEF report.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“We believe serious progress in making children a zone of peace stems from a more comprehensive objective: making the entire world a zone of peace and prosperity through harnessing the efforts of the international community to redress the root causes of conflicts. These are particularly poverty and deteriorating socio-economic situations, which are worsening due to the international financial crisis that in a global economy widens the gap between the States of the North and the South. The North alone possesses authority, power, money and advanced technology, leaving States of the South with the poverty, illiteracy, hunger, unemployment and intolerance that are fertile ground for violence and conflict.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“The subject of protecting children in armed conflict is at the heart of the purpose for which the United Nations was created, that is, saving coming generations from the scourge of war and affirming belief in man's basic human rights and in the individual's dignity and destiny. The international community has adopted much legislation designed to safeguard the child's protection and well-being, particularly in cases of armed conflict, such as the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 protocols. Regrettably, that legislation is not being implemented.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Mr. Hasan (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic): Mr. President, we are pleased and honoured to see you presiding over this open meeting of the Security Council. We wish to extend our thanks to you and to the delegation of Namibia for taking the initiative of convening this meeting while Namibia is presiding over the Council. We hope that the Views to be expressed by States during the course of this open meeting will lead to breaking down the wall of silence surrounding this important subject. We also wish to thank the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Mr. Olara Otunnu, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its Executive Director, Ms. Bellamy, for their strenuous efforts made for the protection of children.”
1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source
“We call upon countries that love peace, freedom and justice to learn the right lessons from this continued aggression, which is designed to undermine the territorial integrity of countries and to systematically destroy their cultural achievements. We call upon the international community to unify its efforts to stop the brutal use of force immediately and to punish the aggressor.”
1999-05-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4000 (1999) · source
“Who knows which peoples of the third world will be the next victims if the international community does not stand up against the tyranny of the American force? We deeply sympathize with the people of Yugoslavia, which stands steadfast as it witnesses the achievements of generations being destroyed by the American smart bombs that have spared no school, church, mosque or hospital. We have suffered from the systematic destruction of every area of life in our country by the same brute American force. However, we remained steadfast and emerged victorious to rebuild what they destroyed. The people of Yugoslavia will also remain steadfast and emerge victorious.”
1999-05-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4000 (1999) · source
“The targeting of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and, before that, the severe damage inflicted on the Iraqi Embassy in Belgrade, are yet further manifestations of the aggression of the United States, which started a systematic war against all the people of Yugoslavia on 24 March this year, in a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the mandate of the Security Council. This aggression coincides with the Anglo- American aggression against Iraq, which started on 16 December last year and which is continuing. This clearly demonstrates the pattern of American behaviour, which flouts international law and the rights of nations and peoples. Earlier, there was American aggression against Libya and then against the Sudan.”
1999-05-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4000 (1999) · source
“Mr. Hasan (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic): At the outset, I would like to express our deep condolences to the people and the Government of the People's Republic of China for the victims of the bombing of the premises of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). We condemn this barbaric act, which violates the United Nations Charter, international law and the rules governing relations between countries. We call for the immediate cessation of NATO's military acts.”
1999-05-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4000 (1999) · source
“The United States and the United Kingdom are the last countries that should lecture people on respect for international law and the United Nations Charter, and the last that are entitled to shed crocodile tears over the Iraqi people, whom they massacre every day. This farce should come to an end.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Is it acceptable for a State that is a permanent member of the Council to use force against an independent State, in contravention of Security Council resolutions and the United Nations Charter? If it does so, should it not pay the same price that it has caused others to pay? The representative of the United Kingdom insulted the intelligence of those present when he said that their aircraft launch their smart bombs to kill our children in self-defence. He insulted our intelligence when he said that Iraq breached the no-fly zone on 90 occasions. Is it permissible to say that a State violated its own airspace 90 times? Such logic leads to the law of the jungle; it should not be repeated.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“If we add to that the role of the United States and the United Kingdom in obstructing the contracts, we find that the programme has not been and will not be able to stop the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Iraq. As regards the no-fly zones, in 1992 the official United Nations spokesman, Joe Sills, emphasized that the no-fly zones had nothing to do with the United Nations but represented a unilateral action. A few days ago, the United States representative, Ambassador Burleigh, in an interview with the newspaper Al Hayat, acknowledged that there are members of the Council who feel that the imposition of such zones is illegal. Today, a permanent member made such a statement.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Nor does it change the fact that in 1991 the forces of the coalition destroyed Iraqi infrastructures and killed thousands of Iraqi civilians in pursuit of then Secretary of State James Baker's intention to take Iraq back to the pre-industrial age. Was that the aim of the Security Council? The representative of the United States said that we tried to erase a State. But that State is independent and has been under American protection since 1991. What more is required of Iraq? As regards the oil-for-food programme, everyone knows that it is temporary and weighed down with bureaucracy. It is also time-consuming: the time lapse between approval of a contract and delivery is more than one year.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Mr. Hasan (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic): I should like to make several observations with regard to the two statements made by the representatives of the United States of America and of the United Kingdom. First, we have often heard the shopworn version of events to which they referred, and it does not change the fact that the United States has declared that it will use the right of veto to prevent any resolution aimed at lifting the sanctions imposed on Iraq and that it wants the sanctions, which have so far murdered more than 1.5 million Iraqis and which are still killing them, to remain in effect.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“The radio station targeting the national Government of Iraq, which recently began to broadcast in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, is additional proof of some Council members violation of their responsibilities under the United Nations Charter. All of this evidence regarding the way the Council, as an institution and as an assemblage of States, deals with Iraq, calls for the Council to undertake a comprehensive review of its position on the question of the protection of civilians in armed conflict and should take decisive steps to correct the situation. The fault lies with the Council itself.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“The report is before the Council, which has yet to take action on it. It is my belief that the Council has a good opportunity to protect Iraqi civilians by preventing the daily use of force by Britain and the United States against them through the imposition of the illegal no-flight zones. It is incumbent on the Council to say to the United States and Britain that this illegal conduct is in full violation of Security Council resolutions that call for respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Iraq. The Council should denounce that conduct forthwith. Fifthly, we have heard some speakers at this meeting warn against the use of the media to instigate violence and sedition. The United States has used this means against Iraq.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Fourthly, Mr. Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said, "we have to promote the concept of children as a zone of peace" (S/PV.3977, p. 9). The facts show that Iraqi children suffer the daily horror caused by British and American sorties over the cities and the villages of Iraq. These aircraft often break the sound barrier over homes, causing children to tremble in fear. Other Iraqi children are killed daily by British and American smart bombs. The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Mr. Hans van Sponeck, reported to the Security Council on the dropping of American smart bombs on residential neighbourhoods of the city of Basra on 25 January. This one incident claimed the lives of 17 martyrs and injured 100 people, mostly women and children.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Thirdly, numerous speakers called upon the Security Council to play a collective role in protecting civilians in armed conflict and called for individual roles for the Governments represented on the Council. This sincere wish runs counter to the fact that two permanent members of the Security Council consider themselves above the law and feel that the United Nations Charter and international law apply only when they are in line with their own interests. Their most recent aggression against Iraq, on 16 December 1998, provides the best proof of that. In this very Chamber, most Council members spoke on that day of the aggression and stated that the Security Council has no mandate for the use of force. Some of them explicitly condemned the aggression; yet the aggression continued and claimed the lives of hundreds of Iraqi civilians.”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source
“These sanctions and the aggression against Iraq in 1991 claimed the lives of 1.5 million Iraqi civilians and devastated the socio-economic infrastructure of Iraqi society for generations to come. These sanctions, by any standard, are collective punishment. If the Council wants to take a serious step to protect civilians, it can do so at this very moment. All it has to do is lift the sanctions against Iraq immediately. Secondly, Ms. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said, "we must protect children from the effects of sanctions" (S/PV.3977, p. 7). The facts indicate that with every passing hour, 10 more Iraqi children die because of the continued sanctions. Is the Council willing to show more tolerance regarding this crime being perpetrated in its name?”
1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980Resumption1 (1999) · source