YouSaid · the spoken record

Holbrooke

lines on the record: 676
first: 1999-09-11
most recent: 2001-01-19
sittings or episodes: 43
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

“We are all fortunate she will do that. I wanted to stress that even though Ambassador Levitte's resolution would be rejected by my Government I can assure him and his colleagues that the United States representation will continue to be ably led by Ambassador Cunningham.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“When I leave here at noon tomorrow, I leave the Mission in the hands of a very good team. I am particularly pleased that Secretary-designate Powell has asked Ambassador Cunningham to remain as the Deputy Permanent Representative and has already said that he wants to have a direct working relationship with Ambassador Cunningham until my successor is chosen. Everything you have said in praise of our efforts was not addressed simply to me, in my View, but to an entire team. R.P. Eddy, whom you all know, has worked tirelessly on this issue and deserves great credit. He has worked very closely with DPKO and UNAIDS and others in this room. My entire team has all been terrific. Ambassador Soderberg will stay for a limited period, and Ambassador King has been asked to stay until a successor is named, which could be some time.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“First, it seems to me that the public nature of this meeting and its value, in contrast to the informal private meeting, have been proven by the dramatic statements today, by the public attention they have received and by the new agreements between DPKO and UNAIDS. I hope this will usher in a new era of close cooperation. Again - I say this particularly in the presence of those not members of the Security Council - this kind of discussion should always be conducted in public, so the world knows we are concerned and so other nations can participate. Secondly, on a personal note once more, I am deeply honoured to be part of this discussion. I am profoundly moved by the expressions of support. There is not much more to say, except to thank my friends around this table and my colleagues in the red chairs.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“In the event I cannot return this afternoon, I do want to express my appreciation for the remarks of all the representatives who have spoken so far- Norway, Bangladesh, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, Jamaica and France - and I know that Colombia, Ireland, Ukraine and Mauritius are still to speak, in addition to the outside speakers. I am deeply touched. I hope that the Under- Secretary-General and Dr. Piot will understand that my comments, while they may not agree with every aspect of them, are intended to help the situation. We are not here to worry about ourselves, but about the people who are affected. I should like to make two comments.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“You have before you further evidence of why the United States and France have such difficult bilateral relations. I am deeply touched by this, but on instructions I would have to exercise my veto. I am deeply touched, Jean David, by your friendship and your generosity, and, of course, by all of my colleagues who have spoken thus far, and I thank you very very much.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I think that, most importantly, the United States support for the United Nations is much stronger, as those who were generous enough to come to Washington with me 10 days ago for the hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee saw. I think that the future looks brighter for the United Nations if you persevere. So I thank you. Your work - our work - is not finished. I leave with great hope and encouragement that you will keep it going.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“But we must remember that we are not here on behalf of ourselves, or even entirely on behalf of the Governments that give us instructions. We are here to fulfil, or try to fulfil, the hopes and dreams of billions of people who look to the United Nations, as I did when I was a child, as a beacon of hope. That belief remains. I asked my mother to come here today because she brought me to this building over 50 years ago, when it was being built, and when it was a great hope for the world's population. I hope that she feels that, while it may not have lived up to all of her and my father's dreams, it has done a good job. I think the United Nations is stronger today than it was two years ago.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“Again, being an ambassador in the Security Council is not only an honour, it is a responsibility, and, occasionally a burden. But I am delighted to have shared it with all members, and their distinguished predecessors, and to have participated in discussions in this historic Chamber where history has been written for over half a century. In the course of the events that we dealt with, people may have occasionally been annoyed, or perhaps even offended, by my persistence on issues. But I know that they understand that, in the words of the movie The Godfather, it was never personal. We pushed because we believed in our issues. We compromised when we could not win. We formed coalitions which were quite unusual at times. We respect the Organization and the sovereignty of every nation here. I am touched by their friendship.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“Day in and day out we are confronted with questions that challenge our collective conscience - questions of war and peace, life and death. We are confronted daily with issues as stark and grave as they are unimaginable: ethnic cleansing, war crimes, genocide - dire issues that demand not only our attention but our answers. We have confronted these regularly while I have been here, in East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, the Horn of Africa, the Congo, the Middle East and elsewhere. The Council will continue to address these issues after I leave. We have addressed these issues, and also added HIV/AIDS to the agenda, as well as international terrorism. The record is not perfect and, more importantly, the record is not complete. But I think that progress has been made.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I also want to say to the Secretary-General - and I hope that the Deputy Secretary-General will convey this to him - that it has been my greatest honour and privilege not only to call Kofi Annan a friend, but to work under his leadership and under that of the Deputy Secretary-General and her colleagues. Without question, he is the finest Secretary-General in this Organization's history. I am sure that I speak for almost everyone else - I hope, everyone else in this Chamber - and the whole United Nations community when I ask her to thank him on my behalf for his tireless efforts on behalf of the world's needy, hungry and forgotten. Representing anyone's nation in the United Nations is an awesome responsibility and one that must not be taken lightly. What we do matters; what we do not do - what we fail to do - can also matter.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“That is the way the United Nations works. But put outcome over process, and we will accomplish even more. That is what we did here today. There was a procedure that did not allow for a health issue in the Security Council; we broke through, and now we are having a productive discussion which will save lives. We can do that on very many other issues. So I want to thank the diplomatic corps; they are an exceptional group of people. I cherish their friendship, as does my wife, Kati. By the way, we want to make a public service announcement: we lived in New York before this job; we are going to stay in New York. We are New Yorkers, and we hope to see all of you and continue our friendship.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“In fact, within the past 24 hours we discussed an issue on which the United States was completely isolated; my friends to my left and right, from Bangladesh and the United Kingdom, were hammering us and, because we are very reasonable people, we gave up. We all differ; that is what we are here for. Openness in the United Nations, and more transparency and flexibility, in which we put outcome ahead of process is important. My greatest criticism of this institution, really, is about the dominance of process over outcome. The United Nations has its own language, as we all know. "Permanent" means "temporary", as in my job. "Temporary" means "permanent", as in Israel's membership in the Group of Western and other States. When anyone says to me that it is a question of principle, I always know that it is a question of process.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“The United Nations has 189 Members, and each ambassador is representing his or her country's national interests." The "collective will of mankind" is a nice phrase, but it is meaningless when we are up against the complexities of the problems that we have dealt with here. All have represented their countries with great skill. In many ways I most admire some of the ambassadors with whom I have had the most serious confrontations, for the skill and generosity with which we fought a battle, won or lost it, and moved on to the next battle as friends and colleagues. There is not a member of the Security Council that has not differed with the United States on some major issue in the past 17 months.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I have said before publicly - and I say again today - that in 38 years in and out of the Government, this is the best diplomatic corps, from a professional point of View, that I have ever worked with. There are more world-class diplomats - professionals in the best sense of the word - around this table, in this group - although some are not here today - than I could possibly name. The quality of the diplomats is extraordinary, and their commitment to what we are doing is extraordinary. I understand fully why we differed many times on issues. People keep saying to me, "What's wrong with the United Nations?"; and I say, "What United Nations do you mean?”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“This is particularly true of the refugee workers and peacekeepers, the staff of UNAIDS, and the World Food Programme and all the specialized agencies that we have seen in such awfully difficult places as Kupang, in West Timor, and Atambua, where three brave members of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were slaughtered last year, one of them an American; it is true of the brave people who live in places like Luanda, under intolerable conditions, that they do not need to work in; but are there because they care; and of the people who have worked for the United Nations all over the world. That is what we are here to support, and there is no nobler cause. Secondly, I want to address my friends in the red seats - in the diplomatic corps.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“The international civil servants of the Secretariat who work so hard for Kofi Annan and Louise Frechette have also borne the brunt of the pressure and occasional criticism from me, including this morning. That is my job. My job was to encourage you to do better. But I am always aware of the fact that many of you are overworked and understaffed, particularly in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and I admire and appreciate your good work.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I should say parenthetically that it was Kofi Annan who first suggested that I spend time on this issue in this job. Our Secretary-General said "We know that we came too late to this tragedy. I know that as Secretary-General of the United Nations the response has been painfully slow in the great multilateral community. But finally we are galvanized. We must make people everywhere understand that it is not over. It is not about a few foreign countries far away. It is a threat to an entire generation; a threat to an entire civilization." Let me now close with some personal remarks about the United Nations, about the Security Council and about my 17 months in this job. First, let me begin by thanking all my colleagues on the Security Council, my friends in the international Secretariat and my fellow diplomats.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I want to close the section on AIDS simply by reiterating what I said at the beginning. I am honoured that I have been part of this effort. I am deeply touched by the words of Dr. Piot and of the Foreign Minister of Singapore. I am honoured by the plaque awarded me this morning, and I hope that the special session of the General Assembly on AIDS, from 25-27 June, will be a success and will work not only on the peacekeeping part of this issue, but on the global issue. My comments and criticism should be read, and all of you who have worked with me over the last 17 months know this, not as hostile, but as an attempt to encourage you to do more. I think it is fitting that I end this section of my remarks by quoting Kofi Annan, my great friend and, in my view, the finest Secretary-General in the history of the United Nations.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“Resolution 1308 (2000) calls on the troop contributors to create effective strategies for HIV/AIDS education, prevention, voluntary and confidential testing, counselling and treatment of personnel. The Defense Department of the United States was last year - the current fiscal year - given $10 million additionally by Congress for the first time to assist other nations with this task. Ten million dollars is not a lot, but in this particular field it can be very helpful. So now, for the first time, the United States Department of Defense has joined in the effort to assist the militaries of other nations. I am very pleased about that. I worked directly with Secretary of Defense Cohen and the Congress to get that $10 million, and I hope it will be part of the next budget in the new Administration.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“We would suggest that DPKO add the costs of pre- and post-deployment HIV testing into the cost of its operations so that the costs are not picked up separately by the troop-contributing countries. It should be a standard line item in the peacekeeping budget. It will increase the budget, but it is so important that I cannot imagine that it would not be appropriate to do so. I understand that testing technologies are on their way to the market that are 99.9 per cent accurate and will cost less than three dollars. The challenge of peacekeepers as vectors of HIV is not largely, or even primarily, the burden of DPKO, but the Department should become more engaged. Prevention, testing, identification, treatment and education - all are squarely on the shoulders of the nations that contribute troops to the peacekeeping operations.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I do not know the exact figure because we were unable to obtain it, but it is very small. Let me make some very brief suggestions. First, as regards personnel, I have already said that I hope that the Department will staff itself fully and will set up a separate unit. Secondly, the most difficult issue of all - testing. What I have heard from Dr. Piot this morning is very encouraging. No issue is more difficult for the Member States of the United Nations and, in particular, for the troop-contributing countries - countries that are doing something of indispensable importance to the United Nations. I commend the troop-contributing countries. I recognize that the costs of testing are real, and that the cost of treatment, which should be available to all those tested, is prohibitively expensive in the current situation.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“It is also my understanding that of five available slots - an inadequate number - only two are filled, and that therefore there are three empty slots out of five in that office. I think that we need to ask DPKO not only to fill the empty slots, but to create an office dedicated specifically to this issued, in furtherance of the mandate given to it by the Security Council. Again, I say this not in a hostile sense, but in a hortatory sense, like a coach at halftime saying, "We are making some progress; let's do more". We spend billions of dollars on peacekeeping at the United Nations. We spend millions to protect our peacekeepers from terrorist attacks and from hostile forces. But I do not think we are spending even $500,000 yet to protect them from HIV/AIDS.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“And, again, they are five years old, reissued and edited slightly, but they do not even mention resolution 1308 (2000). Therefore, the United Nations peacekeeping commanders do not know, at least not from these books, that this is a mandated responsibility of the Security Council. Now, I am being blunt about this because lives are at stake. I know these books can be rewritten, that they can be made clearer and that they can be made more useful to troops in the field at lower levels. A second point: the Under-Secretary-General referred to tasking the Medical Support Unit of DPKO, whose chief is seated behind Jean-Marie Guehenno now. I commend him for doing this, but it is my understanding that the Medical Support Unit is responsible for all medical issues.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“Secondly, one would need a magnifying glass to find out what AIDS does to a person. On page 10, in very small print, it mentions - and this is the only mention- that all people who are HIV positive eventually die. Well, thank you. Why is that not on the cover? And these books are very sexually explicit. I do not want to talk here about any euphemisms. The books are very clear on how AIDS is transmitted, but they are not user-friendly to the average soldier in the field unless he has an advanced degree from a college or institution of higher learning. They are technical, wordy, not clear-cut and out of date. I also do not believe that the book on policy guidelines for United Nations military planners is conceivably usable.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“3) Until today, I was prepared to say that nothing had been done to implement resolution 1308 (2000). But on the basis of what has been said by the two previous speakers, I am ready to say that a start has been made. But it has been six months since the resolution was passed. Up until today, the answer was a resounding cc 57 I10. I must share with the Council one example. My friend Jean-Marie Guehenno cited it, and therefore I will cite it too - these two books which he says have been given out to people. I have read them very carefully, and I urge all of you to read them and ask yourselves whether or not these books are conceivably usable for United Nations peacekeepers. First of all, they were written five years ago. Neither of them mentions resolution 1308 (2000).”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I know the Department is under-staffed and that the loss of gratis personnel has made it more difficult. Getting resources to DPKO has been a crusade of mine. I do not like to end my tenure here with anything less than very generous praise of an organization that I admire and which has been under intense pressure. Quite frankly, despite what we have heard today, I am still not satisfied. The mandate of DPKO under resolution 1308 (2000) is clear, and I wish to read it. It calls for "further steps towards the provision of training for peacekeeping personnel on issues related to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and to continue the further development of pre- deployment orientation and ongoing training for all peacekeeping personnel on these issues". (para.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I say this with great reluctance because, as all of you know, in the 17 months that I have been Ambassador the United States Mission has worked endlessly to strengthen DPKO - it has been our strongest single theme - and because I have the highest personal respect for Jean- Marie Guehenno and his team; because I fully support the Brahimi report and Deputy Secretary-General Frechette's implementation plan - which I hope will be completed this year - and because no one needs more people than DPKO, which has barely 400 people do deal with crises throughout the world and which is understaffed for such pressing problems as the Congo, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Lebanon and Kosovo. To add this burden in the midst of all that is genuinely difficult.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“Of course, we are here to discuss peacekeeping. But it cannot be underlined too much that this is the smallest fraction of the world-wide problem. When we talk about this I hope that we are also talking about the larger issue. The compromise that was worked out under resolution 1308 (2000) was that the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations was going to do a hands-on, aggressive job of education. I laud your efforts and I laud the new agreement, but here I must be frank. I must say some words that will not be entirely enjoyable to the people in DPKO.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“All the Americans in the Chamber can remember very well when the stigma in this country was as great as it is today in other countries. Even with the benefits of instantaneous communication and a sense that we are enlightened - and I say "sense" because I think that we were not enlightened in the United States on this issue - I can remember very clearly, and I am sure every American in the Chamber can remember too, when people were afraid that a handshake could transmit AIDS. That was the level of ignorance in the United States. Therefore, when we talk about stigma and de-stigmatization, I want to stress that there is nothing here that should be read as implying any kind of cultural superiority. The United States has confronted this problem belatedly and inadequately, and we still have trouble with it.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“But other countries that do not have our resources do not carry out such testing, either because they consider it to be socially or culturally unacceptable, or because of its costs, or because - and I must be honest here - the incident rate of infection is so high that they do not want to reveal that they will not be able to field a peacekeeping force. Of course, all of us who have travelled in Africa, or other parts of the world where this disease is raging - as my wife Kati and I did last year - have seen the stigma attached to being found HIV-positive. I want to say to my friends in countries that have been hard-hit that this is not an attempt to say that the United States knows better than other countries.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“It should not be the end of the process, but only a cornerstone for future efforts. I was encouraged by your remarks, Dr. Piot and Under-Secretary-General Guehenno, because you both recognize the deadly nature of this disease. As I said a moment ago, it is the cruelest of all United Nations ironies that every time we vote to establish a peacekeeping mission, we are unintentionally helping to spread a killer disease. That is not necessary. But this is a complicated issue. Under the present structure of the United Nations, of course, every country contributing troops sets its own standards for testing and treatment. Some countries like my own and others, which I congratulate, will not send a soldier overseas unless he or she has been tested. If they test positive they are not sent overseas; they are given treatment.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I would also like to draw the Council's attention to a related subject, namely, the fact that he endorsed very strongly the reform effort of the United Nations and pledged himself to continue that effort, as well as to improve United States support for the United Nations financially. Let me turn now to resolution 1308 (2000), which is the resolution we are here to discuss today. I hope that the number 1308 will become as famous to followers of the United Nations and to people who care about this issue as other famous numbers in United Nations Security Council history, like 242 - probably the most famous of all Council resolutions - on the Middle East, 1967; or 338, on the Middle East; or 1244, on Kosovo, or 1284, on Iraq. Resolution 1308 (2000) should be as well known as those resolutions, and it should be fully implemented.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I thought that the world and other member nations and ambassadors should have been here. Every other ambassador in this room supported that call, which is why we are meeting publicly today. It was only a month ago that we were unable to hold this meeting in public. Transparency is the only way to deal with this disease because of its unique nature and the way in which it is spread. I would also like to draw members' attention to the fact that Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell, who will assume office tomorrow, addressed this issue in very strong terms at his confirmation hearing the day before yesterday.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I hope that we all listen to the very important statements concerning the joint memorandum, the conferences that you are going to hold and the line-item in the peacekeeping budget. I stress that the latter should not be a voluntary fund issue but, rather, a regular part of the budget. I think that the idea of a pocket card for peacekeepers is a very good one. I think that a focal point at the headquarters of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) is essential. And I am very gratified by the signs of cooperation. I would point out to our guests that when we met in closed session on this same issue only a month ago no one from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was present. I complained very strongly about the absence of UNAIDS at that meeting and at the fact that the meeting was closed.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“It says, "Dad, remember our trip to Cambodia, when I first brought this very important problem- United Nations peacekeepers spreading AIDS - to your attention". So I thank my son for convening this meeting. In point of fact, we did see in 1992 the issue that we are here to discuss. At that time, I wrote Under-Secretary-General Yasushi Akashi a letter saying that it would be the cruelest of ironies if people who had come to Cambodia to end the war were spreading an even more deadly disease. Finally, eight years later, we are starting to do something about it. I cannot say we are winning this war, but I have heard some positive things this morning. I want to acknowledge those because, as the Under-Secretary- General knows, I am going to make some critical comments in a moment.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“But I say that because all the other issues are specific problems - they can be solved; they will be solved - but if we do not address AIDS, it will go on and on. Because of the long incubation period of the disease, because of the stigma attached to it and because of the way it is spread, it will kill more people and undermine more societies than even the worst conflicts that we deal with here. I thank all my colleagues on the Security Council for opening up this issue to Security Council debate, and I urge them to continue. I first came into direct contact with this issue - that of the connection between peacekeepers and AIDS - when I was in Cambodia in 1992. My son, who is sitting behind Ambassador Cunningham, has handed me a note which I will read out in part to the Council because he wants to take credit for this meeting.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“It is a difficult issue, but meanwhile, until this is done - and it is going to be a tough issue - I am just delighted that so many of our colleagues are here today to learn, to exchange views and to give us more input. As I leave here - having worked with Council members day and night on the crises in the Middle East, Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Congo, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Iraq - it is clear that, as horrible as these conflicts are, and as pressing as the need is to resolve them, the issue that is common to every one of them is the issue we are here to discuss today. I have elsewhere called it the most important and biggest problem in the world today, and I am often questioned about that.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I understand that point, and I am deeply, deeply honoured that so many non-Security Council members are here in the audience today. These are my dear friends among the diplomatic corps, and I will say a personal word to them at the end of my comments on AIDS. I am pleased that they are here to register their concern. I particularly want to address, as I did yesterday in the Kosovo debate, the issue of the troop- contributing countries. I believe in transparency of deliberations, and I believe in the maximum involvement in the Security Council deliberations, within the current rules of the Security Council, of countries other than its 15 members. We also have recommended a revision of the Security Council structure. I hope that going forward, the Security Council will grow to be more representative.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I know that many countries in the room, going back to the historic roots of the United Nations, had doubts about it. But I think we should all look back on the last year, and, bearing in mind the important statements made by the two previous speakers, say, "It was worth it." And why was it worth it? For the simplest of reasons. It appears now that if the Security Council continues its work, and the cooperation we heard about earlier today - cooperation that not only did not exist, but was not even contemplated until recently - continues, the Council will actually do what it is supposed to do: save lives. But I am not deluding myself. This is a tough issue. I know there are some Governments, including many that are not on the Security Council, that think this issue ought to be left entirely to the Economic and Social Council.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I am so pleased that this Council has participated in broadening the definition of security. I know it was not always easy to do, and I remember the controversy surrounding that initial meeting. My friend to my right, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, passed me a hand-written note in the middle of the meeting, saying, with characteristic British understatement, "I dare say this is the first time the word "condoms" has been used in the Security Council." Now we just throw that word around. We debated at first whether we ought to be debating the issue at all, whether it was a security threat, or whether the Security Council, the highest international body legitimizing international involvement across borders should even address the issue at all.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“It is very fitting that the last Security Council meeting I will participate in as United States Ambassador addresses this issue, because I think it marks one of the great steps forward for the United Nations in the last year. I am very pleased that we have just heard two important addresses, by Under Secretary-General Guehenno and Dr. Piot, and I am also very grateful that, in the absence of our great Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Frechette, is with us today. This is our third open meeting on HIV/AIDS in the last year. A little over a year ago, 10 January 2000 to be precise, Vice-President Gore opened the first such meeting and the first meeting of the new millennium, and the first meeting ever on a health issue. More than 4,000 meetings had preceded it.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I am also very deeply honoured by the presence in the Chamber of so many friends, my own family, students from Columbia and Barnard and friends of mine from private life, as well as so many prominent members of the HIV/AIDS community. These include Mercy Makhalamele, who, many of you will remember was the heroic figure in Ed Bradley's great one-hour special on AIDS that came out last year; Dr. Mathilde Krim of the American Foundation for AIDS research; Joshua Lederberg, the great Nobel Prize winner in medicine; my great friend Senator Tim Wirth, who is now the President of the United Nations Foundation, who is seated behind me in that tie that he and I and Ted Turner and others wear; and so many other friends of ours.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“I am deeply moved by your remarks, Mr. President, and I thank you not only for the remarks, but for adjusting your schedule so that you could remain here to preside over this important meeting. You spoke accurately about my respect and affection for Singapore, a country I first visited in 1966, shortly after it became independent. It is a country for which I have the greatest of respect, and which is represented so ably by my old friend Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, whom I have known for more than 25 years. I am deeply honoured that you are presiding here today, and that we are also joined by the Minister of International Development of Norway and by my other friends here.”
2001-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4259 (2001) · source
“So, you may not see me in this Chamber again talking about this issue, but you will probably hear from me. Perhaps what I say will not be universally welcomed, but my commitment to this issue remains undiminished, and I look forward to watching all of you as you proceed. The long journey is not over, but we have made tremendous progress. At long last, I think the dream of a Europe united, whole and free seems to be within sight.”
2001-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4258 (2001) · source
“I draw the Council's attention to his comments, which were very gratifying - his powerful statement of support for the Atlantic partnership and for the United Nations and his appreciation for the commitments we made in the Balkans to our allies and the people of the region, for America's freedom is inextricably tied to the freedom and prosperity of Europe. We stand strongest when we stand together with the United Nations and with our closest allies. On a personal note, this closes out my official responsibilities in regard to this issue, but I can assure the Council that I will remain deeply involved as a private citizen, as I did in previous incarnations as a private citizen both in the 1992-1993 period and again in the 1996-1999 period.”
2001-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4258 (2001) · source
“My greatest regret is that the main perpetrators of the region's crimes are not yet in The Hague where they belong. But the net is closing in. As I said earlier, Ms. Plavcic's voluntary surrender last week was an important step forward, and I say here publicly that I am sure that she will be able to offer important evidence of crimes that others committed, and the others should think hard about what that means for them. I am confident that the next Administration will have no more tolerance for the forces of ethnic separatism and hatred than we have. Secretary of State- designate Colin Powell spoke movingly yesterday of America's role as a beacon of freedom in the world.”
2001-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4258 (2001) · source
“The people of Kosovo need democratically chosen leaders to speak for them in this discussion that will take place. We cannot allow the challenges that remain to detract from our sense of what was already been accomplished, however. The Balkans are a very different place, and a much better place, than they were eight years ago. Violent clashes seemed to lurk around every corner until recently. But today the chances of a major conflict are increasingly remote, especially thanks to the democratic Government of President Kostunica and the newly elected leadership of Serbia under Prime Minister Zizie. I also want to congratulate Prime Minister Zizie, who I have known for many years as an opposition leader, for having finally taken his rightful place as an elected, democratically chosen leader. Still, my friends, there is much yet to do.”
2001-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4258 (2001) · source
“It may take some time. It may take a long time for the process on final status to reach a solution. But I believe that the process should begin as soon as the two sides are ready. Nothing would do more to reduce the uncertainty and anxiety that drive the violence in Kosovo than the start of a fair process aimed at resolving the status of Kosovo. I think we should be clear about two points before this process begins. First, the terms of any eventual settlement must be mutually acceptable to both sides and backed by the international community. No other approach will result in a stable, long-term solution. No other approach will permit a significant drawdown in external forces. Secondly, the need to start this dialogue only increases the importance of holding the elections I spoke of earlier, the Kosovo-wide elections, as soon as possible.”
2001-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4258 (2001) · source
“Ten years may seem inconceivable, but the United Nations Command is still in existence in Korea 48 years after the end of the Korean War precisely because the status of Korea was never resolved, and so the United Nations Command has had to remain, and the American troops remain in Korea 48 years later. I hope that the Council will not have to be discussing Kosovo 10 years or 5 years from today, but it will unless the status is resolved. Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) states clearly that all options remain on the table and sets forth a process without dictating a solution. It is the task to the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Kosovo to facilitate the political process that will resolve this issue. Again I stress that the intensive work must follow the elections, but we must be aware of this issue now.”
2001-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4258 (2001) · source
“Kosovo will never be peaceful and stable until its status is resolved. The continuing violence of the region, most of which is currently coming from extremists on the Albanian side, is unacceptable. But until we resolve the status issue in a mutually satisfactory way, the anxieties the problem causes will continue to fester and lead to more problems. Anyone who doubts the danger of this issue needs to look only a little bit further to the East, to the Middle East, to the area seething now, to the occupied territories, to recognize how dangerous this issue will be ifit is left to fester. If we are having this discussion 10 years from today, if NATO troops are still in Kosovo 10 years from today, we will have failed.”
2001-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4258 (2001) · source