YouSaid · the spoken record

Holmes

lines on the record: 557
first: 2007-04-04
most recent: 2010-07-07
sittings or episodes: 25
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

“Meanwhile, it is vital that the Government itself continue to regard this as a major priority and make clear publicly and frequently that sexual violence is completely unacceptable in Congolese society. At this stage, it is hard to be sure of the overall final effect of the continuing combined Rwandan 09-23954 Defence Force/FARDC offensive against the FDLR ex-genocidaires. I added my voice to those - including the leadership of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) - who have stressed the importance of reducing the risks of the offensive for the civilian population by ensuring strict compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law and by giving top priority to the protection of civilians.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“I had the sense that public opinion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo itself may be shifting, thanks largely to the efforts of Congolese civil society and Congolese women themselves, including the President's wife, Mrs. Kabila. For the United Nations, a senior adviser on sexual violence has helped develop a system-wide strategy to strengthen prevention, protection and response with regard to sexual violence. I hope that all donors will align their programmes and activities with the strategy, including much stronger efforts to establish the rule of law through a functioning judicial system, vigorous security sector reform and extension of State authority, and better medical, psychosocial and social reintegration support for the victims.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Sexual violence, particularly by those with guns, continues to be a horrific feature of everyday life. Impunity remains the fundamental issue. Lack of capacity means that, even if perpetrators of sexual violence can be arrested and convicted, there is often nowhere to keep them. In that context, I raised with the Government, from the President downwards, the issue of the continued presence of known perpetrators of sexual violence in the senior ranks of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and stressed that that sends absolutely the wrong signal to all concerned. I hope that appropriate action will be taken soon. Nevertheless, there have been some positive moves.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Their houses and fields have been looted and burned or taken over by someone else; such infrastructure as there was has been destroyed, and their personal possessions have been 09-23954 taken. They will need substantial support from the international community if they are to return voluntarily in safety and dignity. We are working to put in place appropriate return packages. My most recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in September 2007, focused on gender- based violence and on how the United Nations and the international community could fight the scourge of rape in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Unfortunately, I cannot say that the situation has improved since. Women I met at the Heal Africa hospital in Goma and in the camps bore disturbing and eloquent witness to the fact that little has changed.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Those I met in the Kibati camp near Goma are keen to go home as soon as possible - not least because the planting season is already under way - but serious concerns still prevent them from doing so. Their memories of the CNDP offensive are fresh, and while the campaign to integrate CNDP military cadres into the Congolese armed forces is making progress, the CNDP still maintains parallel administrative structures and a military presence in many villages. Perceptions of insecurity have been heightened in some areas by the current offensive against the FDLR ex-genocidaires. And, sadly, the presence of the FARDC in some areas is far from always seen as reassuring, given their own dreadful indiscipline and violence during the CNDP offensive. Moreover, those internally displaced persons with whom I spoke made clear that they have nothing left.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“In North Kivu, I met displaced people in camps near Goma who had been caught in the crossfire between the CNDP and the FARDC. These were some of the 250,000 people newly displaced by that conflict since August 2008, adding to the long- standing North Kivu caseload of more than 800,000. Those displaced people, living both in camps and with host populations, often continue to face miserable conditions despite an active and effective humanitarian response in difficult and dangerous circumstances. The quality of the services provided to them tends to decrease the further they are located from Goma, owing to security and capacity problems. While tens of thousands had already returned home in areas where their relations with the CNDP were friendly, others driven out by the CNDP are still waiting.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“In the East, while the mediation jointly led by President Obasanjo, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy on the Great Lakes 2 Region, and President Mkapa from the African Union continues, the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda are carrying out joint operations against the ex-genocidaires of the Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) in North Kivu, and CNDP elements are being integrated into the Congolese armed forces following the arrest of Laurent Nkunda in Rwanda. Those initiatives have created a new dynamic that could have a significant and favourable impact, including on the humanitarian situation, but that also brings with it significant risks. North and South Kivu will be most affected one way or the other.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Those worrying developments left many hundreds dead, provoked the displacement of a further half-million people and worsened the already dire humanitarian situation, although humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are, sadly, not limited to areas affected by conflict. My visit last week came as the Government and the international community were pursuing new political and military initiatives to address long- standing and fundamental concerns that have major potential humanitarian implications.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Mr. Holmes: Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Council on the humanitarian situation in the eastern and northern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As the Council is well aware, the last six months saw deteriorating stability in several areas; renewed fighting between various rebel groups, principally the Congres national pour la defense du people (CNDP) and the Forces arme'es de la Republique democratique du Congo (FARDC) in the Kivus; the resurgence of armed groups and subsequent clashes with FARDC in Ituri district; and new vicious attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Province Orientale.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Their lives have been put at risk recklessly by indiscriminate rocket attacks from their midst, which have also killed, injured and traumatized Israeli civilians in southern Israel. They have now endured a terrifying assault and must live with its devastating aftermath. This is not sustainable or acceptable. It can only lead to more despair, suffering, death and destruction in the coming years, and perhaps fatally undermine the two-State solution we all seek. It must therefore be in the long-term interests of all parties, including Israel, to ease conditions for the people of Gaza by opening the crossings, facilitating the provision of assistance and allowing them to live, work and hope again.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Clearly the best context for the facilitation of relief and recovery activities, and the only reliable basis for long-term reconstruction, is Palestinian reconciliation, which the United Nations strongly supports, as the Secretary-General has made clear. In the meantime, the United Nations will be working closely with the Palestinian Authority in planning for longer-term recovery and reconstruction. After my first visit to the area, I warned of the growing disconnect between the situation on the ground, particularly but not only in Gaza, and the peace process. A year later, the people of Gaza have continued to exist in what is effectively a giant open- air prison, without normality or dignity.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Israel's security worries are understood, but I am confident that the passage of goods can be arranged in a way that will meet reasonable security concerns. The second condition for a successful emergency relief operation is that we be able to work effectively with the Israeli authorities, cooperate closely with the Palestinian Authority and deal practically with those in control on the ground, without any of the parties trying to exert political control over humanitarian operations. For example, Hamas must refrain from any interference with the movement or distribution of humanitarian goods. I was encouraged that Prime Minister Fayyad of the Palestinian Authority made it clear that meeting immediate needs should be kept separate from politics, and that the United Nations and its partners had a unique role to play in this respect.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Herzog, who coordinates Israel's facilitation of humanitarian assistance, assured me of the Israeli Government's commitment to work with the United Nations agencies and the rest of the humanitarian community to provide emergency assistance to the people of Gaza. We have agreed to put in place new coordination arrangements to this end. However, the Minister also suggested that many categories of items capable of dual use will raise continuing security concerns. Let me emphasize again here the unacceptability of the status quo ante, with a limited trickle of items into Gaza continuing the effective collective punishment of the civilian population, the resultant counter-productive reliance on tunnels for daily essentials and further build-up of frustration and anger.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Free and full access for goods and humanitarian staff is something for which we have battled long and hard in other contexts, such as Darfur and in Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis. Moreover, Israel has a particular responsibility as the occupying Power 3 in this context, because of its control of its borders with Gaza, to respect the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law. It is therefore critical that new steps are taken immediately by the Israeli authorities to move to the sustained reopening of crossing points on the basis of the 2005 Israeli- Palestinian Agreement on Movement and Access. Many countries support that. The crossings have to be opened up not because Hamas wants it or might benefit from it, but because the Gazans need it. The Israeli Minister of Social Welfare, Mr.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“That stopped today's aid shipments from going in and stranded part of our assessment team. Commercial goods must also be allowed in, and out, and, most urgently, the cash needed for normal activity. Gazans do not want or deserve to be ever more dependent on outside aid. They must be able to work and trade, to rebuild their economy, to use their manifest skills, energy and talent and to create hope for the future, not the despair that can only breed more violence and extremism. There are important principles at stake here too, as the Security Council itself clearly recognized in resolution 1860 (2009), which paid particular attention to the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“If aid workers continue to face rigid limits on their movement and if essential items such as construction materials, pipes, electrical wires and transformers, key equipment and spare parts continue to be effectively banned or only allowed in infrequently after endless haggling, the lives of the Gazan people cannot significantly improve. The power plant, for example, needs almost 500,000 litres of fuel per day to operate normally. Even under current arrangements, the average flow is less than half that. We already see relief goods piling up in Egypt for lack of ready access. And the wider problems of the fragile situation were tragically illustrated today. Following an incident in south Gaza, when an Israeli patrol was attacked and a farmer killed, all Gaza crossings were shut down.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“The first is much freer access for goods and staff. Israel allowed increased shipments of basic commodities during the fighting, and has continued this since. This is welcome. On good days, 120 truckloads of goods get into Gaza. But the normal daily requirement, including commercial traffic, is a minimum of 500. Many humanitarian workers, including most international NGOs, continue to be refused regular entry. Moreover, returning to the kind of access restrictions which were in force before the hostilities will be neither acceptable nor workable.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“My own observation and the preliminary findings of the assessment suggest that a massive humanitarian effort is now needed in areas such as food security, nutrition, water and sanitation, shelter, essential repairs of power, roads and other basic infrastructure, rebuilding the health system, rubble removal, unexploded ordnance and psychosocial care. As only one example, 1.3 million Gazans - almost 90 per cent of the population - now need food aid. I will launch a flash appeal on 2 February, as a prioritized plan for urgent needs. I hope that at least part of the generosity we saw during the fighting in provision of food and medical supplies and large pledges for future reconstruction can be channelled into flexible financial contributions to this multilateral 09-22116 appeal. But two basic conditions need to be met for us to do our work.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Given the scale and nature of the damage and loss of life, there are also obvious concerns about a lack of wider respect for international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of distinction and proportionality. There must be accountability. But it is also critical to look forward to what must be done to bring urgent relief. After eighteen months of closure, which steadily weakened health, livelihoods and infrastructure, the humanitarian situation in Gaza before 27 December last year was already very worrying.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Aid workers and premises came under direct fire on far too many occasions. I saw the UNRWA compound warehouse still smouldering, and the OCHA office in the compound of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, where my own staff used to work, damaged beyond use. The reckless and cynical use of civilian installations by Hamas and the indiscriminate firing of rockets against civilian populations are clear violations of international humanitarian law. However, even taking into account Israel's security concerns regarding the protection of its own civilian population, it is clear that there are major questions to be asked about the failure of the Israeli Defense Forces to protect effectively civilians and humanitarian workers in Gaza.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“I saw a flood of sewage coming from one bomb-damaged major pipe, forming a lake on residential and agricultural land, though thankfully this has now been fixed. Conversations with a range of Gazans revealed the psychological trauma, as civilians cowered for three weeks with nowhere safe in Gaza and nowhere to flee to, and parents became horribly aware of their inability to protect their children. 09-22116 In addition to UNRWA, I want to recognize the extraordinary efforts of Gazan medical teams and first responders and the national and international staff of other United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, despite tremendous risks. Thirteen local medical staff and six United Nations staff were killed. Thirty-four health facilities were damaged or destroyed.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“At the height of the fighting, over 50,000 people were displaced in UNRWA structures, with tens of thousands more sheltering with families and friends. Widespread destruction was caused to Gaza's economic and civil infrastructure. I saw, for example, an entire industrial and residential area in East Jabalia that had been systematically bulldozed - an area of at least one square kilometre. One of the best schools in Gaza had been reduced to rubble and much of the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City burned out. The International Committee of the Red Cross reports that in Jabalia between one and two thousand households are now living in the rubble of their houses. Damage to power, water, sanitation, medical, education and agricultural infrastructure was widely visible.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“I visited Gaza itself five days after the ceasefire, with the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Robert Serry, to launch the humanitarian needs assessment. I expected a distressing situation, but was nevertheless shocked by the human suffering and destruction I saw. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, whose figures have not been seriously challenged, around 1,300 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,300 were injured. Thirty-four per cent of these were children. In short, 1 out of 215 Gazans was either killed or injured during the three weeks of this conflict. While some areas I saw were relatively untouched, in others virtually every building was destroyed or full of holes. Twenty-one thousand homes were destroyed or badly damaged altogether, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Mr. Holmes: I thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Council. Let me take advantage of the presence of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to straightaway express my profound admiration for what Karen AbuZayd and her UNRWA 2 colleagues were able to achieve in the recent fighting, during extremely difficult and dangerous circumstances. I visited the area from 21 to 25 January to discuss the way forward with Palestinian Authority representatives, the Israeli Government and representatives of Israeli and Palestinian civil society. In Cairo I met with Mrs. Mubarak, in her capacity as President of the Egyptian Red Crescent, and with Government representatives and the League of Arab States.”
2009-01-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6077 (2009) · source
“Let me take the opportunity to wholeheartedly endorse that thought and to express the wish that it will be respected more in peace negotiations and other forums as they go forward. Secondly, and finally, a number of delegations welcomed the conclusion of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Some also referred to the continuing work in Geneva in the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons to try to reach an agreement in that forum as well. Let me simply express the hope that any agreement there will not mark any regression from what has been achieved in the Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions. I thank you very much, Mr. President, for the opportunity to address the Council. I also thank all speakers for their contributions and their support.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“We are working with a number of such organizations, including for example the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the European Union and NATO. And I would very much agree with the sentiment expressed by the representative of Uganda, that the aide-memoire should prove to be a useful vehicle through which to share the Council's experience on the protection of civilians with the African Union. Let me make just two final brief points. First of all, at least two speakers - I think the representatives of Burkina Faso and Finland - referred to the importance of women's participation in all stages of conflict prevention and peace process: that is, having women at the table in all these areas.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“The expert group will also be able to play a role in ensuring more consistent application of the aide- memoire. I very much welcome the support which has been expressed for the aide-memoire and for OCHA's work in revising it. Let me thank, in turn, all Council members for their very constructive engagement in this revision process. I look forward to the aide-memoire's use in the future by the Council, and indeed by other actors. We certainly agree with those Member States that have said that it should be reviewed and updated regularly. In that context, I also welcome the comments from those States that referred to the important role of regional organizations in the protection of civilians.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“I am also encouraged by the support expressed in the debate for the expert group of the Council on the protection of civilians, which will meet this week for the first time. Let me assure those who remain concerned at the possible bureaucracy, cost or perceived duplication involved in this group that the expert group is very modest in nature. It is an informal forum for systematic consultation on protection of civilians concerns between the Council and OCHA. It has no cost implications but is simply a means of systematically and transparently relaying information, analysis and possible language on protection issues to all Council members. Its creation is certainly not an attempt to isolate protection of civilians issues from their wider context of conflict prevention and peacebuilding.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“A number of speakers referred to the challenge of the implementation of protection of civilians mandates on the ground by peacekeeping missions, as I did in my own presentation. Although we have been using such mandates as a means through which to enhance protection on the ground, I think we have all acknowledged that their actual impact has to date been mixed. So I welcome the acknowledgement by so many speakers of the need to provide peacekeeping missions with better guidance on how to translate these mandates into action. As I said, the joint study by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which is looking at these issues, will of course be brought to the Council's attention later in the year, and we look forward to working with members to take the issues forward.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“Although such comparisons obviously have their limitations, if we translated these figures to the population of New York City, the equivalent proportion would lead us to the number of more than 30,000 dead or injured; and if we compared it to the population of the whole United States, we would reach a figure of over 1 million people. All this, again, underlines the sentiment expressed by so many in the Chamber today: that we need to do much more to ensure respect for the rules of international humanitarian law governing the conduct of hostilities and to spare the civilian population. But, as I think virtually all speakers emphasized, only a full and fully respected ceasefire will spare the civilian population, on both sides, from the unrelenting danger and fear that they currently face.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“Understandably, many, if not most, speakers emphasized deep concern at the situation in and around Gaza. Earlier, I gave some casualty figures for Gaza from 13 January. The reason I was not able to give fully up-to-date figures was that the Palestinian Ministry of Health had no power at the time. They have now released the latest casualty figures, as from, I think, 4 o'clock local time today, according to which the figure of Palestinians killed is now 1,013, of whom 322 are children and 76 are women. And the number of injured now stands a 4,560, of whom 1,600 are children and 678 are women. This means that one in every 270 people in Gaza has now been killed or seriously injured in the almost three weeks of hostilities. These really are shocking figures.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“Mr. Holmes: The hour is late, and I will be brief. I will not try to respond to all the detailed points that have been made but will just make a few comments. Obviously, I have listened very carefully to today's debate and to all the comments that have been made. I welcome the continued clear commitment to the protection of civilians agenda as being at the heart of the Council's work and the recognition by most, if not all, speakers of the need to do more to ensure that our words have more impact where they matter most - on the ground - to overcome what more than one speaker described as a disconnect what we may say in this and other chambers and the reality on the ground. I also endorse the point made by so many: that we need to do more to prevent conflicts and tackle their root causes, and not just talk about the effect on civilians.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066Resumption1 (2009) · source
“Additional proposals will be outlined in the seventh report of the Secretary-General, due in May of this year Meanwhile, let this, the tenth anniversary of the first Security Council resolution on the protection of civilians, be the year in which a sustained effort to approach the issues in a comprehensive and consistent manner begins to produce results.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“It maintains a focus on the role of peacekeeping missions, but it also includes a range of additional measures that could be taken by the Council, such as imposing targeted sanctions against the perpetrators of serious violations against civilians and the referral of situations to the International Criminal Court. From the perspective of the protection of civilians in armed conflict, 2009 has had a dreadful beginning. We need urgently to redouble our efforts to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and human rights law in time of armed conflict. The convening of the expert group and the revision of the aide-memoire are important steps in this direction.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“A particularly useful tool for the expert group - but also, I believe, for the Council itself - is the aide-memoire on the protection of civilians (S/PRST/2003/27, annex). The aide-memoire was first developed in March 2002, at the Council's request, to facilitate its consideration of protection issues. In close consultation with the Council, OCHA has produced a revised and updated version, which I trust will be adopted by the Council at the end of this debate. The aide-memoire identifies the key concerns regarding the protection of civilians in contemporary conflicts and, based on the Council's past practice, specific actions that the Council could take to respond to those concerns.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“Where are the strategies for C6te d'Ivoire, the Sudan and other contexts where rape and other forms of sexual violence are widespread? They need to follow soon, and I hope the Council will also insist on that. Helping to facilitate a comprehensive and consistent approach to the protection of civilians in all circumstances was the intention behind the Secretary- General's call for the establishment of a Security Council expert group in his sixth report on the protection of civilians (S/2007/643). I am therefore greatly encouraged by the convening later this week of the first meeting of the expert group. That is an informal forum that brings together Council Member States for transparent and timely consultation with OCHA on protection concerns, particularly in the context of the establishment or renewal of peacekeeping mandates.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“Eight months on, I am pleased that United Nations actors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and their national and international partners have made significant progress in developing a draft comprehensive strategy to combat the horrific sexual violence there, in support of the efforts of the Government. It focuses on four critical areas: addressing impunity, supporting activities to prevent and provide protection from sexual violence, incorporating prevention efforts into security sector reform, and improving access to medical, mental health and legal support for survivors. The strategy is a crucial and welcome initiative and warrants full support from all concerned. We will certainly pursue it vigorously. But it also still begs the question of consistency I raised in May.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“5 The joint study by OCHA and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations on the implementation of protection mandates by peacekeeping missions will examine those and related issues. The study is under way and due for completion later this year. Its findings will be shared with Member States and will provide recommendations for us all on how to tackle some of those weaknesses. The lack of a comprehensive and consistent approach is apparent also in our efforts to combat sexual violence. As I said during the last open debate, in May 2008, those require the same degree of concerted action wherever they occur.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“Consider also the vastness of Darfur, combined with UNAMID's lack of sufficient aviation capacity, and it is all too apparent that the Operation's efforts to protect civilians will inevitably fall short until it has the troops and tools needed to do the job properly. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the upsurge of violence in the east of the country at the end of August severely tested the ability of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) to protect civilians. It raised important questions again about MONUC's capacity and whether it had the mandate necessary for the task. It also raised the need to look again at concepts of operations, standard operating procedures and rules of engagement as they relate to the protection of civilians.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“For example, the potential vested in peacekeeping missions with protection mandates is still not being realized. One reason is that those missions are not being provided on a consistent basis with the capacity required to fulfil those mandates. In Darfur, for instance, despite the grave and well-documented situation confronting the people there, 12 months since it became operational, the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) has only some 15,200 of the 26,000 uniformed personnel authorized by the Council. That is one peacekeeper for every 170 of the staggering 2.7 million internally displaced persons who live in perpetual fear of violence, hunger, disease and death.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“Ultimately, the Convention will lead to the destruction of billions of lethal submunitions and, in so doing, will save a huge number of civilians, their families and communities from the terrible humanitarian consequences of that weapon. I applaud the Oslo core group and the civil society organizations that contributed to making the Convention a reality, as well as the 95 States that have signed it. I urge all States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention to ensure its entry into force without delay. However familiar the challenges to the protection of civilians are - and I have not, on this occasion, focused on the massive and increasing problem of internal displacement due to conflict - the ability to ensure that we respond to them in a comprehensive and consistent way continues to elude us.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“But the simple truth remains that unless we can consistently raise protection and access concerns with those groups, and unless we can bring home to them the deep irresponsibility of some of their actions, we will continue to see such groups kill, maim and threaten the lives of more civilians. Amid all that darkness there are some bright spots too, not least among them the opening for signature and ratification last month of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Convention has the protection of civilians at its core. For those States that sign and ratify the Convention, it bans the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions. For those that do not, it deepens the stigma associated with cluster munitions, making it politically and morally more difficult to continue to use those weapons.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“We need to speak to them to gain safe and sustained access to populations in need and to point out consistently the extent of their misperceptions of humanitarian motives, the lack of a political agenda on the part of United Nations or other humanitarian actors and our firm attachment to the humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence. And we need to be able to call them to account when they violate international humanitarian law. I recognize that for some militia, guerrilla and rebel groups, civilian casualties and constraints on access are in many cases intended consequences of their actions.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“If we are serious about sparing civilians from the effects of hostilities and about obtaining access to those in need and seeking to ensure that humanitarian workers can operate safely, humanitarian actors must have consistent and sustained dialogue with all parties to conflict, be it the Taliban, Hamas or Al-Shabaab. It is simply not sufficient to oppose such engagement for fear that it will confer a degree of recognition on those groups. We need those groups to understand what international humanitarian law says and why. We need to be able to speak out for their victims and for the communities they endanger through their mere presence and by storing weapons in homes, schools and places of worship.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is continuing to monitor and analyse trends of violence against humanitarian workers, and access constraints more generally, and will provide a comprehensive overview of those issues in the Secretary-General's next report on the protection of civilians. Meanwhile, we must urgently find better ways to prevent and reduce that pattern of behaviour. It is relatively straightforward, if not always easy or productive, for the United Nations to engage with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, or with national armed forces, and to raise our concerns. But whether in Afghanistan, the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia or elsewhere, we cannot talk only to one side.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“In Somalia, 32 humanitarian workers were killed in 2008 and 19 were abducted, of whom 10 are still captive. In a particularly chilling turn of events, many Somali United Nations staff and their families had to be relocated from their duty stations following the circulation of an apparent death list of individuals targeted for assassination by armed groups. Such actions inevitably result in increased security measures, further restrictions on access and a scaling down of humanitarian operations. The main losers from that are, of course, the most vulnerable.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“Regarding those who are able to leave Vanni, while the Government has the right to screen for fighters among them, it must not unduly continue to restrict their freedom of movement. In environments such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia, it is particularly worrying that humanitarian organizations and their staff continue to be subject to threats, intimidation and deadly attacks. In Afghanistan, 112 humanitarian workers were kidnapped in 2008, five of whom were killed by their captors. A total of 33 humanitarian workers were killed in 2008, the majority of whom were national staff. In North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 104 security incidents involving humanitarian workers were reported during September of last year alone.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“In Sri Lanka, strict compliance with international humanitarian law is all the more critical with the intensification of fighting in the Vanni region and with reports of intermittent artillery fire into populated civilian areas in recent weeks. The scale of humanitarian needs is difficult to gauge, given the restricted humanitarian access due to the intensified fighting and the relocation of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations from rebel-held territory in mid-September. I am, however, particularly concerned that some 350,000 civilians are trapped in an increasingly confined space and effectively prevented from leaving by Tamil Tiger rebels. This raises deep concerns over the possible use of civilians to render areas immune from military operations.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“Civilian deaths were also attributed to air strikes, search and raid operations and force protection incidents involving international and national armed forces. More than 550 civilians died as a result of air strikes in 2008. In one incident alone, in August, UNAMA reported that 92 civilians, including 62 children, were killed in the Shindand district of Herat. This prompted the International Security Assistance Force to amend its standard operating procedures with a view to preventing such incidents in the future. However, the killing of 37 civilians in an air strike in Kandahar in November 2008 indicates that still more needs to be done. Prompt investigations by international forces in the aftermath of such incidents and the provision of adequate public information and payments to those affected are also essential.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source
“Over half died as a result of attacks by anti- Government elements, in particular through suicide bombings and the use ofimprovised explosive devices. The calculated and callous nature of suicide attacks remains particularly horrifying in Afghanistan and elsewhere. They promote a climate of extreme insecurity for civilians, disrupt any degree of normality in public life, and destroy the lives of ordinary people with neither warning nor compunction. Some 250 civilians were also executed by anti- Government elements in Afghanistan. These were mostly individuals considered to be linked in some way to the Government or the international community. Alarmingly, killings of this sort appear to be spreading to areas of the country that were previously immune.”
2009-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6066 (2009) · source