YouSaid · the spoken record

Ibrahim

lines on the record: 887
first: 2002-03-11
most recent: 2021-06-23
sittings or episodes: 129
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 therefore rely on them for the delivery of aid and the monitoring, reporting and building of community acceptance around all that we do in support of Syrian internally displaced persons inside Syria.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“Ms. Ibrahim: Like several other international organizations operating in the north-west, we have a diversity of partnerships. I would not want to mention all of them right now. We are obviously focused on partners that can provide a multiplicity of services across the multiplicity of sectors and across multiple geographies. They have grown in strength. They operate by having community acceptance and the infrastructure, the staff and the capacity to receive the aid that we provide to them through funding for aid and humanitarian supplies, which either they purchase from inside Syria or we have transferred across the border from Turkey. As such, many of those organizations have the capacity and the infrastructure required to withstand a significant amount of funding provided by us.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“We do not have a statement on whether or not one is better than the other, but we know that the extensive needs require all border crossings and all options to be on the table. Again, I would like a clarification regarding the second question that was posed, because I did not fully capture it. If that is possible, I would appreciate it.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“Ms. Ibrahim: I ask that the Council please accept my apologies; I got disconnected. I hope that I was able to give an adequate response to the first question. I will attempt the third question, which, as I understand it, is about comparing cross-border and cross-line deliveries. CARE does not operate out of Syria; our operations are primarily cross-border from Turkey. As such, I do not have a comparative analysis of which modality is better. As I heard today, and as CARE’s position, we maintain that all access points at the current time need to be opened and should be allowed to operate so that we can meet the extensive humanitarian needs across all Syria. Once again, we do not have a direct operation.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“There are vetting and due-diligence processes and monitoring mechanisms in place, and we are governed by the core humanitarian principles that all aid actors follow. We are therefore quite confident that when — and it does happen — there are questions about the inability to reach those who are eligible for aid, those questions are always escalated to our donors and our supporters, and we undertake the appropriate investigations to ensure that there is no diversion of the aid. I am sorry; I think I missed the second question. But I will try to answer the third question posed. As I understood it, the question was: How do we at CARE know that cross-border is better than cross-line? If I understood the question correctly, we do not know. CARE does not have an operating presence in Syria.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“Ms. Ibrahim: Allow me to address the first question that was posed. We ensure that there are several modalities in which we check and audit the work that we do to ensure that beneficiaries receive the aid that they deserve. Much of this relies heavily on information that we triangulate in vetting all our due-diligence and managing processes. We also do a lot of remote management, including the use of technology and third-party monitoring. We have the support capacity of our local partners, which are the best and most reassuring of monitors in terms of both delivery and the oversight of the delivery process. Last but not least, as an international development organization, we adhere to and promote the humanitarian safeguards to ensure that those whom we serve receive the service that we have committed to providing to them.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“The Council has the authority to take practical steps that will help Syrians begin to turn the tables. We trust that its decision will be based on the needs on the ground and that it will stand by the Syrian people during this hour of greatest need.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“Syrian women do not want handouts; they want to enjoy their rights to live in dignity. Yet, compared to men, women struggle to find work and fair wages. Too often, they resort to desperate coping mechanisms to survive, including sending their children to work, taking them out of school, buying essential items on credit, skipping meals and marrying off their daughters to have one less mouth to feed. Unsurprisingly, maternal malnutrition affects one third of Syrian mothers. And women’s mental health is another serious casualty of the situation. Adolescent girls are forced into adulthood and motherhood far too early. Confronted by a range of protection issues, they are the real forgotten victims of the crisis. Syria must not be condemned to a deeper humanitarian catastrophe than we are witnessing today.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“We must ensure that the nascent COVID-19 vaccination campaign will not be halted in its tracks, not only undermining the global effort to end the pandemic but also contradicting the Council’s own resolution 2565 (2021) to facilitate equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines in armed conflicts and complex humanitarian emergencies. In conclusion, I want to highlight the gender dimensions to the multiple crises faced by Syrians, which should inform the Council’s deliberations on Syria. Earlier this year, CARE published a report entitled If we don’t work, we don’t eat. That quote captures the story of many Syrian women, already overburdened by prevailing gender inequality and forced to take additional roles to become breadwinners and heads of households. It also conveys their strength and resilience after a decade of conflict.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“Last week, the heads of seven United Nations agencies issued a joint statement with an unequivocal message: they are convinced that, even if cross-line convoys were deployed regularly to the north-west, they could not replicate the size and scope of the cross-border operation. There is simply no alternative. It is time for the Council to recall the Secretary- General’s advice after the closure of Al-Yarubiyah, when he said that if adequate steps were not taken to ensure effective cross-line deliveries, the Council would need to authorize the United Nations to use additional crossings. That expansion in humanitarian access by the Council is now urgent, given the spike in COVID-19 cases in northern Syria.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“There is simply no replacement for the United Nations cross-border capacity — not now, not in six months’ or in 12 months’ time. The Emergency Relief Coordinator has been clear in successive briefings to the Council that cross-line modalities are not a viable alternative to cross-border operations. As members know, there has been no single cross-line convoy to north-west Syria, where 2.5 million Syrians depend on aid. In the north-east, cross-line operations remain woefully inadequate, with approximately 70 per cent of the population experiencing severe or catastrophic levels of need.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“The level of the crisis demands the reauthorization of cross-border assistance to north-west Syria via the Bab Al-Hawa and Bab Al-Salam crossings for a minimum of 12 months. It also requires reinstating the Al-Yarubiyah crossing in the north-east for a similar period, as needs there have shot up by 38 per cent since the crossing closed last year. The scale and scope of the humanitarian cross- border operation is one of the most, if not the most, complex humanitarian operation in the world. It cannot be replicated by NGOs. Despite our presence and expertise, we cannot implement the scale of procurement, transportation, warehousing, coordination and funding required to keep that critical humanitarian operation afloat.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“That will be the unthinkable reality for over 1 million Syrians in the north-west come September if the United Nations is not authorized to continue its cross-border operation. My main message to the Security Council is simple: now is not the time to scale back the humanitarian cross-border operation. Needs on the ground are higher than ever, and they will continue to rise given the financial crisis in neighbouring Lebanon, the new wave of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections across northern Syria, the deteriorating food situation and the looming water crisis in the north-east. Earlier this week, CARE International and 27 other humanitarian directors addressed an open letter to the Council asking it to scale up humanitarian access into Syria.”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“Ms. Ibrahim: I am honoured to address the Security Council today on behalf of my organization, CARE International, and in solidarity with the humanitarian community operating in Syria. CARE has been operating in Syria since 2013. I lead CARE’s work in Turkey and across the border in the north-west of Syria, where incredible partners from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) deliver aid into the hands of Syrians in need. The humanitarian situation in Syria is dire. Imagine living in a country where approximately 90 per cent of your fellow citizens live below the poverty line and where the price of basic food items has increased 29-fold since the start of the crisis. How do you contemplate a future where the World Food Programme food baskets that you rely on to feed your family might stop?”
2021-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8803 (2021) · source
“They were then discussed by the Ministry of the Interior, which was preparing the draft electoral law and included them. The choice of modalities now depends on Parliament. That does not mean going back to the federal member states or to civil society. They have been discussed, agreed and signed. That is now with Parliament in the electoral law. So we are waiting for the electoral law.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“They presented us with different kinds of biometric systems, which we studied one by one. We did not choose the most expensive or most complex technologically but the simplest, which is just taking a photograph so that we know who is voting. That is the biometric system that we are using, and it is what the Somalis want. Some international partners are now asking why we are not using paper. Why did they not ask two years ago when the Commission approved it. The Commission approved it two years. We have studied it and we know what works for Somalis. Regarding the election modalities, in, I think, July 2018, the federal member states and the Federal Government went to Baidoa and came up with modalities that they had decided.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“Together, we carried out a feasibility study, which was based on the election, whether people wanted one and if there was an election, how good would they want the voter registration to be. We went to all the federal member states and met all the leaders and all sectors of civil society. We met women and young people separately, as well as the sheikhs. Every Somali said they did not trust a piece ofpaper. So how can we adopt something that people do not want? When we returned, we decided to study what kind of biometric system would be possible for us economically as well as technically. The Integrated Election Support Group and its creative team provided us the most knowledgeable experts on election processes. We sat together several times and discussed what kind of biometric system we should choose.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“No one knows how many people can vote. Also, there was a war among Somalis, or clan fighting. No one trusts anyone else. Every clan says that it has a majority and that it must have more seats than the others. So how can that be clarified? It would be difficult. Another issue is that most Somalis have the same name. Many people are called Mohamed, Mohamed Ali and so on and there is no photograph identification, since we do not have a census. How can we differentiate between people? How can one say that this is Mohamed and he is also Mohamed if there is nothing on which to really base that? But, most importantly, two years ago, the National Independent Electoral Commission and the United Nations convened a meeting with an international organization supported by the United States Agency for International Development.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“Another matter is the possibility of Al-Shaabab becoming part of the parliamentarians because recently Al-Shabaab has been calling together the elders in areas it controls and providing training and instruction, directing them as to whom they should nominate and elect. That is a great risk. The exclusion of women and minorities is another issue. If we go back to a clan-based election, women will not have any opportunity. Two weeks ago, there was a consultation meeting with the ulema or sheikhs. Their point was to exclude women's participation in Parliament or the Ministerial Council. That is why we need a one-person one-vote election in order to give opportunities to women, minorities and marginalized groups. Another question concerns why it is not a paper- based election versus biometric. First of all, there is no census in Somalia.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“But in spite of that we must keep working together to overcome our problems, build up Somalia and consolidate a Somali State. We will prevail if we continue on our path. I will now respond to some of the questions. First, there are several reasons why one-person-one-vote elections are important for Somalia as opposed to the clan model. If we go back to the selection methods that we have been using, the corruption will get worse. Some politicians talk about the enhanced 2016 election. We say that it was enhanced in terms of corruption because there was a great deal of vote buying and corruption. Somalia therefore continues to sustain the corruption status.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“Ms. Ibrahim: I would like to thank the members of the Security Council for their condolences to the family of Ms. Almaas Elman. I know that family has a background of working on peace. Her father, with whom I had the opportunity to work, was a remarkable person who worked for peace, and her mother is also doing tremendous work in peacebuilding. It is really a tragedy and disaster for Somalia to continue to see such losses as Somali citizens continue to work hard to achieve peace and stability in Somalia. We have lost so much. Ms. Elman is not the only thing that we have lost, and if we do not try to stop that, we will lose even more. I myself am a victim of that loss, because my husband, who was working for peace and development, was killed too. I am not alone in this, because there are others, too.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“I want to remind our partners that there are several post-conflict countries whose elections have been guided by the United Nations and the international community with costs several times higher than the total projected costs of Somalia's election. But that was done because the international community believed that elections were a vital part of the process of rebuilding those countries. While the National Independent Electoral Commission appreciates the support that the Somali Government and the international community have given in the past to promote Somalia's democratization, we believe their efforts of the past years will be wasted if they do not genuinely support the holding of one-person-one-vote elections in Somalia in 2020 and 2021.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“The National Independent Electoral Commission is requesting that the country's leaders treat the 2020-2021 one-person-one-vote elections as a constitutional obligation and a national priority, and that they provide the political and financial support that the Electoral Commission needs to carry out its mission to conduct one-person-one-vote elections. The Electoral Commission also appeals to our international partners to make the necessary funding for election operations available. The overall operational cost of the election in Somalia is estimated at $53 million, excluding the cost of election security and the Electoral Commission's annual operational costs. The Electoral Commission also expects political support from the international community.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“Article 46 of the Constitution specifically stipulates that the public representation system shall be open and shall give everyone the opportunity to participate, and that its procedures and rules shall be simple and understandable. In order to restore the right of the Somali people to a free election, as stipulated in article 22 of the Constitution, and also in recognition of the fact that one-person-one-vote elections are the cornerstone for building Somalia's democratic governance, I therefore want to make the following appeal to Somalia's leaders and international partners.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“However, that milestone will be realized only when the Somali leaders and the international community show a commitment to ensuring that one-person-one-vote elections take place in 2020 and 2021. I want to reiterate that the clan power-sharing model was initially designed as a temporary measure to support the transitional Government of Somalia in preparing the country for one-person-one-vote elections. That is why various meetings of Somali political leaders and partnership forums have all called for one-person-one-vote elections and an end to the clan-based power model. It is also worth noting that any election model that does not enable the Somali people to exercise their right to vote violates Somalia's Constitution and the various human rights conventions that Somalia has ratified.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“Besides the leaders' decision, the findings from a nation-wide feasibility study conducted by the NIEC indicate significant public support for a fair and credible election given that it is the cornerstone for building a vibrant society in Somalia. Moreover, the Somali public support the one-person one-vote system because they believe that it is the only mechanism whereby marginalized groups can regain their rights to take part in the political decision-making process. I want to remind the members of the Council that 2020 is a pivotal year for Somalia's citizens, who have been denied their right to political participation for 50 years. The 2020 election is a milestone for the international community, which has been investing heavily in Somalia for several decades with a view to introducing and promoting democracy and good governance.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“The eight element is the preparation of all the necessary rules and regulations for the adoption of the electoral law. The significant progress in the preparation for the 2020/2021 election would not have been possible without the support of the Federal Government of Somalia, federal member states and our international partners, particularly the Integrated Election Support Group, the United Nations arm created to provide assistance to Somalia's elections in 2020/2021 and the African Union. There are also several international non-governmental organizations. Since 2011, Somalia's political leaders have agreed to holding a one-person one-vote election as the basis for the process of choosing leaders and a substitute for the clan-based power-sharing.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“First is the capacity-building of the NIEC Commissioners and the secretariat. The second aspect is the provisional registration of political parties. To date, 57 political parties have temporary registration. The third aspect is the establishment of NIEC field offices in all federal member states. The fourth area is the development of the voter education curriculum, supporting materials and voter education messages. Fifth is the identification and verification of potential voter registration sites and the selection of the voter registration model. The sixth area is the development of the concept of operations and budget for voter registration operations. Seventh is overseeing the construction on the NIEC data processing centre and warehouse building.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“Although the model facilitated the indirect election of Members of Parliament and the President at the federal level, the process was compromised by extensive vote buying. There was a great deal of corruption in the process, the limited participation of women in the two Houses and the complete exclusion of marginalized and minority groups. The National Independent Electoral Commission was first established in 2015. Soon after its formation, the NIEC Board of Commissioners begun building an institutional foundation to prepare the country for elections in 2020/2021. The NIEC's preparatory work commenced with the formulation of a strategic plan that was based on the constitutional principles and harmonized with the country's national development plan and Constitution. The four-year preparation by the NIEC has focused on the following areas.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“The country descended into civil war, as those clan-based factions failed to agree on power-sharing and universal suffrage has not been in effect over the past 50 years. Currently, Somalia has an estimated population of 12 million, with a large population living in major cities across all member states as internally displaced persons. Following several decades of State failure and in the absence of a functioning Government, a clan- based power-sharing model was agreed upon at the end of 2016 and in early 2017. Under the clan power-sharing model, clan leaders were given the mandate to nominate candidates and delegates from their respective clans. In the end, the elders managed to choose 275 members of the Lower House and 54 members of the Upper House.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“Ms. Ibrahim: I am pleased to address the Security Council regarding Somalia's democratization process. From the outset, I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the members of the Council and the international community for their support for Somalia and, in particular, for assisting the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) in its effort to carry out its mandate of conducting universal suffrage elections. Since Somalia formally became an independent State in 1960, universal suffrage elections have been conducted only twice, in 1964 and, most recently, in 1969. The essential platforms for promoting democracy, including political parties and the Constitution, were suspended when the military took over in 1969. After 21 years in power, the military Government was removed from power by clan militias in 1991.”
2019-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8671 (2019) · source
“I would like to conclude by saying that my people do not have a choice. We do not have a choice, but members of the Security Council do have a choice. They choose to sit in the Council. They choose to fight for peace and security around the world. I therefore urge them consider climate change to be a security risk. Council members must give my people - men, women, young people - hope. In fact, the Security Council should give my people something greater than hope because we deserve something more than mere survival: we deserve a life like everyone else's.”
2018-07-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8307 (2018) · source
“This makes us wonder why we get useless things, instead of a great solution, access to energy, help in getting to school or to health services, or support for finding other alternatives in life, leading to a peace and a prosperous future for all. Most development aid goes to cities, but because the problems are all in the rural areas, the solution must also come from there. My people are always fighting for peace - to combat climate change - but we cannot do that alone, because resources are not always available. We need both tools and capacity. Members of the Council need to come to our countries to see how we are living. Our way of life needs to be observed. Solutions need to be found. These solutions could be very inexpensive because they could be derived from the traditional knowledge we already have.”
2018-07-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8307 (2018) · source
“For me, as one who comes from these communities, I see babies and young people growing up in this area and think about them in the next decade or the next 20 years. What will their futures be like? Are they also going to jump in the sea? Are they also going to join terrorist groups? Or are they just going to kill each other because, in order to survive, they have to eat? Council members have to go beyond the Paris Agreement and the United Nations agency fighting climate change. The fight has to be a global one. It has to be a global fight because globalization can be a curse or an opportunity. In my community, where a radio is hard to come by, it is easy to find a bottle of Coca Cola.”
2018-07-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8307 (2018) · source
“Men are responsible for feeding their families. If a man cannot do that, it is a great humiliation. He will lose his dignity. To preserve that dignity, he has only two choices - he can join a terrorist group because, as a human being, he needs to feed his family, or leave the place where he is. If he does that, he joins the internal migration that creates conflict in his region. There is also external migration, which also occurs because people have no other choice. We have all heard the sad story about how migrants are being treated in Libya in this, the twenty-first century. But people continue to go because they have no choice. Either they go there and jump into the sea to save their human dignity or they stay home to fight and die.”
2018-07-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8307 (2018) · source
“Natural resources are indeed shrinking. Council members have of course already heard about what is happening to Lake Chad, but there are many other places where water is now disappearing forever. People have to fight to gain access to these shrinking natural resources, resulting in local conflicts that are spreading every day. These local conflicts grow into national conflicts and then become regional conflicts. Even worse, these places where these people live become a fertile place for terror. All around these places, terrorist groups are growing. Why are they growing? Perhaps it is because oftheir ideologies, but it may also be because the opportunity to take advantage of people who are becoming poorer and poorer every day is also growing. In my region, men and women have different responsibilities.”
2018-07-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8307 (2018) · source
“When they sleep at night, they dream that they will wake up the next day and be able to get food or water for their children. They also dream that if someone gets to the resources before they do they will have to fight for them. My people do not sit in offices all day and wait for their salaries to be paid at the end of the month so they can feed their families. More than 80 per cent of the communities in my region of the Sahel depend on the environment - on agriculture, fishing and the raising of livestock - for their livelihoods. On a daily basis they have to go out and fight to feed their families. Practically speaking, because we are nomadic we have to follow the changing patterns of water and pasture. In the past decade, however, we have been forced to experience the impact a changing climate has had on all our resources.”
2018-07-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8307 (2018) · source
“Ms. Ibrahim: Anyone who believes in peace and security and sits in this Security Council Chamber has to consider climate change as a security risk. I know that many people here today read the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but it is my duty to tell the Security Council that my community - nomadic pastoralists moving from one place to another in search of water and pastures for our survival - knows nothing at all about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. My people do not know that there is such a thing as a Security Council where a group of people sits and thinks about peace around the world. My people are living climate change. Climate change has an impact on their daily lives and gives them insecurity.”
2018-07-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8307 (2018) · source
“Lastly, although Malaysia's days in the Council are coming to an end, we will continue to play an active role in creating the necessary conditions for peace in the region and defending the two-State solution, in line with our principled position on the Palestinian question.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“In the long term, the Council and the international community must galvanize their efforts to end the longest occupation in modern history, which has given rise to sustaining the settlement enterprise. We therefore urge all parties to intensify their efforts to resume the peace process in order to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions and various initiatives, including the Arab Peace Initiative. We also reaffirm our support for all diplomatic initiatives to that end, including by France and Russia.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“It is also a victory for the people of Israel who still believe in living side by side in peace and security with the Palestinians and their Arab neighbours. In the next few months, the Council should continue to exert pressure on both sides to ensure compliance with resolution 2334 (2016). We also urge all Member States to abide by their obligations under the resolution to halt settlement activities. As we enter into 50 years of Israeli occupation in 2017, we need to take a step back to reflect on our collective failures for the past half-century that have led to our current predicament on the viability of the two-State solution. Although our action today is significant in halting settlement activities, we need to recognize that we are addressing the symptoms and not the root causes of the conflict.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“Recent developments have made it even more urgent for the Council to act, particularly the brazen attempt by the Israeli Parliament to legalize outposts on private Palestinian lands. We need to send a strong and clear signal that this is simply not acceptable. Today the Council has redeemed itself to steer the parties in the right direction, away from violence and unjust and illegal acts. We are giving hope to both the people of Israel and the people of Palestine, the majority of whom still believe in the two-State solution and still want peace. This is not just a victory for Palestine, it is a victory for the Security Council, for the United Nations, for the rule of law, for peace and for humankind as a whole.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“We have been persistently warned that the settlement enterprise constitutes the single biggest threat to peace and the two-State solution. It is illegal under international law, as reinforced by the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice and in various Council resolutions. They also lead to settler violence, home demolitions, land confiscations, as well as to discriminatory policies and the denial of development, infrastructure and natural resources. Decades of great injustice and gross violations of human rights have perpetuated anger and frustration for those who have nothing to lose, leading to further radicalization in the region and beyond.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“Today, after decades of paralysis in the Council on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Council has finally exercised its legal, political and moral responsibility to take effective action to reverse the negative trends that are threatening peace and the two-State solution. With the historic adoption of resolution 2334 (2016), we prove our sincere commitment to peace and to the two-State solution. We sincerely thank all Council members who voted in support of the resolution today. We are also encouraged by the exemplary restraint shown by the permanent members of the Council. Malaysia also appreciates the full support and solidarity shown by New Zealand, Venezuela and Senegal in carrying the resolution forward.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“Since then, the situation on the ground has worsened to the point where the very prospect of a two- State solution is now in question. There is no doubt that this falls under the responsibility of the Security Council under the United Nations Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security. We thus appeal to all Council members not to lose this opportunity for peace and to exercise our legal, political and moral responsibility to vote in support of the draft resolution, which is based on previous Council resolutions and the values and principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and international standards of human rights. The time for action is now, to prove our long-held commitment and to reinforce the fact that the two-State solution is not merely an empty slogan.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“On the implementation of the draft resolution, the text is requesting the Secretary-General to report the Council every three months. We realize that some Council members may have legitimate concerns as to the short period of time in which the draft was officially circulated, put into blue and submitted for adoption. In normal and ideal circumstances, we, too, would have preferred a more transparent and inclusive process. However, we realize that this is anything but a normal situation and that we need to tread carefully in view of the sensitivity of the issue. Exceptional circumstances require bold action and exceptional measures. Ultimately, our aim is to bridge the gap in the respective positions of Council members in order to reach a consensus. The last time the Council adopted a resolution on settlements was more than 36 years ago.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“We fully support their efforts, and we share their aim for Council action. We have also observed an emerging consensus among Council members on the issue of settlements. We thus believe that it is urgent for the Council to seize the opportunity for effective Council action without any further delay. The draft resolution being put to the vote today (S/2016/1100) calls for the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities and for affirmative steps to reverse the negative trends on the ground that are endangering the two-State solution. It also calls for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, and calls for accountability. The text further urges all parties to intensify their efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East and to end Israeli occupation.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“In numerous Council meetings on Palestine, and at the Arria Formula meeting on settlements in October, we listened to the repeated calls of Council members, the Secretary-General, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and representatives of civil society and other United Nations Member States for urgent Council action to halt settlement activities and reverse the negative trends that are threatening peace and the viability of the two-State solution. The latest, unprecedented attempt of the Israeli Parliament to legalize outposts on private Palestinian lands added further urgency to the need for the Council to send a clear signal on the issue of settlements. Malaysia acknowledges the efforts made by Egypt and the Arab League to engage in consultations with Council members over the past two months on this issue.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“I thank you, Sir, for convening this meeting at such short notice. Malaysia, together with New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela as sponsors of draft resolution 8/2016/1100, on the issue of illegal Israeli settlements, have called for this meeting to put the draft to a vote. As representatives of various regional groupings at the United Nations - the Group of Asia-Pacific States, the Group of Western European and other States, the Group of African States and the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States - we are bound by similar aims and a sense of responsibility to take effective action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially on the issue of settlements.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7853 (2016) · source
“This is, sadly, glaringly lacking today. It is therefore with much regret that Malaysia was compelled to abstain today. Having followed the developments in South Sudan closely, we believe that it is ever more important for Council members to remain united in charting a comprehensive and effective strategy to support the efforts of the South Sudanese authorities and to implement the peace agreement, protect civilians and restore peace and stability in the country.”
2016-12-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7850 (2016) · source