YouSaid · the spoken record

Ioannou

lines on the record: 21
first: 2018-08-29
most recent: 2022-06-28
sittings or episodes: 4
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

“While technology can add value in cases where, for example, briefers cannot attend a meeting physically, the use of technology should be measured by its contribution to the core function of the Council. Technology cannot substitute for the knowledge of local circumstances that the Council needs to have to deal with a situation effectively; this knowledge is best gained through visits on the ground. And while high-level participation is facilitated by technology and can help draw attention to certain issues, our priority should remain the Council’s ability to take action and implement its decisions.”
2022-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9079Resumption1 (2022) · source
“While we welcome wrap-up sessions and monthly reports, we see the need for more frequent debriefings on the work of the Council and more open channels of communication with respect to changes to its programme of work. Over and above this, of course, we would like to see an effort to directly provide affected States with information relating to the work of the Council that specifically affects them. We believe that affected States should not have to rely on the goodwill of individual members of the Council or the penholder for this information. Lastly, let me say a word on how technology might advance the functioning of the Council in the wake of the coronavirus disease experience.”
2022-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9079Resumption1 (2022) · source
“We reiterate our suggestion that the Member State primarily involved in the situation under discussion be invited to offer its perspective in closed consultations, before the Council begins its closed deliberations. Increased interaction and transparency are even more warranted in cases where the Council has deployed a peacekeeping operation in a Member State, not only because good cooperation between the host Government and the peacekeeping operation is crucial for the latter’s success, but because host-country consent and cooperation have been central to peacekeeping since its inception. Thirdly, we see room for improvement in terms of the availability of information on the Council’s work to all its non-members.”
2022-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9079Resumption1 (2022) · source
“In further codifying its functioning under unforeseen circumstances, the Council must ensure that it can take all necessary action without delay, that it can enforce its decisions, that its work is transparent and accessible to non-members of the Council, and that it can effectively interact with those Member States that are directly affected by its work. Secondly, as we have stated many times before, the Council needs to do better vis-à-vis the Member States that are directly affected by its work. Establishing an informal channel through the presidency might help the Council to account for the perspective of the conflict State under discussion, especially prior to consideration of the situation in that State.”
2022-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9079Resumption1 (2022) · source
“While a serious crisis may be less likely to occur in conditions of pandemic lockdowns, for example, the Council needs to have contingency plans for all eventualities. These plans need not be overly prescriptive, given that the nature of every single crisis cannot be foreseen, but they do need to include the ability to physically gather a representative from each Council member for decisions to be made, and they do need to designate, for example, a location beyond the Council Chamber for meetings to take place if the United Nations headquarters is affected by a disaster.”
2022-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9079Resumption1 (2022) · source
“We thank Albania for organizing this debate, as we believe that the Council should continue to improve its working methods and the ways in which it relates to the wider membership. We propose the following concrete steps within the scope of the guiding questions included in the concept note (S/2022/499, annex). First, where exceptional circumstances prohibit the Council from functioning as intended, we acknowledge that presidential note S/2021/1074 reflects the importance of ensuring that it can function without interruption. However, we need to add some content to that minimal acknowledgement, because in our view that general statement might not be sufficient for the Council to deal effectively with a serious crisis, such as that in Ukraine, if it is unable to function fully and properly.”
2022-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9079Resumption1 (2022) · source
“It is also an element that should explicitly be included in the mandates of peacekeeping operations. Lastly, addressing the culture of patriarchy that continues to afflict the security sector at both the international and the national levels is a priority. However, that will not single-handedly solve the deeply rooted problems in the area of women and peace and security, which are a manifestation of broader inequalities and cannot be tackled without a more general and comprehensive assault on the attitudes perpetuating them.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“Even if gender equality is enshrined in peace instruments, that is only the first step towards an equal status in a post-conflict society. With sexual violence still prevalent as a weapon of war and with such crimes continuing to be largely overlooked, nothing less than accountability and reparations for those crimes are needed to put a society on an egalitarian track. Gender-based violence should come with a very high price tag for its perpetrators, and no amnesties should be contemplated for those or any other kind of crimes against humanity. In that respect, the role of United Nations operations is key. Not only do their mandates encompass the protection of civilians but, in the event of atrocities, United Nations missions can, and should, be a source of fact-finding and evidence that enables national or international prosecution.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“Such input should be enabled on two levels: the direct participation of women in all tracks of a peace process and through a mechanism that allows local experts to submit ideas on specific questions. The United Nations can be instrumental in this respect through its involvement — and, indeed, its leadership — in peace processes and in its interaction with local actors, whose voice it can help harness. Furthermore, its ability to draw on successful paradigms in relevant State practice across its membership is another crucial contribution that the United Nations can make. In addition, peacekeeping operations can help to create the safe environment that is necessary for women to participate in peacemaking and peacebuilding. That is an element that could explicitly be included in their mandates.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“Thank you, Mr. President, for organizing today’s debate. My statement will complement that of the European Union, to which we fully subscribe. We have stressed before in this Chamber the importance of having meaningful participation by women in peace processes, not just to satisfy the criterion of egalitarian necessity but also in recognition of the fact that peace is more sustainable when it emanates from inclusive processes. More important than participation quotas is the task of ensuring the qualitative contribution of women to the substantive issues under consideration in any given peace process. This can be achieved through the submission of concrete proposals elaborated by women regarding the constitutional set-up and legislation in a post-conflict environment, including but not limited to the gender dimension.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“Lastly, our biggest challenge when it comes to reconciliation is broadening its scope, from a national process to one that can address grievances resulting from inter-State conflict, without prejudice, of course, to the administration of international criminal justice.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668Resumption1 (2019) · source
“In that regard, the United Nations has both a moral and material responsibility, in particular with respect to peace agreements concluded under its watch. Secondly, however difficult it is for a society to tackle uncomfortable historical truths, identity questions, prejudices and inequalities, a reconciliation process, if it is to be credible, must never be a vehicle for sanitizing or revising history. Thirdly, with regard to timing, it is hard to envisage a reconciliation process before reaching a political settlement, given the difficulty of the desired outcome, which is nothing less than social transformation by enabling the peaceful coexistence of rivals, leaving no room for different historical narratives or for questioning the truth and creating unified social and political structures.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668Resumption1 (2019) · source
“First, reconciliation cannot be a substitute for justice or a disguise for impunity, both as a matter of principle and because the resentment created by the lack of accountability defeats the objective of achieving viable peace. Rather, reconciliation should act as a complementary accountability mechanism that compels perpetrators to take responsibility for their actions. Historically, individual and collective amnesties have been included in political agreements in order to end the conflict. However, no amnesties granted by peace agreements or as part of reconciliation processes can extend to the commission of supreme international crimes, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668Resumption1 (2019) · source
“While peace agreements may treat the symptoms of conflicts, their causes cannot be fully addressed without the restoration, at the grass-roots level, of the fractured relationship that starts or fuels the conflict cycle. As the human pillar of conflict resolution, complementing its political and justice pillars, reconciliation is perhaps the only process that can help a post-conflict society come to terms with brutal and irreversible historical facts. We would propose the following three elements as key for reconciliation to be credible as a project in the service of a peaceful future, through an organic process of overcoming a violent past.”
2019-11-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8668Resumption1 (2019) · source
“Before concluding, I should like to make two equally critical points. Peacekeeping is a crucial component of conflict resolution. Enabling environments in which peace processes can be conducted depends on peacekeeping operations, as does preventing escalation within a conflict by establishing channels with relevant actors on the ground and developing an understanding of local circumstances. Last but not least, the participation of women in conflict resolution is now universally supported, and it can be a game changer. For that to happen, however, such participation needs to be meaningful, and the way for it to be meaningful is by achieving gender equality more broadly in a society and reflecting that in the participation of women across public life and in core political decision-making.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“Elaborating parameters for United Nations mediation would enable the Council to make greater, yet prudent, use of mediation as a tool for exercising its overall responsibility to maintain international peace and security in combination with other tools under its direct supervision. The Council can also strive for subsidiarity when there is a well-placed regional or local actor close to a conflict who can ably contribute to its resolution. That could also be done before the Council is seized of the matter, in line with the spirit of Article 33 of the Charter, without prejudice to the role of the Council as the eminent organ responsible for peace and security, while respecting established principles, such as the voluntary character of mediation and the consent of the parties.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“When acting as a mediator, the United Nations is well-placed to provide examples of good practices in dispute-resolution processes, but should always keep in mind that what works in one context may not be transplanted to another, even if two situations present commonalities. In addition, sharing good practices should not be a vehicle to manoeuvre the parties towards a specific direction or outcome. The United Nations should be especially cautious with enhanced mediation methods like arbitration as a tool for political or non-judicial third-party intervention. The endorsement of the Council should be required in such cases, while it should bear in mind that, even if the consent of the parties is present, the latter can be coerced.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“As experience has also demonstrated, acrimony and blame games can arise as a result ofmediation proposals that the parties are called upon to accept or reject, and therefore United Nations mediators must tread carefully, be cognizant of the complexities of a dispute and know the realm of the feasible. That is why the importance of selecting a mediator based on substantial criteria cannot be overstated. Successful mediation requires deep knowledge of local circumstances, not only those pertaining to the root causes and the particulars of a conflict, but the entire political, strategic, socioeconomic, cultural and historical context and circumstances underpinning a dispute and its resolution process.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“At the core of the United Nations involvement in mediation should be the inviolable rule of conducting the process on the basis of the Organization's values and principles, the United Nations Charter and international law. Those norms and principles mean that the United Nations does not operate in a vacuum and that, while it should, of course, be impartial, it should not be neutral. As a mediator, the United Nations must not be intrusive, but should respect the boundaries of third-party facilitation and assist the parties as they themselves shape the resolution of their dispute. The parties should own both the dispute-resolution process and its outcome, as they are the ones who will have to live with the outcome and ensure its durability and successful implementation.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“Experience has shown that there is sometimes a disconnect between the Council and the mediator appointed as part of the United Nations effort to contribute to the peaceful settlement of a dispute. For such mediation efforts to be effective, the Council must be able to assume responsibility for the work of the mediator. That would require that the two to work in tandem. Experience has also shown that we could benefit from more clarity as regards the framework of the United Nations engagement in mediation and the code of conduct of United Nations officials acting as mediators on behalf of the Organization. We believe that a more consistent and rules-based approach is required and that the Council could develop a manual to that end.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“We offer our thanks to the United Kingdom presidency for organizing this open debate. I wish to add the following to the European Union (EU) statement, which has already been delivered and to which we fully subscribe. As a conflict State and a beneficiary of the long- running good offices mission of the Secretary-General in Cyprus, entrusted to him by the Security Council, Cyprus has insights and lessons learned to share, even though the role of the United Nations in our conflict is limited to facilitating agreement by the parties. Mediation is an important tool prescribed by the Charter of the United Nations for the peaceful settlement of disputes, provided it is used in line with the Charter and in respect ofthe special role assigned by the latter to the Security Council.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source