YouSaid · the spoken record

Jeremy Greenstock

lines on the record: 1,478
first: 1998-07-30
most recent: 2003-07-25
sittings or episodes: 194
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

“Other organs of the United Nations, including the General Assembly itself, are already engaged and need to move quickly to the implementation stage. Member States, including the United Kingdom, must look at their own internal procedures to ensure that troops and civilian police can be deployed rapidly and that they are well trained and equipped. The Secretary-General has already produced a plan of action for implementation in his areas of responsibility. We are confident that he will take firm measures to ensure that procedures in the Secretariat are streamlined, that coordination is institutionalized and that the quality of support and advice that can be offered to the Council and to peacekeeping operations in the field is enhanced.”
2000-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4220 (2000) · source
“Thirdly, the document makes clear that our role in the maintenance of international peace and security cannot be narrowly defined. The United Nations must have recourse to a more effective set of tools in preventing conflict, and it must be able to put in place coordinated strategies to build peace once conflict is over. This resolution is a first step. It sets out a series of practical measures in clear and precise terms. Ambassador Ward is to be congratulated on leading the Working Group to this excellent result. But this is just the beginning. We in the Security Council have a responsibility to ensure that the road map which this resolution represents is followed in our everyday work. The Security Council is only one of the partners that will need to take clear and decisive action if the Brahimi Report is to be properly implemented.”
2000-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4220 (2000) · source
“In the interests of time, I shall abridge my remarks; the full text of my statement has been distributed. The resolution that we have adopted today sets out a road map for the Council's work in the future, and three aspects of the annex are particularly important. First, it contains a commitment to getting peacekeeping mandates right - for instance, more regular briefings from the Military Adviser, an improved system of consultations with troop contributors and a greater United Nations involvement in the negotiation of peace accords, which are all essential. Secondly, this resolution will lead to more effective peacekeeping operations once they are on the ground. A rapidly deployed and effectively configured mission can make an enormous difference in securing a fragile peace.”
2000-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4220 (2000) · source
“The DDR aspects are what Mrs. Ogata has been talking to us about this afternoon and are extremely important. We endorse what she has said about a stronger focus on reintegration. We have seen this in Sierra Leone. We have seen the way in which it has not worked in other peacekeeping operations, and it is something we should return to not just in the Security Council but in other agencies and in other parts of the United Nations system. It is something to which the World Bank and other donors must pay close attention. There is no point in two Ds without the R, and it is the R that is particularly lacking in addressing the concerns which particularly affect UNHCR. I conclude by again thanking Mrs. Ogata for her great achievements and wishing her well in her future.”
2000-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4219 (2000) · source
“I would just point out to the Council that the ceasefire is for 30 days, and that it is agreed, among other things, that the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) should be deployed to the diamond areas, and that the two parties should immediately recommence the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme, upon which Mrs. Ogata put her finger in a more general sense in her address to us this afternoon. There is a further clause that ensures access for humanitarian agencies to refugees and displaced persons and to those who need humanitarian assistance, so it is an agreement which we have welcomed from London this afternoon. But we will have to look very carefully at its implementation, because we cannot yet trust the RUF to live up to all aspects of what has been agreed in this particular document.”
2000-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4219 (2000) · source
“We will look very closely at the proposal she has made - quite a brave proposal against the background of the traditional approach of the United Nations to peacekeeping, but one which we have to take seriously in this Council. It is against that background that I would like to inform her, as well as colleagues on the Council who have not yet heard the news, that there is an agreement today between the Government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), signed in Abuja, for a ceasefire over the next 30 days, in which the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has played a leading part, as we enjoined it to do on our mission. My delegation will pass out copies of this agreement to members of the Council - it is going by fax now.”
2000-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4219 (2000) · source
“We are now finally tackling, perhaps, the challenges in the Brahimi report and, on a wider basis, those of coordinating peacekeeping, human rights and the humanitarian and development aspects of the United Nations work - challenges which she has constantly kept before our eyes and which she has again today enjoined us to address with energy. I would just like to pick up a couple of points from her address to us today. The first is West Africa and her focus on Sierra Leone and across the borders from Sierra Leone. We take very much to heart - as did the Security Council mission to the region - the security as well as the humanitarian aspects of that flow of refugees.”
2000-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4219 (2000) · source
“The United Kingdom welcomes the global consultations exercise on which the UNHCR has embarked, the aim of which is to revitalize the international protection regime and to discuss measures to ensure international protection for all who need it. As leading donors and supporters of UNHCR, we in the United Kingdom look forward to taking a full and constructive part in the next stages of the process, and we take careful note of the warnings Mrs. Ogata has given us today on the funding aspects of the whole process. Sadly, this is Mrs. Ogata's last appearance before the Security Council. She has witnessed the steady expansion, in her time as High Commissioner, of the Council's humanitarian agenda.”
2000-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4219 (2000) · source
“The year 2000 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of UNHCR. Its key aim of providing international protection to refugees remains as relevant now as it was in 1950. I think it is particularly fitting that we should be meeting under your presidency, Sir, when it is the Netherlands that provided the first, and has now provided the next, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. But the issue of internally displaced persons is now just as much in the spotlight. Internally displaced persons now outnumber traditional refugees. There is agreement that this is not an issue on which UNHCR should act as the lead agency, but we do look to it to play a prominent role in relieving the plight of internally displaced persons, who suffer as much as traditional refugees.”
2000-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4219 (2000) · source
“My delegation has listened very carefully to the briefing of this Council by the High Commissioner, and I pay a sincere and very warm tribute to the energetic way in which she has headed the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) over a very difficult period. Behind that tribute lies huge United Kingdom respect and admiration for the courage and selflessness of the whole UNHCR team, whose security, in particular, is of continuing concern to us. Mrs. Ogata has presided over UNHCR through a decade of enormous change and growth, both in UNHCR itself and the United Nations system as a whole. Dealing with refugees has always attracted the highest public profile, and it is a sad fact of life that UNHCR is more likely to be blamed when things go wrong than given credit for a job well done against the odds.”
2000-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4219 (2000) · source
“Kostunica and efforts to manage his visit to Trebinje last weekend. It is essential that the Office of the High Representative continue to engage President Kostunica as a partner in Dayton implementation and to emphasize the relationship between development of state-level institutions and a sovereign State of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is really remarkable to think that five years have now gone by since Dayton. We think that the international community's interests are now in good hands in Sarajevo and we wish the High Representative and his team every success in the important months of further change that are to come.”
2000-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4209 (2000) · source
“Full implementation of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitutional Court's decision on constituent peoples, including any amendments to the election law, is in our View an essential part of Dayton implementation and another key challenge for the next entity and state-level Governments. We share his view that those decisions are non-negotiable and we urge his Office to do all it can to assist the new Governments once they are formed. We share the High Representative's concern about the deterioration in Republika Srpska in the lead- up to the elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The collapse of the Milosevic regime is undoubtedly good news for Bosnia, but President Kostunica has something to learn about Dayton implementation. We welcome the High Representative's early engagement with Mr.”
2000-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4209 (2000) · source
“What the High Representative said about the growth figures over the recent period is another indication of that. We very much commend what Ambassador Petritsch has been doing in targeting the use of his Bonn powers and his determination to remain above the fray when a local solution is obtainable. Instances of that have been seen in the Council of Ministers and in the current pension law debate. We share his hope that the general elections on 11 November will see a more responsible group of politicians elected. That will be an opportunity to develop the High Representative's concept of local ownership of the peace implementation process.”
2000-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4209 (2000) · source
“It is very good to see the High Representative with us again today. We very warmly appreciate and fully support what he and his team have been doing over the past six months, particularly the progress that has been made in the implementation of the commitments undertaken at the Brussels meetings of the Peace Implementation Council. His Office's refined focus on refugee return, economic reform and state-level institution-building is beginning to bear fruit in a very welcome way. What is happening in Mostar, with strong European Union support, is another encouraging indication of the change under way. Perhaps the main downside has been that the bulk of progress over the past year has been through the efforts of the international community rather than of the Bosnians themselves.”
2000-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4209 (2000) · source
“It is the duty of the region's leaders to make sure that we turn away from violence and conclude a negotiated peace. If they fail, they fail their peoples. They must show the strength and wisdom to overcome the immediate difficulties and to focus on achieving peace as a priority, and so pave the way to a brighter future. So, the immediate task is to break this cycle of violence and the use of force. We call for calm, and we urge both parties to exercise the utmost restraint.”
2000-10-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4204 (2000) · source
“In that regard, we welcome the talks that the United States Secretary of State will host in Paris tomorrow between Prime Minister Barak and President Yasser Arafat and those that President Mubarak of Egypt will host in Cairo on Thursday, 5 October. There needs to be a return to diplomacy and negotiation. The Middle East region needs to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace to benefit all its peoples. The region's future and its people's prosperity will depend partly on trade and cooperation between them. Britain and the rest of the European Union have made clear their commitment to assist the region to develop in that way. But progress will be painfully slow unless we have a peace agreement. Only a peace agreement will enable the people of the region to realize their potential.”
2000-10-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4204 (2000) · source
“It is certainly right that we should be discussing this item at this time. We and all of our partners in the European Union have been shocked by the violence in Jerusalem, elsewhere in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and in Israel in the past few days. We deplore the catastrophic loss of life and are horrified in particular by the deaths of innocent children. It is alarming how quickly in this theatre of tension the recourse to violence can get so out of hand. Those who have been fuelling the violence of the last few days are people who want to derail the peace process, and they cannot be allowed to succeed. These tragic events bring home the need for a new urgency in resolving the outstanding issues in the Middle East peace process. It is vital that the violence come to an end so that peace talks can get under way again.”
2000-10-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4204 (2000) · source
“Finally, I, too, should like to note that the United Kingdom is certainly included in the part of the international community that is ready to help Indonesia with all of these problems, but we would find it hard to do so - and this is a statement of fact, not a threat - at the forthcoming meeting of the Consultative Group in Tokyo in mid-October if there is no real progress in West Timor. At the most, between now and 12 October, there may be time to show that real progress has begun, but we do not believe that it has yet begun.”
2000-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4203 (2000) · source
“I think it is also important that we go to East Timor at the Special Representative of the Secretary- General's invitation for the reasons he gives, not least to give support to what the United Nations administrative team is doing and what the incipient authorities of East Timor are doing to establish their own community. These events have reinforced the United Kingdom's view that the international community has to get on with considering East Timor's defence needs. The study that has been done by the United Kingdom's King's College has made a number of proposals, and we entirely agree with the Special Representative that preparatory work must now swiftly begin. The United Kingdom will do what it can to contribute to the follow-up work, and we look forward to the proposed meeting in Dili.”
2000-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4203 (2000) · source
“We have noted the Indonesian Government's commitment to brief the Security Council regularly over compliance with Security Council resolution 1319 (2000), but I have to say again that the proposed date of 12 October for the Foreign Minister to come to New York is too late for us to check the action being taken against these benchmarks - against the picture that Mr. Vieira de Mello has depicted for us. We continue to believe that we have to work in partnership with the Indonesian Government and that the Security Council mission to help verify for international credibility what is happening in West Timor is necessary at an early date. Yet, as the Special Representative has said this afternoon, we are still waiting.”
2000-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4203 (2000) · source
“Vieira de Mello has pointed out, the comprehensive plan of action - and I quote him - "cannot succeed until the militias holding the refugees through threats and misinformation are removed." (supra) He has repeatedly called not just for the disarming of the militias, but also for the arrest of their leaders and their disbanding and relocation. I think it is time for the Security Council to express very explicitly our agreement with the Special Representative that these are benchmarks we cannot do without.”
2000-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4203 (2000) · source
“We think that UNTAET and the East Timorese leadership continue to make steady progress towards establishing a viable State in East Timor, but it is quite clear where the main threat to their efforts is coming from, and Sergio Vieira de Mello's report has graphically illustrated both the unresolved fate of tens of thousands of the compatriots of the East Timorese in West Timor and the dangers in the security situation there. The Indonesian Government has told us more than once that they are disarming the militias and interviewing suspects for the Atambua murders; and yet, as Mr.”
2000-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4203 (2000) · source
“I fully associate the United Kingdom with the later intervention by France in its capacity as Presidency of the European Union, and Ambassador Levitte will express, and I warmly support, a very sincere tribute to the work of the Special Representative and the whole team of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) on the ground, which continues to do marvelous work in very difficult circumstances. The United Kingdom is fully in support of what they are doing. Ijust want to make one or two extra points.”
2000-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4203 (2000) · source
“Should we not be concentrating on increasing the number of international judges and prosecutors and give that priority over some other areas of UNMIK's work? Whatever happens in Serbia proper over the next few days, we shall need UNMIK in Kosovo for some time to come. The United Kingdom will remain, politically and in practice, fully supportive of their efforts.”
2000-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4200 (2000) · source
“The incident mentioned just now by Ambassador Lavrov involving the Russian Ambassador and, as it happened, British KFOR troops on the boundary between Serbia and Kosovo was unfortunate, but those troops were doing their job at a time of increased tension and no disrespect was intended to the Russian Ambassador. Security was the only motivation and recent events in Gracanica have shown the need for vigilance in that respect. The United Kingdom has noted the Secretary- General's appeal for more international judges and prosecutors. We share the Bangladeshi view that the administration of justice is a key issue for Kosovo. Indeed, the United Kingdom has offered large numbers of judges and prosecutors and stands ready to assist further. So far, however, we have been told that United Kingdom candidates are not required.”
2000-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4200 (2000) · source
“Kouchner and KFOR have continued to condemn the violence and to take what steps they can to address it. Just as important, most of Kosovo's political leaders have also spoken out against such violence. They gave their support to the principles of non-violence and inter-ethnic dialogue at the Airlie House meeting in Virginia in July, and that was extremely welcome. Thuggery by a vocal minority will not be allowed to decide Kosovo's future. We must build a security framework that facilitates return by Kosovo Serbs and others to their homes.”
2000-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4200 (2000) · source
“The effect could be quickly felt in all communities in Kosovo if President Milosevic draws the correct conclusions from the turn ofthe tide. Although Serbs are reluctant at present to vote in Kosovo's elections, it is right that Kosovo's Serb community is represented in the local government structure. We welcome the agreement that Mr. Kouchner and UNMIK will appoint representatives to sit on municipal councils after the elections. The Secretary-General sets out clearly in his report that security continues to be a problem throughout Kosovo. The United Kingdom has joined others, including its partners in the European Union, in condemning recent incidents of ethnic and political violence, not least by members of the Albanian community in Kosovo. Mr.”
2000-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4200 (2000) · source
“We note that some 45,000 Serbs voted in safety in Kosovo in a different set of elections, on 24 September, elections which Ambassador Holbrooke has pointed out could change the whole character of what we are doing in the Balkans. The United Kingdom thanks Mr. Kouchner and his team, together with the Kosovo Force (KFOR), for doing such an excellent job in witnessing those elections on 24 September, as well as in providing reassurance for voters in Kosovo. That has helped minimize the scope for malpractice by President Milosevic. We regret that, as it looks at present, those 45,000 Serbs and their compatriots will not be voting in Kosovo's municipal elections next month. But who knows? Perhaps democracy and non-violence have been born in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia this week.”
2000-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4200 (2000) · source
“Although the conditions in which the men are being held have improved from the completely unacceptable, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia authorities are not respecting consular agreements. We call upon them to release the men immediately or to bring specific charges. As my delegation said last time, the two British policemen were contributing to stability and peace in Kosovo as part of the important work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) under United Nations resolutions. It is in no one's interest that that work should be interrupted. The United Kingdom is encouraged by the thorough preparations being made for October's municipal elections. Those elections are important because they are a key step in returning the governance of Kosovo to its people.”
2000-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4200 (2000) · source
“I too am very grateful to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for his briefing. I pay tribute to him and to the whole team of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) for their extraordinarily dedicated work in Kosovo in the most difficult circumstances. This is not just a traditional accolade; they, and we, are making progress in that province - net progress, but progress nevertheless. At our last meeting on Kosovo, my delegation began by focusing on the arrest by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia authorities of two British policemen employed by UNMIK. It is time briefly to update the Council. More than eight weeks after their arrest, the detainees are still being held and have still not been charged. Two Canadian citizens and four Dutch citizens are being similarly treated.”
2000-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4200 (2000) · source
“We should be wary of straying into sensitive areas that are being comprehensively dealt with elsewhere, such as in the working group on sanctions. But the Council has a vital role to play above all in insisting that all States Members of the United Nations implement existing international humanitarian law and conventions in respect of children and armed conflict. There is a good deal of hard work ahead of us if we are to fulfil our responsibilities in this key area. I would like to assure Special Representative Otunnu and Ms. Bellamy that they can rely on the strong support of the United Kingdom delegation in pushing this important agenda forward and in turning words into action.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176 (2000) · source
“We also have our own responsibility to act on that information when the situation merits. We need collectively to work on improving information flow throughout the United Nations system and beyond if we are to have durable success in this area. I also entirely endorse the emphasis which Special Representative Otunnu has placed on local actors in specific situations. There are plenty of very detailed recommendations in the Secretary-General's report, which we will need to consider closely. My delegation is keen to hear the views of non-members of the Council today before we get into that debate. In considering the report, it will be important for the Council to build on, rather than duplicate, the work that we have already done.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176 (2000) · source
“The media can play an important role in their reporting before and during conflicts. If these practical measures are to work, there is a vital need for improved coordination among the agencies of the United Nations system. The Secretary- General's call in his report for greater cooperation with non-governmental organizations and civil society is welcome. Such non-governmental organizations as Save the Children have unparalleled experience on which the international community should draw. Our Arria-format meeting yesterday with a group of concerned non-governmental organizations was an excellent example of this. Non-governmental organizations have a vital role to play in bringing to the attention of the Council information that can serve as an early warning of impending crisis.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176 (2000) · source
“The international community has a moral responsibility to prevent the suffering of children, whether as the innocent victims of fighting or through deliberate targeting. Conflict prevention is the vitally important wider context. We had a welcome opportunity to discuss this last week, and I hope that we will be taking steps to translate that debate into concrete action. Similarly, it is important to establish systems which protect children before conflicts break out. Practical measures can make a real difference. As the Secretary-General points out, children are particularly vulnerable to recruitment as soldiers if they have had little or no access to education. The United Nations system needs to ensure that access. Adequate national birth registration systems would also help to prevent underage soldiers from being recruited.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176 (2000) · source
“Thank you, Madam President, for your leadership in convening this meeting on a very important topic. I am very grateful to the Deputy Secretary-General, to the Special Representative and to the Executive Director for their important briefings this morning and also for their unremitting work on behalf of children. The representative of France will later be making a detailed statement on behalf of the European Union, which I fully endorse. In the interests of time, but also to underline that the suffering of children in conflict is a key concern to the United Kingdom, I will just make a few key points. The Council has to get to grips with the protection of children in practice. The Secretary- General's report gives us a good basis for moving forward.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176 (2000) · source
“We need to reinforce government by consent and the rule of law, and we need to take new strides to combat the proliferation of small arms and the use of child soldiers. This concept of security for individuals should guide us in our work. It will play an intrinsic part in the wider goal of security for States. When individuals are protected and their human, economic, social, political and cultural rights are upheld, international stability is consolidated. All of this is an ambitious agenda for the United Nations system. It means hard work on a sustained basis for all of our delegations. There is no other way for the Security Council to meet its responsibilities in the circumstances of today and tomorrow. The United Kingdom will play its own part.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“Before I conclude, I want to emphasize that careful consideration of the needs of ordinary people has to be at the heart of all our conflict-prevention strategies. We have to remember that civilians, so often the tragic victims of conflict, are individuals with the same rights as the rest of us, but caught up in adverse and specific circumstances. Their particular protection needs, whether they be children, women or other more vulnerable groups, must be properly identified and met. For their sake above all, the international legal framework needs to be upheld, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines must be signed and ratified by all of us.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“This week in Japan, the Group of Eight is showing us the way to a more professional approach to conflict prevention by adopting an integrated initiative on five key issues: small arms and light weapons, conflict and development, the illicit trade in diamonds, children in armed conflict, and international civil police. We in the Council need to examine their work carefully and see what lessons we can draw for the United Nations system, because the United Nations cannot afford to fall behind the game. The report which is being prepared by Ambassador Brahimi and his panel on United Nations peace operations offers a well- timed opportunity to rethink our approach in this entire area. I am sure that Ambassador Brahimi is going to set us an ambitious agenda.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“The United Nations now needs an improved system-wide approach that will consolidate the expertise of all relevant bodies without stifling the capacity of any one of them to do the work that it does best. I have already said that the Executive Committee on Peace and Security and the Framework for Coordination need to be strengthened. The Secretary- General should be able to assert his authority throughout the United Nations system so that coordination becomes a reality. We have to ensure that our own coordination with the Economic and Social Council and the relevant United Nations agencies begins to work more naturally, and we need to forge operational links between the regional organizations and the Security Council that can bear the weight of the work we have to do together.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“The Council has despatched missions to East Timor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kosovo. Let us continue to think imaginatively and to come up with new mechanisms that make a difference. I fully endorse the Secretary-General's call to us this morning to use the Articles of the Charter more proactively. Thirdly, it is time now to be making a real effort to improve coordination and information flow throughout the United Nations system. The United Kingdom has just done that in its own government system by establishing a common Conflict Prevention Fund across all the ministries concerned and by establishing coordinated action in the use of it.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“We need to make the psychological leap to addressing conflicts at their roots - their economic, social, structural and political roots, what the Secretary-General has just called "the structural faults that predispose a society to conflict". Having made that leap, we also need to show more imagination in drawing on the box of tools at the Council's disposal to deal with potential conflict. Too often we believe that a presidential or press statement will do the trick, but too often, our finely drafted words are ignored. We have made good progress in the last year in using other instruments. Ambassador Fowler's imaginative work on implementing the sanctions against UNITA is to be applauded, and we have built on that in our approach to the current crisis in Sierra Leone.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“Secondly, the Security Council has its own responsibilities. Our first objective should be to contain threats to the peace, but we often appear hamstrung in undertaking actual preventive measures well in advance of the outbreak of violence. Our capitals are wary of committing resources and we slip too easily into a focus only on the immediate causes of conflict. There are, of course, sensitivities about sovereignty when the problem lies within the borders of a State, but the prevention of serious conflict anywhere has become an international matter. The empirical evidence of this is overwhelming. It is not just a matter of subjective moral duty, but of the United Nations responsibility for peace and sustainable development.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“It needs now to be placed on a sound financial footing. There also needs to be better marshalling of the Secretary-General's existing resources. Links with the competent bodies in the economic and social fields will be essential. The United Nations inter-agency Framework for Coordination is doing good work in promoting coordinated analysis and information- sharing on countries at risk of falling into conflict. This concept now has to be strengthened, under the Executive Committee on Peace and Security, to take a more systematic approach to potential conflicts in all regions of the world. And when the framework teams are agreed that a situation merits further attention, we encourage the Secretary-General to act on his convictions and to bring the matter to the Council's attention, under his prerogatives under Article 99 of the Charter.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“I should like to highlight three: the importance of the right kind of early warning and of building structures in the Secretariat to achieve this; the importance of earlier and more effective consideration of potential threats to the peace by the Security Council well before conflict is imminent; and the importance, in order to achieve this, of coordinated efforts throughout the United Nations system. First, as to early warning, the Secretary-General needs to be given the resources he needs to make the early-warning capacity of the Secretariat effective in real life. We want the Secretariat to be able to produce clear-sighted analysis, comprehensive and integrated planning and well-resourced implementation. The initiative of the Department of Political Affairs on early warning and preventive measures is welcome.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“The consequences of such failures are only too obvious: too many belligerent groups targeting the innocent and the defenceless; massive numbers of refugees forced to flee for safety; gross and systematic violations of human rights perpetrated. The primary responsibility of this Council - the maintenance of international peace and security - requires us to do better. Today's presidential statement will have value only if it is the catalyst for a more systematic and professional approach to the prevention of conflicts. The statement sets out a number of ways in which we can achieve this step change.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for organizing our important debate today. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for introducing the subject in exactly the right tone. The Council adopted a presidential statement in November on the prevention of armed conflict and the statement which you, Mr. President, will deliver today marks a further step forward, which the United Kingdom fully supports. The Council needs to continue to show real progress if we are to deliver practical results in this vital area, but that means converting our fine words into action. Our success in this area has been partial only. Too often, Security Council intervention comes too late to prevent widespread conflict and destruction.”
2000-07-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4174 (2000) · source
“The draft resolution therefore rightly highlights the importance of peacekeepers from all countries being made aware of the risks, both to themselves and to others, of HIV/AIDS. We welcome the initiatives that have been taken in the Security Council this year and pay tribute to the leadership of the United States, and particularly of Ambassador Holbrooke in this regard. But the Council does not have the main responsibility in tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic. All of our delegations must work together in the General Assembly and in the Economic and Social Council to take concrete steps that will make a difference. The United Kingdom looks forward to playing a leading role in that vitally important debate.”
2000-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4172 (2000) · source
“It is a global crisis which, by creating environments in which political and ethnic tensions can worsen, will contribute to the proliferation of armed conflict. We are now starting to recognize that security conditions have a direct impact on the spread of AIDS. For that reason, the Security Council must continue to focus on AIDS in the peacekeeping context as part of its primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. Developing a more professional approach to the prevention of conflicts is, in the AIDS context and more widely, vitally important. The draft resolution focuses on the link between the spread of HIV/AIDS and peacekeeping. That is not to denigrate peacekeepers as agents of the Virus. But the Council must always recognize that peacekeepers do not operate in isolation from the local community.”
2000-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4172 (2000) · source
“UNAIDS has a Vital role to play in this regard, and we are pleased with its developing practical proposals for United Nations peacekeeping forces and other uniformed services. It is important more generally that we have a target to work towards on HIV/AIDS. The resolution before us refers to the international target to reduce the rate of new HIV infections in the 15- to 24-year-old range by 25 per cent by the year 2010. This is a realistic and an achievable goal. But, as the Secretary- General made clear in his report to the Millennium Assembly, it will require international action to be better coordinated and intensified across the board. It is Vital to see HIV/AIDS as more than just a public health issue.”
2000-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4172 (2000) · source
“It is good to see you, Mr. President, presiding over our affairs this morning. Thank you for drawing extra political attention to this subject by your presence. France will later make a statement in the name of the European Union, which the United Kingdom fully endorses, and therefore my own statement will be brief. We are very grateful to Dr. Peter Piot for his useful statement and update in our debate this morning and for the excellent work which the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is doing on this subject. As he emphasized, the work of the United Nations system and of the wider international community needs to be coordinated, if it is to be fully effective.”
2000-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4172 (2000) · source