YouSaid · the spoken record

Kaha Imnadze

lines on the record: 82
first: 2020-04-27
most recent: 2021-12-09
sittings or episodes: 11
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 concentrating on the fight against the pandemic, my country has been afflicted by the negative effects of disregarding the rules-based multilateral order. Notwithstanding the fact that the Government of Georgia, in cooperation with partners and international organizations, has managed to effectively confront the spread of the virus within the country, our sovereignty and territorial integrity have been systematically targeted by one of the permanent members of the Security Council.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“This is equally relevant in the light of past examples of Security Council engagement with the epidemics that turned into global health risks, including severe acute respiratory syndrome, HIV/ AIDS and the Ebola virus disease. Hence, it is paramount to urgently find unity among the Council members and spearhead a meaningful international response towards the implementation of the Secretary-General’s appeal. At this critical juncture, when it is particularly important to reaffirm our strong commitment to the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, failure to do so might cause irreparable damage to international peace and security. This conclusion seems especially unmistakeable from Georgia’s perspective.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“The first step to that end must be our staunch support and painstaking implementation of the Secretary-General’s appeal for an immediate global ceasefire, which aims to silence guns in all conflict-affected corners of the world and enable unhampered humanitarian access to the most vulnerable groups of society, including women, children, older people, the forcibly displaced and people with disabilities. The adoption by the Security Council yesterday of resolution 2532 (2020), which supports the Secretary-General’s appeal, was an encouraging development to that end. We believe that the Security Council will take up the issue of global health emergencies with a focus on international security.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“In these unprecedented times, Georgia expresses its solidarity with all Member States that are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and offers its heartfelt condolences for their loss. But the worst is yet to come, especially if we continue to disparage the international security context of the existing health crisis. The exacerbated root causes of armed conflict, hindered national and international conflict-resolution efforts and the rapid spread of disinformation that we are already witnessing in different parts of the world are all visible harbingers of looming security turmoil. Therefore, responding to these challenges with heightened resolve and inclusive multilateral cooperation should have no alternative.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“I wish to begin by extending my heartfelt thanks to the German presidency for organizing today’s timely and necessary open debate. Let me also express my sincere appreciation to the distinguish briefers for their insightful interventions. Georgia aligns itself with the statement submitted by observer of the European Union (see annex 30). Let me add a few remarks in my national capacity. Today we are facing a global health crisis unprecedented in the history of the United Nations. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has ravaged the whole world, affecting all three pillars of the United Nations: peace and security, development and human rights. To date, the vicious virus has claimed more than half a million lives, shattered societies and plunged the global economy into a deep recession.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“Against that background, while we reiterate our commitment to the protection of children’s rights, we call on the international community to urge Russia to cease its provocative and destructive actions in the occupied regions of Georgia and start fulfilling its international obligations, first and foremost the European Union- mediated ceasefire agreement of 12 August 2008.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“In these difficult times, when it is critically important to support the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire and show care for conflict-affected children, Russia continuous the illegal process of erecting the so-called border signs and other artificial barriers along the occupation line. To make matters worse, due to the irresponsible and inhuman approach of closing the so-called crossing points along the Russian occupation line, the population residing in the occupied regions, including children, remain stripped of access to urgent care and medical evacuation. Thus, owing to the Russian occupation regime’s denial of medical evacuation to those in need, the death toll of ethnic Georgians has risen to 14 since the closure of the occupation line in the Tskhinvali/South Ossetia in September 2019.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“Yet, notwithstanding our efforts, the fundamental rights of the conflict-affected children in Russia-occupied regions of Georgia — Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia — continue to be violated by the occupying power, which exercises effective control on the ground. The major concerns include, inter alia, the restrictions on freedom of movement, access to health care and the prohibition of education in the native language, as well as the various other forms of discrimination that children regularly face and that each year deprive up to 5,000 of them of the right to an education in their mother tongue and other basic rights. That dire humanitarian and human rights situation on the ground has been aggravated by the coronavirus disease pandemic.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“That is especially relevant against the backdrop of the fifteenth anniversaries of milestone resolution 1612 (2005) and the landmark principle of the responsibility to protect (General Assembly resolution 60/1), which we mark this year. Georgia, as a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, is committed to upholding the norms for the prohibition of the recruitment and use of child soldiers. We have endorsed vital documents in recent years, including the Safe Schools Declaration and the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“At the outset, I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to the French presidency for convening today’s important open debate. We would also like to thank the distinguished briefers for their comprehensive overview. While the findings of the latest report of the Secretary-General (S/2020/525) on children and armed conflict contain some encouraging elements, the rest of the account remains a cause for alarm. Particularly deplorable is the continuing practice of grave violations, including sexual violence against children, attacks against schools or hospitals and denial of humanitarian access to children. We have to move towards the implementation of the legal corpus that, throughout the past decades, has been neatly crafted by the international community, including in the Security Council.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“Therefore, and in conclusion, I would like to reiterate my call on the international community to join together to urge all parties that are involved in armed conflicts or are exercising effective control in conflict areas to ensure complete, immediate and unconditional removal of any impediments to humanitarian workers’ access and delivery of assistance to civilians living in conflict-affected areas. For its part, my country once again welcomes the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire and states that it stands ready to contribute to efforts aimed at mobilizing international community support for strengthening the protection of civilian populations in armed conflicts.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“Unfortunately, as has already been mentioned, cases of dire humanitarian crisis are happening in many parts of the world today, not just in Georgia, and civilians are being affected on a daily basis by armed conflict, exposed to conditions in which grave human rights violations are being committed and living in constant fear of aggression and the resumption of hostilities. As has been stated numerous times, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic makes the terrible plight of conflict- affected civilians even worse. We all know that the world will not be able to avoid humanitarian emergencies in future if we cannot tackle the basic humanitarian needs of conflict-affected areas in the world today.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“Important first steps towards meeting the basic protection needs of civilians living in the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia would include urging the Russian Federation to immediately cease its provocations against Georgia and respect its international obligations, first and foremost, by starting the implementation of the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement and withdrawing its occupation forces from Georgia’s territory. This only can be achieved with the joint supportive efforts of the international community.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“The severe security, human rights and humanitarian situation on the ground is particularly alarming, given that the Russian Federation allows no international monitoring mechanisms entry into the two occupied regions of Georgia. Against this background, it is imperative that the Russian Federation, as the occupying Power that exercises effective control over the two occupied regions of Georgia — Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia — end the humanitarian crisis by allowing immediate and unconditional access of health and humanitarian services to these Russian-occupied territories, which as a result of the spread of COVID-19 are in extraordinary need of assistance.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“It is alarming that, owing to the irresponsible and inhumane closing of the so-called crossing points along the Russian occupation line, thereby preventing humanitarian access to the Russia-occupied regions of Georgia, the dire humanitarian situation on the ground has been worsened and the death toll of innocent people living in the conflict-affected areas of the country continues to rise. Just a few days ago, on 20 May, yet another ethnic Georgian resident of the Russian-occupied region of Tskhinvali/South Ossetia, Mr. Jumber Miladze, died owing to the Russian occupation regime’s disallowance of his medical evacuation until the most critical moment, bringing to 14 the death toll of ethnic Georgians since the closure of the occupation line in September last year.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“The Russian occupation forces have been continuing the closure of the so-called crossing points, which has blocked and impeded humanitarian access to the conflict-affected people living in the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia, thereby further aggravating the humanitarian and human rights situation on the ground. Only last week, the so-called process of borderization was simultaneously taking place in as many as 13 villages in the vicinity of the Russia-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/ South Ossetia.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“To make matters worse, ethnically based human rights violations, such as killings, abductions, torture and inhumane treatment, have become an everyday reality for thousands of ethnic Georgians living in the Russian-occupied regions, as well as in areas adjacent to the occupation line. Moreover, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian occupation forces have, against the norms and principles of international law and contrary to the call of the Secretary General for an immediate global ceasefire in the world’s conflict zones, been continuing to install barbed-wire fences and so-called border signs, while digging so-called anti-fire trenches along the Russian occupation line in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“Yet in spite of the Government of Georgia’s efforts to strengthen the protection- of-civilians framework globally as well as nationally, we are continuously prevented from extending protection to the population residing in the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia — Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia. The protracted occupation of these two regions by the Russian Federation leaves ethnic Georgians continually deprived of such basic human rights as the freedom of movement, freedom to own property, the right to health and the right to education in their native language.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“Georgia’s commitment to strengthening the universal application of international humanitarian law also includes an endorsement of global initiatives, such as the Safe Schools Declaration, which is a key instrument for taking concrete action to achieve safe schools for all; the French-led political declaration on the protection of humanitarian and medical personnel in armed conflict; and, most recently, Bringing international humanitarian law home: A road map for better national implementation of international humanitarian law, adopted at the thirty- third International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“When it comes to the question of accountability, Georgia is committed to fully cooperating with the International Criminal Court on investigation into crimes committed during Russia’s full-scale military aggression in 2008, which represents the Court’s first case regarding Europe’s legal geography. However, the occupying Power’s lack of cooperation and refusal to allow access to the occupied regions promotes impunity.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“One of the key areas of the Inter-Agency Commission is the promotion of international humanitarian law through different types of outreach and educational activities, including in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In close cooperation with the ICRC, the Georgian military personnel’s educational training programmes incorporate the key aspects of strengthening the protection of civilians during armed conflict. Furthermore, we are particularly thankful to the ICRC for providing assistance to Georgia in locating the whereabouts of missing persons, as well as in identifying and handing over their human remains to their families.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“The blueprint for reducing civilian suffering, however, rests on the simple notion of respecting international humanitarian and human rights law and ensuring accountability for grave violations in that regard. Therefore, it is up to us, the United Nations, to break the vicious cycle of disregarding international law, which claims thousands of civilian lives, or to continue in the same vein. In that connection, Georgia spares no effort to ensure respect for international humanitarian and human rights law at the national and international levels. That is why the four 1949 Geneva Conventions are part of Georgian legislation. Georgia’s Inter-Agency Commission of International Humanitarian Law, a standing governmental body, leads efforts and coordinates the work of relevant entities aimed at ensuring respect for international humanitarian law.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“While we welcome the report and embrace its recommendations, we remain disturbed by the hardships that have been systematically borne by civilians during armed conflicts, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, denial of humanitarian access, and forced displacement. It is particularly worrisome that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has further compounded existing challenges in the protection of civilians. With the whole world entangled in an unprecedented health crisis, instead of caring for war- affected communities, one of the permanent members of the Council has seized new opportunities to advance its strategic interests in conflict situations, thereby inflicting further suffering on ordinary citizens.”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“At the outset, let me express my sincere gratitude to the Estonian presidency for convening today’s open high-level debate via video-teleconference on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. I would also like to thank the briefers for their comprehensive and insightful speeches. My country aligns itself with the statement delivered by the observer of the European Union. I would also like to add a few remarks in my national capacity. Armed conflicts continue to have a deleterious impact on the civilian population worldwide. That troubling trend is thoroughly reflected in the latest report of the Secretary-General (S/2020/366).”
2020-05-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/465 (2020) · source
“Let me conclude by calling upon the Russian Federation to immediately cease its provocative and destructive actions and to implement its international obligations, including the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement of 12 August 2008.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source
“In these extraordinary times for the whole world, when it is particularly important to care for this population living in conflict — a people who have long suffered from growing restrictions — the Russian Federation continues its illegal process of erecting so- called border signs along the occupation line of the Tskhinvali region, specifically in the vicinity of the village of Takhtisdziri, in Kareli municipality, in clear violation of international norms and principles and the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement of 12 August 2008. Against that bleak background, I would like to stress that Georgia remains committed to promoting the active engagement of youth in peace processes.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source
“Russia’s protracted occupation of those two regions continuously deprives ethnic Georgians of their basic human rights, including the right to the freedoms of movement and to be educated in their native language. Furthermore, they often fall victim to ethnically motivated violence and other forms of ethnic discrimination. On several occasions, such actions have resulted in the dreadful and regrettable deaths of young Georgian citizens. To make matters worse, the provocative actions of the Russian Federation persist even amid the coronavirus pandemic and during religious holidays.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source
“Georgia’s commitment to promoting a culture of peace through youth empowerment has also been borne out by the Government’s decision to include young people in identifying Georgia’s priorities for the presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Strengthening democracy through education, culture and youth engagement is a core value of Georgia’s presidency from November 2019 to May 2020.S/2020/346 Nevertheless, Georgia’s capacity to ensure the full participation of young people in peace processes will remain limited as long as its regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia continue to be under illegal Russian military occupation.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source
“One of the latest peace initiatives, Step to A Better Future, aims to enhance young people’s educational opportunities and ease access to numerous State services. As a result, every year an increasing number of young people from Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia have an opportunity to enrol in Georgia’s higher education institutions. Free health care services is yet another success story of the Georgian Government’s peacebuilding and engagement policy. The residents of the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, including young people, are able to access various State health care programmes.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source
“The report also provides ample evidence that young people around the world are striving for peace, justice, inclusion, gender equality and human rights. We must therefore not forget that persistent human rights violations and many structural barriers limiting young people’s capacity to influence the decision-making process remain key challenges that must be addressed. In addition, more resources are needed to operationalize resolutions 2250 (2015) and 2419 (2018) at all levels and across diverse stakeholders, including youth-led and -focused civil society organizations. Young people in Georgia enjoy growing recognition of their potential in sustaining peace, preventing conflict and transforming processes. In that light, the Government continues to facilitate the engagement of youth in public-diplomacy and confidence-building projects.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source
“As essential partners for peace, youth represent a cornerstone in preventing violence, resolving conflict and building and sustaining peace. Addressing the needs and supporting the agency and leadership of young people is a critical lever to leave no one behind. We should therefore prioritize all forms of meaningful youth participation in the promotion and maintenance of peace and security. With that in mind, we welcome the Secretary-General’s first-ever report on youth, peace and security (S/2020/167), and convey our appreciation for the work the Council has done over the past five years to promote youth inclusion in its agenda. One of the report’s key findings is that there is worldwide progress in acknowledging young people’s indispensable role in peace and security.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source
“I would like to begin by expressing my profound gratitude to the presidency of the Dominican Republic for convening today’s important open debate via video- teleconference. I would also like to thank the speakers for their comprehensive briefings on the implementation of resolutions 2250 (2015) and 2419 (2018), on youth and peace and security. Georgia aligns itself with the statement delivered by the observer of the European Union (EU), and would like to add the following remarks in its national capacity. First of all, let me avail myself of this opportunity to express solidarity with the Member States that are fighting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. I offer my country’s heartfelt condolences for their losses. Only through solidarity and multilateral cooperation can we turn the tide against COVID-19 in the world.”
2020-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/346 (2020) · source