YouSaid · the spoken record

Kimani

lines on the record: 811
first: 2021-05-27
most recent: 2023-10-25
sittings or episodes: 113
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

“Africa’s goal is to be fully represented in a Security Council that retains the power and capacity to save humanity from major wars. We have had decades without a world war, but we should not rest on our laurels and imagine that we will not one day be thought of, disparagingly, as similar to the hapless League of Nations that was unable to prevent world war.”
2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source
“The next one is likely to be the same if we do not undertake urgent Security Council reforms that bring balance to permanent member-ship and the veto. If this famous table is to truly prevent major wars, then its membership must expand or change substantively. Added to the fact that the majority of the situations before the Council today are in Africa and that great power rivalries will be most keenly felt there, we call for fundamental reform. We call the Council’s attention to the Kampala road map of the just-completed ministerial meeting of the African Union Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government, on the re-form of the Security Council. International peace and security would benefit immensely from the implementation of the Common African Position, as encapsulated in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.”
2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source
“We ask that question knowing that such a war will be an outlier and that our tools to predict it are extremely poor. What is needed is a system of State relations that lowers the incentives for such a confrontation. Yet, we are in a period of surging rivalries, escalations of military spending and provocative actions — on multiple continents. Some of the great Powers involved in this rising geopolitical struggle are members of the Council, while others stand outside it. Their confrontations frequently lead to sparking or worsening conflict situations in other parts of the world. Africa is one of the regions that has historically suffered the most from the proxy actions of great Powers. The past two world wars have come as a surprise.”
2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source
“By 1945, many of the great cities of Europe and Asia lay in ruins, their residents mourning lost relatives and friends and scavenging for food — many in countries whose will to fight had been broken by the bombings. The attacks on the cities were deliberate. They were meant to break the will of the States waging war by breaking the lives and hopes of civilians. Civilians continue to bear the brunt of conflict in urban areas, as witnessed in recent years in fighting by Islamic State in Iraq and the Shams in Mosul and in the Syrian conflict, to cite but two examples. This leads us to wonder whether a war the equal of the past two great global conflicts is possible today and whether the Security Council has the will to recognize its approach and act to prevent it.”
2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source
“But we all carry in our mind’s eye the searing images of the destruction of cities as emblematic of the untold sorrow to humankind that forced the existence of our common enterprise into being. We carry the indelible images of the siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany, which lasted almost 900 days, with untold suffering and heroism by its residents. To this day, the culture of the British people is marked by the experiences of civilians running into their bomb shelters to the sound of wailing sirens warning of incoming bombs. History will always recall the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which, for the first time in human history, literally vaporized civilians in order to send a terrifying signal to their leaders. We recall Hiroshima losing 60,000 of its 90,000 buildings in a single morning.”
2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source
“I welcome you to New York, Mr. President. I thank Secretary-General António Guterres, Mr. Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Ms. Radhya Al-Mutawakel for their briefings. I also welcome His Excellency Mr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice-President of Ghana, and His Excellency Mr. Pacôme Moubelet Boubeya, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Gabon. This debate offers us the opportunity to reconsider the very reason for the existence of the United Nations and the Security Council so that we can ensure that they are fit for purpose to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. None of us was born during the founding of the United Nations.”
2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source
“We also appreciate the effort of UNSMIL to support the inclusion of women and youth in the peace process. Their participation in that process is essential to the reconstruction of the county for sustainable peace. We therefore support the renewal of the UNSMIL mandate for a substantial period to enable the Mission to fully focus on the critical assignment at hand. Finally, we reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Libya and reaffirm our respect for Libya’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“It is appropriate that the European Union and other actors in the international community seek to address the root causes of that migration, but it is also crucial that all such actors uphold the human rights of those Africans who are migrating now on the Mediterranean and its bordering shores to the south and the north. We condemn their interception at sea and return to Libya. Those that aid such interceptions must desist from such inhumane actions and be guided by the relevant international laws and norms. On the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, the A3 appreciates the important work it is doing in support of the peace process, especially at this critical time. In particular, we commend the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Libya for the role she has played since taking up office.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“We further note that all Libya’s frozen assets are to be preserved and eventually returned to and for the benefit of the people of Libya. We underscore the need for the implementation of the relevant sanctions to be done in liaison with the Libyan authorities. Additionally, it is important to undertake periodic reviews of those sanctions to ascertain that they respond to their intention. Even as we stand with our Libyan brothers and sisters in their tireless efforts to restore peace, political stability and prosperity, we remain acutely aware of the plight of many thousands of African migrants and refugees on their soil. We condemn the abhorrent treatment that those migrants and refugees are being subjected to as they make their way to Europe.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“Another mark of foreign interference is the accumulation and flow of sophisticated weaponry and illicit small arms and light weapons in Libya and the Sahel region from foreign origins. In implementing the ceasefire agreement, we call for particular attention to be paid to the need for corresponding disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts, both in Libya and the region. We also call for adherence to the arms embargo by all concerned and encourage international support in that regard. The A3 notes that the situation in Libya has, over time, created a cross-border support infrastructure conducive to global terrorist actors and their facilitators in the region. There is an urgent need to strengthen the capacity of Libya and other neighbouring countries to effectively tackle that growing threat.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“We also emphasize the importance of implementing the comprehensive action plan agreed by the 5+5 Joint Military Commission on 8 October. We further urge the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to ensure that the implementation of the ceasefire agreement is done in coordination with neighbouring States, other affected States and relevant regional mechanisms in order to mitigate the negative effects of its movement into the region. We highlight the African Union’s call for cooperation between key stakeholders in the development and implementation of the plan for the withdrawal of foreign forces in order to ensure that their withdrawal does not adversely impact stability in the region.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“National reconciliation should run parallel to all tracks and stages of the peace process. We encourage the African Union to invigorate that support, especially during this decisive period. We also encourage the Secretary-General to involve African High Representatives in that dynamic for a better interaction with African organizations and stakeholders. As Libya invests heavily in its peace process with international support, we fear that such support could be undermined by foreign interference and interests. One mark of such interference is the continued destabilizing presence of mercenaries, foreign fighters and foreign forces. In that regard, we urge the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, including the withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries and corresponding security sector reforms.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“We also urge that the elections, which should be free, fair and inclusive, benefit from the further implementation of the Libya Political Dialogue Forum road map, which provides for a constitutional basis under its first objective. A constitutional basis that would deliver elections that enjoy legitimacy must be premised on agreements that emerge from dialogue and reconciliation. We are therefore glad to note and encourage the continued talks among relevant stakeholders in Libya, including under the House of Representatives road map committee. We also call on the United Nations to provide sufficient technical support, in the most transparent manner, for the holding of elections to provide results with greater legitimacy. The African Union has committed to walk with Libya in the process of promoting national reconciliation.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“We were categorical that military solutions would bring no resolution and we looked at the intervention by external forces as complicating the chances of peace, not increasing them. We still hold that position. National dialogue and reconciliation are the key to lasting peace in Libya today. While we believe that elections are one of the essential steps to peace and stability, we know from experience that they can divide rather than unite a country — especially a country as bitterly divided as Libya has been. It is critical to peace that the elections deliver an outcome with political legitimacy in every part of the country. Otherwise, they may be a recipe for increased mistrust, division and perhaps even a resumption of violent conflict.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“Tens of thousands of Africans have been brutally murdered by terrorist and militant groups whose actions and capabilities are directly tied to the events that have taken place in Libya. When the A3 calls for a Libyan-led peace process, we do so as Africans conscious that many, if not most, external interventions have rarely brought peace and security to the people of our continent. We recall the wars, coups and other security crises of the past few decades that have been caused by our territories and even people being used to wage proxy struggles between distant Powers. When the Libyan crisis started a decade ago, Africa advised that it was imperative for the people of Libya to seek national dialogue and reconciliation.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“I have the honour to make this statement on behalf of the three African members of the Security Council (A3), namely, Gabon, Ghana and Kenya. We thank Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, Ambassador Tirumurti, in his capacity as Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1970 (2011) concerning Libya, and Ms. Elham Saudi for their briefings. We also welcome Ambassador Taher Elsonni, Permanent Representative of Libya, and look forward to his perspective. Libya is an African country. We are joined by bonds of geography and fraternity. In the past decade, unfortunately, we have also been joined by the profound insecurity caused to the Sahel and West Africa by the collapse of security and order in Libya.”
2022-01-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8952 (2022) · source
“We will keep repeating that the most peace-positive action that we can undertake at the United Nations is to enable a green transition that is positive for African development and economic growth. I want to conclude by reaffirming that Kenya is a champion of the women and peace and security agenda. We have a national action plan that we are busy implementing to reflect our commitment to the national, regional and global equality of women and their safety and security.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“A growing economy is necessary to raise taxes, which in turn are necessary to provide the basic services and security that are required, in addition to providing the livelihoods that women need to secure their own safety, security and autonomy. Therefore, we believe that it is crucial that we bring development back to the conversation in the Security Council and at the United Nations as a whole, because the basis of State action must be resourced Governments. In that regard, even as we argue about the transition to net zero and the transition to a green economy, we need to note that those transitions cannot be achieved at the expense of the desire and the need for development of the countries in the global South, particularly in Africa.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“The protection of women impels the Security Council to do more to enable African forces that seek to fight terrorism in the Sahel and other parts of Africa to be more effective. Supporting United Nations-assessed contributions to those security efforts would directly help women and their security. The final recommendation is really to note what is most obvious — but perhaps for that reason is easily left out — which is that the greatest protection for the security and safety of women and girls is a competent, inclusive Government. To get competent Government, one needs reform and resources. We speak a lot about reform at the United Nations but perhaps too little about resources.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“Despite the existence of such lists of persistent perpetrators, parties and individuals, the majority of which are non-State actors and several of which are designated as terrorist groups and are credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence, there has been little remedial or accountability action for the perpetrators. Impunity still prevails, and it is in the power of the Security Council to do something about it. More needs to be done on the implementation and operationalization of such recommendations in order to strengthen accountability for sexual and gender-based violence, including through the work of women’s protection advisers in the framework of cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“They can propose specific ways in which the Security Council and States can deploy sanctions that better protect women and girls from terrorists. The Kenyan delegation notes that resolution 1960 (2010) seeks in particular the listing of perpetrators in sanctions regimes and reports of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence. Resolution 2242 (2015) usefully includes terrorist groups and proposes putting in place a stand-alone designation criterion for acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence and targeted sanctions in situations of armed conflict.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“Resolution 2331 (2016) takes on transnational organized crime, including human trafficking, kidnapping and sexual violence and enslavement. It should be specifically implemented with due regard to women and peace and security and resolution 2242 (2015). I want to commend the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism for its efforts so far to deploy a gender unit. We also appreciate its ongoing mainstreaming of gender in counter-terrorism and the prevention of violent extremism. We think that work can be advanced further by its cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate to assess the extent to which sanctions are related to the violence and terrorist operations targeting women.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“We should all be aware that the cause and ideology of those groups places the silencing, intimidation and retaliation against women as a core value and seeks to totally exclude them from civic life. Resolution 2242 (2015) should not be a stand- alone resolution. Instead, its aims should be linked to relevant actions under resolutions that are specifically focused on countering terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism. This is simply because multiple extremist groups all seem to have a common disregard for the participation, safety and security of women and girls. Examples of such a linkage include, but are not limited to, resolutions 2354 (2017) and 2178 (2014) and their touching on countering terrorism narratives ensuring that they include narratives that are supportive of the women and peace and security agenda.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“Secondly, Kenya urges the international community to support regional efforts that safeguard the women and peace and security pillars of protection and participation. In particular, we call on the Council to note and support the outcomes of the African Union Peace and Security Council ministerial-level meeting held on 22 March under Kenya’s chairmanship, on the theme “Women, Peace, Culture and Gender Inclusivity in Africa”. Thirdly, Kenya calls for the linking of the women and peace and security agenda with counter- radicalization mechanisms relevant to the sexual and gender-based violence reflected in the actions and ideologies of terrorists groups affiliated with Al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“At the grass-roots and national levels, there should be sustained efforts to protect the safety of human rights defenders, gender equality advocates and civil society representatives, as outlined in resolution 2493 (2019). We therefore welcome the focus of this open debate as a crucial implementation step by all countries and by the United Nations. I will propose, briefly, four arguments that I hope offer opportunities for practical implementation. First, States must increase prosecutions for gender- based violence and its manifestation in sexual violence, harassment, attacks, reprisals, online intimidation and physical violence against women participating in the peace agenda. The Security Council should also take specific steps to increase the costs of intimidating, threatening or harming women who have briefed the Security Council.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“I thank you, Madam President, for convening this important debate and coming all the way to New York at a time when travel is not as easy as it used to be. I also want to thank you for your presidency of the Security Council, which, so far, has impressed us as thoughtful, generous and well- managed. I would like to thank the briefers for their observations and the work they are undertaking to advance this important agenda. Kenya places great value on the work of women peacebuilders. That includes amplifying their voices and bolstering their contributions in conflict prevention and peacemaking, both in Kenya and in our immediate region. The safety of women participating in peace and security processes is a fundamental key to the success of the women and peace and security agenda.”
2022-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8949 (2022) · source
“We now encourage the delegations that have professed the importance of this issue to once again re-engage on other proposals that have been put forward or, indeed, put forward further proposals, which the Kenyan delegation will be happy to consider on the basis of consensus.”
2021-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8926 (2021) · source
“We look forward to the Security Council reforms that may one day ensure that countries disproportionately affected by climate change are represented by permanent or veto-wielding members. Kenya will continue to champion advancing the climate and security nexus. As next year’s co-Chair of the Informal Expert Group on Climate and Security, our delegation will do all it can to enable discussions that embrace balance, consensus and ambition. We will also advocate for this issue to enjoy a more comprehensive science-policy interface in the work by the United Nations Environment Programme and related bodies, in the hope that it enjoys a consensus that enables clear commitments and actions.”
2021-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8926 (2021) · source
“On the one hand, you have resistance to just climate change action, on the other, to bold action against terrorism. Yet there is a seeming enthusiasm for a draft resolution that combines climate change and security. If climate change is indeed the code red for humankind, as the Secretary-General put it — and as it certainly is in the shorter term to members such as small island developing States — it is clear that it will be a fundamental challenge to peace and security. We hope that future work on this issue will focus as much on the countries impacted by climate change as those with the leading responsibility in causing it. As the Council seeks to undertake actions to resolve wars escalated or even caused by the effects of climate change, we call on it to have the moral courage to also deal with the major emitters.”
2021-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8926 (2021) · source
“In Glasgow, we embraced consensus and agreed to an outcome that while deeply dissatisfying, at least kept the process alive. It must be said that the reversals in Glasgow were supported by some of the very members of the Security Council that are today the strongest supporters of the draft resolution. It leaves us now to wonder what has changed between Glasgow and the Security Council Chamber. What is it that they hope will be achieved on climate change in the Security Council beyond the UNFCCC? What commitment can they now proclaim with such strength in New York that they could not in Glasgow? We must also recall the Security Council’s consistent resistance to taking ambitious action to enable United Nations support for African missions to effectively respond to escalating terrorism threat in regions, such as the Sahel.”
2021-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8926 (2021) · source
“It underpins the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. At the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Glasgow, our need to embrace consensus meant that we, as part of Africa, had to swallow a bitter pill, as previous commitments on climate change action were reversed. In Glasgow, previous commitments made by countries whose economies have been the primary cause of climate change were dialled back. Dangerous obstacles to energy access and development were put in the path of developing countries that are suffering most disproportionately from climate change. If only the outcome in Glasgow had been voted on, but it was not. Where was the commitment to climate finance and to the development path of developing countries in Glasgow?”
2021-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8926 (2021) · source
“Our reticence on moving forward without consensus came from understanding that there is a profound risk in the adoption of the draft resolution without that broad-based agreement. In the coming years, the effort that has been undertaken by the co-penholders, and perhaps by the Russian Federation, will be built on, and it is crucial that further efforts make sure that its course is correct, as I shall explain. For the record, we want to be clear on Kenya’s reasoning. We listened carefully to the draft resolution’s detractors. Even while disagreeing with some of their points, we saw that there were important arguments that they were making that could have been included. In addition, we sought consensus because it has been the primary mode of decision-making in regard to climate change action.”
2021-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8926 (2021) · source
“We thank you, Mr. President, as a co-penholder, and Ireland for your efforts to bring draft resolution S/2021/990 to the floor and to the wider United Nations membership for its co-sponsoring of the draft resolution. Kenya is disappointed at the use of a veto. We believe that the importance of this measure can still enjoy progress on the basis of consensus. We are ready for further efforts in this regard and shall engage on the draft resolution submitted by the Russian delegation. Kenya voted in favour of draft resolution S/2021/990, but did not co-sponsor it, not because it did not support its aim, but because it is profoundly convinced of the importance of taking just action on climate change. We had hoped for and advocated consensus.”
2021-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8926 (2021) · source
“Effective counter-terrorism requires that the State be able to support local livelihood uplift. It is in that arena that climate action — specifically adaptation — can play an important role. As I conclude, Kenya commends the Niger and Ireland, as co-Chairs of the Informal Expert Group on Climate and Security, for the thematic draft resolution they submitted, which represents a good starting point in this debate.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“Where conflicts are raging, grants and actions by international financial institutions need to be undertaken so that the private sector can subsequently find a path to investing. Fifthly, effective counter-terrorism will not emerge from climate action. It is rooted in competent security services that actively integrate their counter- terrorism and criminal justice efforts with those of their neighbours. It calls for a Security Council that understands that those regional capabilities require international financing, otherwise United Nations peacekeeping will fail to prevent State collapse in multiple countries. It also requires the inclusive management of diversity as a core State capability that is as important as that of providing security and basic services.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“States and the private sector in the region must design public and private investment-ready projects that require investment and that clearly accord to environmental, social and governance criteria. United Nations bodies such as the Peacebuilding Commission, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Global Compact can help shape the way forward. There will need to be investment and capacity-building to identify and prepare those projects for investment. As was made clear by our field trip to the Niger, one such project that needs immediate investment is quality education that allows young people from the Niger to be part of a thriving green economy. Fourthly, grants and cheap financing must be made available to the projects I mentioned.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“Secondly, climate change mitigation efforts in the global North should not cut off the development path for the global South. Affordable, accessible and at-scale energy is required for development. Attempts to frustrate energy justice for the global South assure continued poverty, which will translate to continued crises and States that lack the resources to solve those problems. Instead, mitigation should be underpinned by understanding that it will only be afforded and undertaken if countries in the global South become developed. Thirdly, climate change adaptation is the most peace-positive and peacebuilding undertaking in regions such as the Sahel.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“If African forces like the Group of Five for the Sahel do not receive the predictable and adequate financing they need to deliver international peace and security, then what real actions on climate and security can we expect? Allow me to conclude with five proposals that I believe we can all appreciate, if not embrace. First, we cannot talk of the impacts of climate change without paying equal attention to its causes. The present conversation about the climate-security nexus is almost exclusively about the suffering countries, most of which are in Africa, and does not sufficiently link to the cause of climate change. If that continues, it will allow responsibility to be shifted from those that have caused the crisis to those who are suffering the most from it.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“We can speak at length about what the responses on the ground in the Sahel should be, but it is far more important to meet our responsibilities, which the whole world witnessed being short-changed in Glasgow. We need the Security Council to provide solutions that respond to the challenges we face in line with its mandate. Otherwise, its relevance will disappear with every passing day. You are absolutely correct, Mr. President, that our region and the world cannot wait forever for adequate responses. We doubt that there will be ambitious action on climate change and terrorism when such action is lacking even on countering terrorism.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“Every delegation to the Council has analysed the growing conflicts for resources between pastoralists and farmers and among groups responding to the effects of changing weather patterns. Every security agency with a global outlook understands that those impacts are part of the growing crisis in the Lake Chad basin. The problem is not how to convince the Security Council that there is a link between the effects of climate change and resource conflicts that may offer terrorists new opportunities to exploit. The problem is how to convince the Council that African crises require and deserve that it fully lives up to its mandate — and that it is for the countries that are most responsible for climate change to live up to their responsibilities.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“We call on the Council to reject the uneven application of sanctions regimes. Some groups, such as Al-Shabaab, that are self-admittedly Al-Qaida affiliates, are kept off the appropriate sanctions listing even as members of the Council unilaterally sanction those groups as Al-Qaida. A false divide between humanitarian access and counter-terrorism has arisen that ignores the fact that terrorism is one of the greatest causes of humanitarian crises. Victims of terrorism are being told that the utmost was not done by the Security Council to save them. The world is being told that the Council’s counter- terrorism architecture is applied on a case-by-case basis in relation to interests, not facts.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“Since the 9/11 attacks on the city of New York, we have known that effective counter-terrorism requires global cooperation, as terrorism affiliated with Al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham has a transnational and global footprint. When the most powerful are attacked, we all close ranks with them and fight together. When the most vulnerable are attacked, the multilateral system is grudging in its response. Instead, we would like to see the instruments deployed by the Council against that unique crime utilized to their fullest effect. For instance, we need to see United Nations-assessed contributions to African forces that deliver on the mandate of international peace and security when they have limited budgets that are urgently required for developmental needs.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“We express our sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Government and the people of Togo. Such relentless heinous attacks demonstrate even more profoundly the need for a robust force that can take the fight to the terrorists. It is clear — and was made even clearer during the Council’s recent trip to the Sahel — that the region’s armies must be assisted to raise their competence and their equipment and finances should be upgraded. MINUSMA is doing a commendable job, but that will not assure the stabilization of the Sahel against terrorism. Dedicated African forces are required. We all know that. However, once again multilateralism is faltering.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“From unscientific travel bans to jumping the queues for vaccines and stockpiling them while others are suffering from their scarcity, to the dithering on adaptation in Glasgow — the evidence of a failing multilateralism is glaring. The world’s peoples are yearning for leadership that can rescue multilateralism from its present rut and reposition it as a source of solutions that are fit for purpose. As a member of the Security Council, we certainly hope that multilateralism’s shortcomings and failures will not so easily be reflected in its actions as we fear is increasingly the case. Kenya condemns the recent terrorist attack against the peacekeepers of United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which claimed seven lives and left three injured.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“Past commitments, such as the pledge of $100 billion a year in financing made in Paris, which cover only a small portion of the necessary response, are being reversed. If there is a reluctance to act on what global leaders call the greatest threat to humankind, will there be a will to truly respond to the impact of climate change on the security of our citizens? I put it to those gathered here today that our greatest challenge is not climate change, or even the coronavirus disease pandemic. It is the moving goalposts, double standards and false hierarchies between the developed and developing regions. Enlightened self-interest, solidarity and even science do not appear to be sufficient to overcome that short-sightedness.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“We have come to this open debate to debate. Today we debate climate change and terrorism, only a short time after the adoption of the outcome of the twenty- sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Glasgow. Even as all delegations here make statements on the role of the multilateral system, dealing with the specific question that has been posed, we are forced to wonder whether multilateralism itself can truly move beyond the rhetoric of celebrating itself to bold action. We all know that the world’s scientists and policymakers embrace the consensus that climate change is exacting its greatest costs in the countries and regions that are least responsible for causing it. Yet that knowledge is not leading to ambitious global action on adaptation in Africa.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“I welcome you to New York, Mr. President. I congratulate you on the Niger’s leadership of the Security Council this month, and I have the honour to transmit to you a message of gratitude from His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta for your delegation’s effective advocacy on behalf of Africa during the entirety of your term. Your key role as one of the three African members of the Security Council — Kenya, the Niger and Tunisia — as well as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, has benefited the peace and security of the African States and peoples. As you leave the Security Council, we will continue to work together to build a more secure and prosperous Africa. I also thank the Secretary-General, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Executive Secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission for their briefings.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923 (2021) · source
“Finally, the High Commissioner may not yet have seen it, but The New Yorker magazine, published here in New York, on 28 November, published a long exposé entitled, “The Secretive Prisons that Keep Migrants Out of Europe”, by Ian Urbina. The thrust of that investigation is that a series of funding decisions to United Nations and humanitarian agencies, as well as to coast guard forces that have links to militias, have been used to stop African migrants from crossing to Europe. Does the High Commissioner have any sense as to whether that scandal will come to an end any time soon?”
2021-12-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8919 (2021) · source
“It would be very interesting to hear how much he has apprehended this issue. I also want to commend the High Commissioner on his repeated statements over the past few years noting that thousands of refugees and migrants suffer extreme human rights abuses on their journeys to the Mediterranean coast and their attempts to cross the sea. In July, he called for more action on hosting and relocation, and he engaged the European Union Commission on a rights-based mechanism for refugees from Africa and Asia. I would like to know whether there has been any progress since July and whether he believes that there is a realistic hope that Europe’s refugee policies towards African migrants and refugees will change.”
2021-12-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8919 (2021) · source
“I want to say that, of course, the most effective way of dealing with the refugee problem remains addressing the root causes of forced displacement, promoting peace and security, supporting efforts to alleviate poverty, reducing disaster risks and providing humanitarian and development assistance to countries of origin, as well as countries hosting refugees. I am interested to learn, if we have the opportunity, from the High Commissioner whether he has detected a surge of refugees due to climate change and its effects. We noticed an opinion piece of his in Al Jazeera last month that nodded towards that possibility as the world went to the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but it did not have any figures or data behind it.”
2021-12-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8919 (2021) · source