YouSaid · the spoken record

Maritza Chan

lines on the record

13

first

2021-05-25

most recent

2021-06-28

sittings or episodes

2

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

1. “Costa Rica looks forward to a results-oriented and frank discussion of how our most vulnerable citizens can stay safe, especially in conflict settings.”

   2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source

2. “The report of the Secretary-General makes clear that offenses against children intertwine, adding even greater impetus to stop putting children in harm’s way. No child leaves conflict zones unscarred: physically, emotionally, socially, mentally. Their protection is thus an ethical, moral, and legal imperative. Moving forward, Costa Rica maintains that United Nations peacekeeping missions should feature child-specific protection training, and that the child protection budget must be boosted in the Fifth Committee. It is also essential that the reports of the Secretary - General reflect the most impartial, accurate, and courageous assessments; to do otherwise can have deadly consequences for children.”

   2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source

3. “An attack on a school is not just about damage to a facility; it is an attack on children’s rights as well as on their communities, social networks, health, and well-being. Lastly, Costa Rica emphasizes how conflict also puts children at heightened risk of recruitment, abduction, and trafficking. When their schools, social support networks, and safe spaces are disrupted, when essential infrastructure is damaged or destroyed, children become particularly vulnerable to nefarious actors. Indeed, the most prevalent grave violation listed in the report of the Secretary-General was the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, referencing a jaw-dropping 8,521 children. The report also outlines how abduction and sexual violence can often become the consequences of child recruitment.”

   2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source

4. “And we know that the harm from explosive weapons in densely populated areas does not end after detonation: Damage to civilian infrastructure and community resources reverberates for years. The health and even lives of children are directly imperilled when water, sanitation, and other essential infrastructure services are disrupted. Such additive impacts must be avoided at all costs – as per human rights and humanitarian law – and should be factored into all proportionality and necessity tests before conflict parties resort to violent means. Schools also continue to be targeted by explosive devices, eroding their sanctity as safe spaces and putting children and their families at risk. In Myanmar, for example, the Secretary-General report verified the military use of 30 schools by the Tatmadaw. Eleven schools were attacked outright.”

   2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source

5. “It is thus imperative that robust and effectively – particularly for standards of trade and transfer – be a focal point of our discussion. Second, Costa Rica draws attention to the troubling use of explosive devices in densely populated urban areas. Rapid urbanization raises the possibility that armed conflict is increasingly engaged in city centers: Explosives built for remote battlefields are now bombarding children in packed apartments. Such violence comprises serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and represents a collective failure to mitigate harm especially to children. Costa Rica wishes to make it clear: It is neither a principled nor pragmatic strategy for conflict parties to use explosive weapons in areas where children are likely to be victimized.”

   2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source

6. “According to the 2021 report of the Secretary-General on promotion and protection of the right of children: children and armed conflict, we recognize that causes of child casualties include crossfire from small arms and light weapons, landmines and other unexploded ordnance and ground engagement between conflict parties. Indeed, many conflicts that kill and injure children are only possible if illicit arms remain in circulation, in the wrong hands, or misused by non-State and State actors alike. Armed conflict is increasingly protracted and complex, exacerbated by climate change - related risks, malevolent uses of technology, and transnational organized crime. But despite these variables, small arms and light weapons remain a constant scourge across virtually all societies.”

   2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source

7. “Costa Rica aligns itself with the statement delivered by Canada on behalf of the Group of Friends of Children in Armed Conflict. There is no act of war that does not in some way harm children. Costa Rica looks forward to a frank and results-oriented discussion of why we continue to allow this to happen, and how some of our most vulnerable constituents can be better protected. On this note, Costa Rica would like to raise the following points: First, Costa Rica stresses that robust and effective arms control mechanisms are critical to preventing conflict – and, synergistically, also key to protecting children.”

   2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source

8. “Increasingly, women and girls are a topic of policy discussion here at the United Nations, but the further promotion of their roles within conflict prevention and peace processes remains vital. Overall, the future success of the protection of civilians depends on recognizing the intersections that exist within multiple lenses, especially with regard to armaments, and then the application of those lenses to diverse protection contexts by the most skilful and inclusive group of stakeholders possible.”

   2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

9. “Despite existing international legal protections, our community of nations cannot be said to honour its obligations to protect civilians in conflict while we continue to ignore the direct, indirect, reverberating and often devastating effects on civilians and infrastructure from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Costa Rica therefore calls on Member States to join in support of a strong draft political declaration on strengthening the protection of civilians from humanitarian harm arising from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The implementation of a protection of civilians agenda remains too often deficient, with discernible shortages in capacity, support, motivation, effectiveness and, most importantly, consensus.”

   2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

10. “In 2020, global military expenditures increased to $1,982 billion — an increase of 2.6 per cent in real terms from 2019, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. That is a staggering figure, especially considering the alleged shortage of financial resources to provide vaccines and other support to combat the coronavirus disease pandemic. Costa Rica reiterates that the protection of civilians agenda does not just apply during conflict; it applies any time that States prioritize militarization over the health and human security of their own citizens, as well as protection support for citizens in other vulnerable contexts.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

11. “We cannot seriously pursue conflict prevention and peacebuilding without effective arms control mechanisms, particularly with regard to small arms, light weapons and their ammunition but also to landmines and, as several Council members have publicly recognized, improvised explosive devices (IEDs). IEDs pose a serious threat to civilians, State security forces, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. On that note, Costa Rica reiterates its call for the Secretary-General to include a section on the effects of landmines, explosive remnants of war and IEDs on civilians and protectors in his annual report on the protection of civilians. Costa Rica also appreciates the fourth focus issue of the protection of medical facilities and personnel. In our view, that has a stark, causal connection to excessive military expending.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

12. “Compounded by deficient regulation mechanisms, the spread of arms puts civilians at heightened risk of being wounded or killed before, during or after an armed conflict. Costa Rica reiterates that robust and effective regulations, particularly for standards of transfer, are key to the civilian protection agenda. Moreover, we believe that we cannot sincerely champion the protection of civilians without casting a critical eye over the weapons that placed civilians in the crossfire in the first instance. Ceasing arms transfers to countries that are involved, or likely to become involved, in conflict is one of the most clear-cut and effective ways that States can fulfil their responsibility to protect civilian populations.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

13. “I thank the President of the Security Council for convening this meeting on an essential matter. Costa Rica is deeply disturbed by accounts of civilian death and victimization in conflict settings around the world and therefore appreciates the urgency of this discussion. Costa Rica also appreciates the six focus issues in the concept note (S/2021/468, annex), which are all of critical importance to civilian protection and global peace and security. Despite the diversity of those topics, Costa Rica wishes to draw attention to a common framework to tackle each of them more effectively, namely robust and effective arms control mechanisms. From Gaza to Myanmar, we are deeply concerned about the massive circulation and widespread availability of arms and ammunition.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source