YouSaid · the spoken record

Mark Lowcock

lines on the record: 336
first: 2020-03-30
most recent: 2021-05-26
sittings or episodes: 28
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

“Pedersen has just told the Council and as I have said many times, we want to see both more cross - line and more cross-border assistance. The cross-border operation – which is a lifeline for more than 3 million people – cannot be substituted. We look to the Council to ensure that the lifeline is not severed.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“Pedersen has issued his own appeal to the Council again today. Without a decision so close to the expiry of the resolution, we must prepare, just like last year, for a worst-case scenario, so agencies have started pre-positioning supplies on the Syrian side of the border to draw on should access be cut. We are also planning that the number of trucks crossing through Bab al-Hawa will increase to somewhere between 1,100 and 1,200 next month in order to help with the pre-positioning on that side. But let me be clear that pre-positioning can only provide a very limited, short- term buffer. And owing to the low levels of funding of the operation this year, that buffer will be much smaller than it was last year. So, to repeat again, and as the Secretary-General has said, as Mr.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“Zhang Zun knows, I am regularly asked about the status of cross-line assistance into the north-west. And the Council knows that we have worked for months to find an arrangement for cross-line missions that all parties can agree to. Consultations continue, and I am now more hopeful that an agreement can be reached, at least for an initial set of convoys. Meanwhile, 1,000 trucks packed with aid are crossing into the north-west through Bab al-Hawa every month. That is important, albeit far from enough. As I have said before, with more money and more authorized crossings, we can provide more help. That remains true for the north-west, as it does for the north-east. Ahead of the expiry of the resolution last year, we appealed strongly for an early decision to limit the uncertainty that agencies must operate in. Mr.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“That means that food deliveries for 1.4 million people every month, millions of medical treatments, nutrition assistance for tens of thousands of children and mothers, educational supplies for tens of thousands of students – all of those things would stop. Other crucial support that the United Nations provides to water and sanitation, health, camp management and other services would also end, along with the United Nations ability to channel approximately $300 million in annual financing for operations to local partners on the ground. The United Nations Monitoring Mechanism, which verifies the humanitarian nature of all United Nations deliveries, would shut down. The result would be a smaller, more fragmented operation of non-United Nations actors which would be less transparent and less accountable. As Mr.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“A first batch of vaccines from the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility has been airlifted by the World Health Organization (WHO) from Damascus to Qamishli this month. It is due to cover 9,000 health workers. Vaccinations started earlier this week. But this is, of course, a drop in the ocean. Vaccinations in all parts of the country need to be radically increased for Syria to overcome the virus. My final point relates to humanitarian access to north-west Syria. The Security Council authorization for United Nations cross-border assistance into the north-west expires in just over six weeks. A failure to extend it would immediately end direct cross-border deliveries by the United Nations.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“It would be nice, finally after so long, to see those access efforts succeed. The north-east of Syria continues to lack essential health supplies, including to prevent, test and treat coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections. And the virus is spreading again. After a 57 per cent increase in confirmed cases last month, recorded deaths from COVID-19 have increased by nearly 50 per cent. As in other parts of Syria, extremely limited testing means that we are probably only recording a fraction of the true number of infections. Non-governmental organizations operating in the north-east have been clear in their assessment that the loss of the cross-border authorization for use by the United Nations in Ya‘rubiyah has left the region woefully underserved in health services.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“So let me remind the Council again that this is a camp of children. Most of the people there are younger than 12. Almost 14,000 of them are younger than five – babies and toddlers. They do deserve a future. My next point is on humanitarian access. The United Nations has not been able to deliver aid to Rukban since September 2019, nor have we been able to conduct assessments. Such reports that do reach us from the camp paint a dismal picture of malnourishment, disease, and virtually no services apart from water. Efforts continue to facilitate the departure of those who wish to leave to go to government areas, and to identify alternative solutions for those who wish to remain, while also continuing to seek access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, including vaccinations.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“Those attacks instil fear in the civilian population, which discourages them from seeking health-care services, even though many are in desperate need of them. As the Secretary-General says in his latest report, attacks directed against civilian objects like hospitals must be investigated. Impunity must end. Security problems continue at Hawl. Six murders have been reported since April, and 46 since January. Some Syrian and non-Syrian nationals are leaving the camp. More than 10,000 people have left since June 2019. But more than 60,000 remain, and they are living in unacceptable conditions. I have raised this issue with the Council nearly every month for years now. I am regularly told how complex and intractable the situation is. But the truth is that those who could solve the problem have simply decided not to.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“Protests in Hasakah against an increase in fuel and cooking gas prices announced by de facto authorities in the north-east last week were met with excessive force, leading to the deaths of at least five civilians, including a child. The decision to increase prices was subsequently overturned. My next point is on protection. Following the artillery strikes on the Atarib Surgical Hospital on 21 March, which we briefed the Council about previously, the hospital remains largely out of action, even though staff have gone back to work. Before the attack, the hospital was carrying out over 200 consultations and procedures a day. That number has dropped to around 50. Potential patients are worried about another attack, so they are reluctant to go to the hospital. This is one of the longer-term consequences of attacks on health-care facilities.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“Water levels are insufficient to reach most of the population that the station ordinarily serves, including all those people in Hasakah city and at the Hawl camp. On 23 May, technical teams secured one-off access to repair a sudden pipeline leak, but they are still not being granted regular and consistent access to the station. My next point is on the humanitarian impact of the economic crisis. The Syrian pound remains at over 3,000 to the dollar, and food prices, partly as a consequence, remain at historically high levels. More than two in five households – more than 40 per cent – report not having sufficient, or sufficiently nutritious, food. Nealy half of the Syrian families who were surveyed in April said that adults are eating less themselves so that the children in the family can be fed. Fuel shortages also continue across Syria.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“Preventing a shutdown of the Tishrin and Tabaqah dams requires dams in Turkey to release a minimum of 500 m3 of water per second. However, Turkey has been experiencing water shortages of its own. So we would urge all concerned to find a solution that sustainably addresses the needs of everyone in the region who depends on water from the Euphrates. There have been some reports that, in the last few days, the amount of water released downstream has increased. And I think that demonstrates that a solution to this set of problems can indeed be found. At the Uluk water station, which I brief the Council on very frequently, and which is also powered by electricity from the Tishrin dam, water pumping remai ns limited.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“In addition to the water pumping stations, some 3 million people would lose their electricity if the dams were to shut down, as would hospitals and other vital infrastructure across the north-east. A total shutdown of the Tishrin dam could cause internal flooding and long-term damage. Wide-ranging knock-on impacts on agricultural production and public health would also be inevitable. Crop forecasts for this year are already poor, as Syria is suffering the effects of a drought. Below-average rainfall in the north-east has left wheat and barley fields reliant on irrigation, for which water is short. The north-east was previously responsible for 70 per cent of Syria’s wheat and barley production. If this year’s crops fail, food insecurity – which, as you know, is already at historic highs – will deteriorate further.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“That is less than half of the minimum amount it takes to keep the dam operational. And the low water flow prompted a partial closure, which caused electricity blackouts across north-east Syria. The Tabaqah dam, which lies downstream in Raqqah Governorate, has been drawn on as an emergency backup, but water levels there are now 80 per cent depleted. Engineers operating the Tishrin dam last week warned of a complete shutdown if water levels do not increase. Nearly 5.5 million people in Syria rely on the Euphrates and its tributaries for drinking water. There are about 200 water stations which pump, treat and deliver the water to those people. Those stations cannot function without electricity from the Tishrin and Tabaqah dams.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“Complementing what Geir Pedersen, the Special Envoy for Syria, has just told the Council, I will cover four points today: first, the key water shortages in the north - east; second – again, as Mr. Pedersen began to describe – the ongoing economic crisis; third, the protection of civilians; and fourth, humanitarian access. Let me start with the water situation. We have not covered this in detail in my previous briefings to the Council, but there are a number of problems affecting the humanitarian situation now which I thought we should draw to the attention of Council members. Reduced water levels in the Euphrates since January reached a critical point this month. The Tishrin dam in north-eastern Aleppo Governorate was receiving around 180 m3 of water per second.”
2021-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/506 (2021) · source
“If war crimes go unpunished, things will get worse. Accountability for violations must be systematic and universal. What is not punished is encouraged. This takes political will on the part of Member States to investigate and prosecute allegations of serious violations whenever they occur. We have the laws and the tools to protect civilians from harm in armed conflicts; it is time that all States and parties to conflict applied them.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“States should leverage respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians in political dialogue and through sanctions, a more responsible approach to arms sales and the training they provide. It is also possible in many circumstances to improve the behaviour of non-State armed groups, though it is important to recognize the very real challenges in this area, especially in respect of those groups who refute international humanitarian law and the role of humanitarian agencies as part of their twisted ideologies. We all — States Members of the United Nations and humanitarian agencies in particular — need a more effective approach to tackling this. Many current efforts are counterproductive and exacerbate harm to civilians. Finally, I want again to emphasize the crucial importance of accountability.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“I have seen a significant deterioration in this area, from States and non-State armed groups alike, in my nearly four years as Emergency Relief Coordinator. Unless we the international community focus our energies on confronting the way belligerents behave in conflict, we will see the scale of humanitarian need continue to increase just as it has over the past four years. It is possible to make progress. States can improve the training of their forces, modernize policies to avoid civilian harm, adopt a more consistent approach to tracking and recording civilian casualties, investigate incidents when they occur and hold those guilty of violations to account. International humanitarian law should be incorporated into national law, military manuals and rules of engagement.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“These include ensuring military targets are far from medical facilities; raking precautions, including issuing warning of military action; refraining from using medical facilities to support the military effort; and, crucially, ensuring that military rules of engagement respect international humanitarian law. Drawing on best practices and on the recommendations made in resolution 2286 (2016), the Secretary-General calls on States and armed forces to expand on these efforts. Parties to conflict need to improve analysis and tracking of allegations of harm. And I reiterate our call for all humanitarian and medical activities to be excluded from counter-terrorism and sanctions measures. This brings me to the fifth point — ensuring that the behaviour of belligerents complies with international humanitarian law.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“In some conflicts, counter-terrorism measures criminalize the provision of medical care to members of terrorist-designated groups and even to people living under their control. This has led to the detention, prosecution and imprisonment of medical personnel. The consequences on health care are catastrophic, depriving millions of people of life-saving care, and severely reducing the treatment of diseases like cholera, measles and the coronavirus disease. When hostilities worsened in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, over one-third of health facilities were damaged or destroyed, and health workers fled. This left thousands of people without a nurse or doctor. In short, when medical care stops, lives are lost. Some States have taken practical steps to protect medical staff and facilities and make sure the wounded and sick can receive care.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“Last year, attacks on health care across 22 conflict-affected countries killed 182 health workers, with the highest numbers in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Syria. Four days ago, a dedicated South Sudanese doctor working for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was killed inside a health facility in South Sudan’s Unity state. At almost the same time, a few kilometres away, an IRC convoy, including an ambulance, carrying 10 aid workers, was shot at by unknown gunmen. The humanitarian staff managed to escape the attack. Health workers also faced kidnapping, injury, assault and intimidation. In Myanmar alone, 109 incidents of violence against health care were documented in a two-month period this year, accelerating the collapse in the public health-care system when many people have needed it most.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“In northern Syria, deteriorating infrastructure led to oil spills polluting water needed for farming, health and basic hygiene. The origin of many conflicts is found partly in environmental issues, especially those related to water. Water stress is growing in many places already affected by conflict. I predict that members of the Council will be dealing with more of the consequences of this phenomenon in the years ahead. Fourthly, I turn to attacks on medical care. The report addresses this topic in some detail. Medical personnel, transportation and facilities continue to come under attack. Doctors and nurses are threatened, abducted and killed. Facilities and medical-transport systems including ambulances are destroyed and damaged. The wounded and sick are denied access to care.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“We saw high numbers of civilian casualties resulting from the use of these weapons last year in countries that include Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Yemen. These weapons also inflict a devastating toll on essential civilian infrastructure. In Yemen, they have disrupted almost every essential resource or public service, including water, electricity, sanitation and health care. Fighting parties must change their choice of weapons and tactics. The Secretary-General has repeatedly called on parties to conflict to avoid using wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas. Thirdly, the Secretary-General’s report highlights the impact of conflicts on the environment. In Iraq, air strikes destroyed agricultural land and caused wildfires, including in areas with rich biodiversity and species at risk of extinction.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“This starts by finding political solutions to conflicts, ensuring respect for the rules of war, and addressing the economic crises that fuel and flow from fighting. As Council members know, the Secretary-General has strengthened the famine prevention efforts of the United Nations through the creation of a high-level task force that is working to ensure that coordinated, high-level attention is given to the countries most likely to fall into famine and to mobilize support for the most vulnerable people. Secondly, with respect to the use of explosive weapons in towns and cities, almost 90 per cent of the people killed when explosive weapons are used in urban areas are civilians. That compares to less than 20 per cent when these weapons are used in rural areas.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“That was up from 77 million the year before. Conflict causes acute hunger in direct and indirect ways. It displaces civilians from their agricultural land, grazing areas and fishing grounds. In Nigeria, last year, at least 110 farmers were killed in an attack on a rice farm. In Ethiopia’s Tigray region, people have been displaced, crops have been destroyed and looted, and food and other relief has been blocked. As required under resolution 2417 (2018), I am today sending the Security Council a written update on the evolving situation in northern Ethiopia. Conflicts also disrupt commercial food systems and markets. and parties to conflict destroy food stocks. Prices rise and families are less able to buy food. Member States need to take more effective action to tackle these challenges.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“My remarks today will focus on five areas highlighted in the Secretary- General’s annual report on the protection of civilians (S/2021/423), which was released last week: the interplay between conflict and hunger; the effects of using explosive weapons in populated areas; protection of the environment; protection of medical care, on which I note we now mark five years since the adoption of resolution 2286 (2016); and strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law and accountability for serious violations. First, with regard to conflict and hunger, the threat of famine re-emerged last year, including in north-east Nigeria, parts of the Sahel, South Sudan and Yemen. By the end of 2020, nearly a hundred million people faced crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity as a result of conflict.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“In Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, the escalation of hostilities killed and injured scores of civilians and caused extensive damage to homes and vital infrastructure. Last year, conflicts contributed to a rise in the number of forcibly displaced people, bringing the total to 80 million by mid-year. The year 2020 also saw a large reduction in the number of internally displaced people who were able to return to their homes. At the same time, insecurity, sanctions, counter-terrorism measures and administrative hurdles hindered humanitarian operations. The pandemic added new access woes, with f light suspensions, border closures, quarantine measures and lockdowns.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“Last year, the Secretary-General called for a global ceasefire so that the world could focus on ending the pandemic and putting people on a path to sustainable recovery. Despite support for this in many places, deadly conflicts have continued in Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere. New ones broke out or got worse, for example in Ethiopia, Mozambique and between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In many countries, conflict has made it more difficult to control the spread of the virus and care for infected people. We have all seen multiple reports of atrocities. In Afghanistan, a high school was attacked earlier this month, killing and injuring dozens of civilians, including schoolgirls. In Ethiopia, we have heard shocking reports of mass rapes and killings.”
2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source
“I strongly support everything that Martin Griffiths just said, including his concern over the lack of concrete political progress despite all the recent engagements and support from the international community. He is absolutely right that the measures on the table, including a ceasefire, opening the ports and opening Sana’a airport, would go a long way towards alleviating people’s suffering. Those measures could also set Yemen on a path towards a more sustainable peace, and peace is the only way to resolve this crisis.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“They are carrying about 150,000 metric tons of fuel. On average, they have been waiting more than 100 days. The Government has been reluctant to allow commercial fuel vessels to enter Al-Hudaydah because of a long- running dispute with Ansar Allah over import revenue. The parties must find a solution to the dispute. Until they do, Yemen will continue to see cycles of fuel shortages that push up the prices of food, water and everything else, while cutting into basic services. My last point is the need for peace. For months, in fact for years, we have been calling for a nationwide ceasefire. As I said earlier, it is the war that is ultimately behind the risk of famine, the spread of disease and economic collapse.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“The first shipments under that initiative arrived in Aden on Saturday. The second immediate step to help the economy is to ensure that Yemen has a stable, adequate flow of commercial imports through all ports. That is also the Security Council’s long-standing position. But commercial fuel imports through Al-Hudaydah have plummeted this year. From January to April, only about 200,000 metric tons of fuel entered Al-Hudaydah, which is about a third of the normal volumes. Fuel also enters Yemen through other ports and over land, but getting it to major population centres in the north that way is more complicated and more expensive. That means fewer people can afford it. Right now, six vessels, all of which have been cleared by the United Nations inspection mechanism, are waiting outside Al-Hudaydah for permission from the Government to dock.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“A major part of the discussion will focus on ensuring that the aid operation does not run out of money later this year. Because several key donors have drastically cut their support, underfunding remains by far the biggest threat. We call on all donors to increase their support back to where it was in 2019. The fourth issue is Yemen’s economic collapse, which is accelerating the risk of famine. There are two immediate steps that can help stem such a collapse right now. First, the Yemeni rial must be strengthened. The rial is still trading at near record lows. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently announced that they would provide oil derivatives worth $422 million to the Government of Yemen over the coming year. That is a welcome step that should help to relieve pressure on Yemen’s foreign reserves.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“But we are also racing towards a fiscal cliff. The United Nations response plan is currently 34 per cent funded. That is up from 22 per cent last month, mostly due to a surge in short-term contributions that must be spent in the next few months. After that, the world’s largest aid operation will start to run out of money. By September, food aid could be cut back for 6 million people. Water and sanitation are also facing cuts, as are COVID-19 activities, general health programmes and support for people fleeing conflict. On 1 June, senior officials from a number of Member States will meet to take stock of the situation in Yemen, including the humanitarian operating environment and opportunities to reduce people’s suffering.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“Before I go into the funding rates, I want to emphasize that aid agencies are racing to address the most severe needs across the country. We are racing to stop famine. Last month, agencies provided emergency food assistance to nearly 9 million people. Complementary efforts are also under way in other sectors. We are also racing to stop COVID-19. A vaccination drive has started in Government areas, where health workers have given about 19,000 doses. That is obviously a small beginning, but rates are expected to accelerate after the Eid al-Fitr holiday. A lot more vaccine is needed. And we are racing to help people in Ma’rib and other conflict areas. Weekly United Nations flights to Ma’rib started on 27 April, and aid agencies are now expanding programmes there. Thousands of families have already received help.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“Those were important steps forward. But we also continue to see challenges from Ansar Allah on other issues, including delays in cargo movements and attempts to interfere with agencies’ programme management. Those kinds of actions make it much harder for aid agencies to help people in Ansar Allah- controlled areas. We will keep working to address such issues. Providing a needs-based, principled response across Yemen remains a top priority for agencies and donors alike. Regarding the FSO SAFER oil tanker, we do not have significant progress to report. We have heard some positive assurances recently but not yet the official confirmations that we need to move ahead. That makes planning extremely difficult. Donor funds for the United Nations assessment project will also soon start to expire. My third point is funding for the aid operation.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“With millions of people on the brink of starvation and COVID-19 sweeping the country, more violence is the last thing that Yemen needs. We need a nationwide ceasefire right now. My next point is humanitarian access, which is essential for a principled aid programme. Last month, I expressed concern over new regulations issued by local authorities on the Red Sea coast (S/2021/372, annex II). Those regulations had stalled aid delivery for almost half a million people. The regulations have now been suspended until the end of the year. That is a promising step, and we look forward to the timely cancellation of the directives altogether. In the north, we are working with Ansar Allah to sustain the progress that we have seen over the past year on issues such as biometric registration, assessments and project approvals.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“The first point is the protection of civilians, which is a requirement under international humanitarian law. In February, just as the world was renewing diplomatic efforts to end the war, Ansar Allah launched an offensive in Ma’rib. The subsequent hostilities, including shelling, air strikes and missiles, have had an impact on civilians. But the risks ahead are much bigger. About 25,000 people have fled the fighting so far, many of them for the second or third time. If the fighting does not stop, aid agencies fear up to 385,000 people could be displaced in the coming months. The fighting in Ma’rib has also fuelled escalations elsewhere, including in Hajjah, Al-Hudaydah and Taiz. They, too, are harming civilians.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“Let me start by wishing everyone an Eid Mubarak. The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is trapped in a relentless downward spiral. Famine is still stalking the country, with 5 million people just a step away from starving. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is still surging, pushing the health- care system to collapse, and the war continues unabated, making everything else much worse. I want to be clear that famine, disease and other miseries are not simply happening in Yemen; the war is imposing them. As long as the war continues, they will keep getting worse. That is why it is so important to stop the fighting. In the meantime, aid agencies will keep trying to mitigate the worst suffering. To do that, we urgently need action on five points: the protection of civilians, humanitarian access, funding, the economy and progress towards peace.”
2021-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/465 (2021) · source
“It is especially important to ensure accountability for serious violations when they are themselves a tactic and a deliberate choice made by perpetrators. As the Secretary-General has said, “our power in the United Nations is a power of persuasion, is a power of speaking up, denouncing what needs to be denounced. But we cannot order countries to do what they must do.” We have a robust legal framework governing parties’ behaviour in war, and we have a growing body of good practice to put it into motion. All we need now is the political will of Member States and all parties to armed conflict to respect the rules and do the right thing.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“Good practices exist — for example, in Afghanistan and Somalia, where multinational forces’ use of certain air-delivered weapons has been restricted or their use of artillery and other indirect-fire munitions has been limited. In 2017, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a compilation of military policy and practice to reduce the humanitarian impact of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Thirdly, unless there is accountability, miscreants will draw the lesson that serious crime pays. Essentially, what is not punished is incentivized. If war crimes go unpunished, things will get worse. Ensuring accountability for serious violations of international humanitarian law is one of the greatest challenges we face in strengthening the protection of civilians.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“There are three ways to strengthen the protection of civilians and of objects indispensable to their survival. The first is to enhance compliance with international humanitarian law. That can be done by better identifying these indispensable objects and regularly updating no-strike lists that include them. We also need to respond to, and learn from, harm to such objects. At the same time, we need to continue to leverage political dialogue, sanctions and arms-transfer decisions in order to ensure respect for the law and the protection of civilians and the objects they depend on to survive. The second way is to prevent the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, as the Secretary-General has repeatedly called for.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“As the Secretary-General has noted, cyberattacks — with their associated impact on health care, electrical and water infrastructure — could become increasingly widespread. Disruption to electricity grids can deprive huge numbers of people of electrical power. Cyberattacks have jeopardized health-care services in places such as the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, France, Spain and the United States — sometimes forcing operations to be delayed, compromising patient data and disrupting services, including the processing of COVID-19 tests. Imagine a similar scenario playing out in a country already affected by armed conflict. It would not only have a devastating effect on people in the immediate- and longer-term but would also hamper the humanitarian response.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“The use of explosive weapons in populated areas exposes large numbers of civilians to the risk of death or injury. When these were used in populated areas last year, 88 per cent of those killed or injured were civilians, as compared to 16 per cent in other areas. The use of explosive weapons in urban areas also has a devastating toll on essential infrastructure and services. A 2020 study in Yemen showed how the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas has disrupted every resource and system in the country, including water and power supplies, hospitals and sanitation systems. Fewer people want to return if their supply of vital services has been destroyed. Fewer people can. In an increasingly digitized world, cyberattacks also pose a threat to essential infrastructure.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“That is what we saw as part of a deliberate effort to force hundreds of thousands of Rohingya out of Myanmar in 2017. I will never forget some of the stories — women I met in Cox’s Bazar told me of their experience — of systematically organized rape by men in uniform in front of families and children. It is also what we have seen in the last six months in northern Ethiopia; the rapes there have not stopped. They are deliberately and systematically organized, targeted, ethnically based and intended to terrorize, humiliate and brutalize. I could give plenty of other examples from what I have seen and heard over the past four years. Sometimes a conflict can produce horrific results due not only to who or what is targeted but where and how it is done.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“In Libya last year, air strikes and shelling damaged hospitals treating COVID-19 patients. In Yemen, quarantine centres were damaged in hostilities. As a result of these frequent attacks, medical professionals flee and facilities are often forced to close, leaving millions without access to health care. Facilities that do remain open face acute shortages of staff, medicines and supplies. At the end of June last year, only half of 113 Syrian hospitals checked were fully functioning. In March last year, up to 70 per cent of the health workforce had left the country. Fourthly, we see horrific instances of the use of rape and other sexual violence in the pursuit of political and military goals, and the intentional destruction of the infrastructure that supports survivors.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“Violence, attacks and threats against medical care significantly weaken the ability of health systems to function. What I have found particularly hard to stomach are the systematic attacks on medical facilities in Syria. The World Health Organization counted 250 such attacks between 2018 and 2020 alone. These attacks have killed about 1,000 health-care workers over the past decade. Besides being acts of pure cruelty, these attacks have devastated the Syrian health system. My predecessors and I have appeared regularly before the Security Council to call out these violations and plead on behalf of people trapped in the fighting. In Burkina Faso, ambulances have been burned and health facilities looted. In Mali, equipment and medicine were destroyed or looted and vehicles hijacked. Attacks have also affected the COVID-19 response.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“Evidence shows that even a single brief disruption to a drinking water supply — for just one day — can heighten the risk of contracting water-borne diseases such as cholera. This particularly affects very young children, for whom infection presents the greatest risk of death. Water and sanitation services are often hit in armed conflicts. In Ukraine and in Libya, fighting has damaged water infrastructure and hindered maintenance, leading to cuts and shortages. Deliberately interrupting or shutting down a water supply is also used as a tactic of war. In South Sudan, Sudan People’s Liberation Army soldiers stole pumps that were used by locals in Mboro to pump water from boreholes, thereby depriving them of access to water for both consumption and sanitation. Thirdly, let me talk about medical care.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“And we across the United Nations, together with our non-governmental organization partners, recently warned of the risk of famine looming in Yemen, South Sudan, north-east Nigeria and elsewhere if urgent action is not taken. Secondly, let me talk about water. In January 2016, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant cut off the water supply to Aleppo governorate in Syria, affecting some 2 million people. Boko Haram is known to have poisoned water sources such as wells and streams, making water use dangerous for both humans and livestock. Cutting off a safe water supply during conflict causes sanitation and health crises. Even one incident that disrupts the water supply can have enormous health consequences.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“Attacks on food drive people to move and they disrupt food systems and markets, leaving few able to afford food or access water and fuel to prepare food. Last year, in Nigeria, an attack on a rice farm in the outskirts of Maiduguri killed more than 110 farmers. The pillaging of food and livestock was widely reported in South Sudan between 2013 and 2020. In Yemen, air strikes and shelling have hit farms, markets, food storage sites and fishing boats. Even now, we hear reports of agricultural inputs and infrastructure in Ethiopia’s Tigray region being systematically destroyed in that conflict. Any attack on food supplies and food infrastructure is unacceptable. I have been reporting to the Security Council on the risk of conflict-induced famine since 2018.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“They regard civilians, including aid workers, as legitimate targets. At the same time, big military Powers are reorienting their military planning, training and spending to deter and defeat enemy States. And when States and armed groups disrespect or undermine international humanitarian law, other States and non-State actors regard it as an invitation to do the same. I am deeply concerned about what this means for our ability to protect decades of hard-won progress. I will set out the impact of conflict on four critical areas. First, let me talk about food. In April, Mr. David Beasley, Mr. Qu Dongyu and I briefed the Security Council (see S/2020/340) on the destructive link between conflict and food security. The impact of armed conflict on food security can be direct, such as the destruction of food stocks and agricultural assets.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source
“The whole world is grappling with the biggest crisis of our lifetime. Our only battle today should be with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Now is the moment to end all other conflicts. But wherever violent conflict persists, we must strengthen the protection of civilians. Over the past 30 years, there has been some progress made to comply with international humanitarian law to protect civilians and the objects they rely on to survive, such as food, medicines, hospitals and water installations. But it has not been enough. In the past two decades we have seen the emergence of transnational terrorist groups that totally reject the laws of war — groups that use their nihilistic ideologies to justify unspeakable violence against civilians. They do not even pretend to subscribe to the basic humanitarian norms.”
2021-04-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/415 (2021) · source