YouSaid · the spoken record

McCain

lines on the record

18

first

2023-06-22

most recent

2023-09-14

sittings or episodes

2

sources

un-security-council

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1. “So let us work together to build new models of collaboration, encompassing in-kind support, technology transfers, skills and personnel exchanges, cutting-edge programme design and rigorous systems of evidence and impact evaluation. The road ahead is long, and the challenges are daunting. But we still have an opportunity to halt the relentless growth in global humanitarian needs. With determination, innovation and above all cross-sectoral collaboration, we can successfully navigate our way through a new and challenging landscape and bring new hope to vulnerable communities around the world.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

2. “The international financial institutions can support those efforts with capital finance, especially in relation to fragile States. Finally, and critically, we need the private sector to step up and embrace its responsibility to help build the societies that enable their enterprises to succeed. If we are serious about tackling climate change, delivering decent sanitation, health and housing and opening up new education and employment opportunities, we need business to be on board. Private-sector profitability can and must go hand in hand with the Sustainable Development Goals. I know from my own experience that it makes good business sense.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

3. “In the most fragile places, such as Somalia, which I visited in May, the private sector is often what keeps extremely vulnerable populations afloat. But it also leaves them vulnerable to shocks such as the war in Ukraine or sanctions regimes. The Council’s responsibility to protect this space is therefore all the more important, and I urge members to be resolute in using its powers and influence to create the broader conditions that can enable public-private partnerships to flourish. Member State Governments should also use their convening power and public-policy levers to create an environment conducive to public- private partnerships so that they can drive grass-roots development and be a forceful engine of opportunity for vulnerable communities.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

4. “But there is still so much more to do — more that the humanitarian, private and public sectors can achieve by working together in partnership, powering innovation in science and technology, building new capacities, sharing expertise and acumen and mobilizing the resources and political will needed to confront the new reality we are living with. None of us has all the answers. But our sectors have many attributes in common — a clear focus, a strong commitment to delivering results and a sense of urgency about the task at hand. Our collective challenge is to ramp up the ambitious multisectoral partnerships that will enable us to tackle hunger and poverty effectively and reduce humanitarian needs over the long term. The Security Council’s responsibility for international peace and security will determine the success of that shared endeavour.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

5. “Last year we distributed more than $3.3 billion to 56 million vulnerable people in 72 countries — capital that supports local businesses and economies. That is transformational. That programme has its roots in the innovative partnership launched when the WFP and Mastercard joined forces more than a decade ago. Mastercard shared its payments and technology expertise with us to help us improve and scale up our systems for delivering digital food vouchers. The Mastercard team has been supporting our mission to end hunger ever since, and I thank Mr. Miebach for that.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

6. “Partners such as Amazon, DHL and Takeda have worked with us to reinforce our world- class supply-chain and logistics networks, ensuring that they serve the wider humanitarian community even more effectively. We have also worked with analytics firms to improve our data analysis capabilities, with food companies to improve the nutrition of our food baskets and with artificial-intelligence experts on a satellite monitoring system to assess disaster zones remotely. In addition, the WFP uses its own economic and purchasing power to support business expansion, job creation and community resilience in the countries where we operate. Last year we sourced 50 per cent of our food commodities locally and regionally, injecting $1.6 billion into local markets. We are also the world’s largest humanitarian provider of cash and digital payments.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

7. “And it is essential that local businesses and private enterprise are front and centre in that work. Everywhere that the WFP has operations, we rely on the ingenuity and entrepreneurialism of private-sector partners to help us deliver on the ground. Everyone benefits from that approach. Reducing poverty and hungerisanecessarypreconditionforhealthyworkforces, functioning markets and sustainable economic growth and prosperity. When people and communities thrive, so do businesses. We at the WFP have a track record of partnering with companies that share our vision of a world without hunger, and we are proud that they trust us to deliver it.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

8. “More recently, diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis have been brought under control with effective public-private partnerships. Companies developed the medicines and vaccines, while Governments and humanitarian agencies got them where they needed to be. As we confront a new reality of sustained humanitarian needs and shrinking budgets, it is time to rethink how we engage and find new role models for cross-sectoral partnerships. We need business leaders’ help to develop the smart innovations and solutions required to both build resilience and tackle the root causes of hunger and poverty so that we can reduce humanitarian needs over the long term. Private enterprise must lead efforts to build essential infrastructure, supply affordable goods and services, spur innovation, expand skills and create new employment opportunities.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

9. “We are now living with a series of concurrent and long-term crises that will continue to fuel global humanitarian needs. And that is happening just as funding for humanitarian relief operations is drying up. At the WFP we have had to make the agonizing choice to cut food rations for millions of vulnerable people, and more cuts are on the way. That is the humanitarian community’s new reality — our new normal — and we will be dealing with the fallout for years to come. But it does not mean that we are powerless to end this human suffering, and history tells us that the private sector has a fundamental role to play. The great strides made in the past 200 years in reducing global poverty have largely been thanks to economic growth powered by the private sector.”

   2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

10. “War, economic turmoil and, increasingly, climate change and environmental degradation are driving millions of people into poverty and despair each year. As many as 783 million people do not know when — or if — they will eat again. And the WFP estimates that nearly 47 million people in over 50 countries are in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) phase 4: just one step away from famine. The number of children caught in the grip of starvation is overwhelming, and a staggering 45 million children under the age of five are now estimated to have acute malnutrition. I wish I could tell Council members that the surging hunger seen in many parts of the world is the result of one-off causes and will recede as circumstances change. But it will not.”

    2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

11. “Ms. McCain: I thank you, Mr. President, for inviting me to brief the Security Council on the vital importance of partnering with the private sector to address humanitarian needs. I thank Albania for bringing this issue to the Council for the first time. I come from the private sector myself, so it is a topic I feel strongly about. Thriving businesses and flourishing economies are the critical engines that will power global efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty and strengthen international peace and security. Yet, sadly, the humanitarian sector is today one of the world’s biggest growth industries. Demand for World Food Programme (WFP) services is rising relentlessly, and this is happening across the United Nations and the wider humanitarian system.”

    2023-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9418 (2023) · source

12. “Too often, civilians living in territories controlled by armed groups are cut off from humanitarian assistance, either because access is denied or because the safety of aid workers is threatened. That has to end. Too many lives are at stake. Fifthly and finally, we all have to work together to find political solutions to create stability and peace in Somalia. That is what the exhausted people of Somalia want and need above all. The WFP is ready to play its full part and help Somalia lay the foundations for long-term food security and put an end to the scourge of hunger. Peace requires political will and leadership. We look to the Security Council to please provide it for Halima and all the other people of Somalia.”

    2023-06-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9356 (2023) · source

13. “That means ensuring operations are run with maximum efficiency to stretch every donor dollar as far as possible. The WFP has the largest presence of any United Nations agency in Somalia, with 13 offices across the country. We are working hard with our donors, partners and the Government of Somalia to ensure that our assistance reaches those we know are in greatest need. Thirdly, food assistance must be matched with investments to rebuild livelihoods, strengthen resilience and support climate-adaptation programmes. Those proven solutions are the only way to finally break the vicious cycle of hunger and poverty that has so many Somalis in its grip. Fourthly, the Security Council must spearhead efforts to secure unimpeded humanitarian access to all vulnerable communities in Somalia.”

    2023-06-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9356 (2023) · source

14. “By December 2022, we were reaching a record 4.7 million people per month with food assistance, thanks to donors’ efforts to stop famine in its tracks. But at the end of April, we had to reduce our caseload to 3 million per month. Without an immediate cash injection, we will have to cut our distribution lists again in July to just 1.8 million per month — that is almost 3 million women, children and men who will be denied the assistance they desperately need simply because we do not have the money to feed them. If we get the funds we need, we will reverse those life-threatening cuts and continue supporting the millions who rely on the WFP for survival. Secondly, we all need to work together to ensure life-saving humanitarian assistance reaches the people of Somalia.”

    2023-06-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9356 (2023) · source

15. “Continually having to move has left people impoverished, traumatized and hungry. The latest food security data shows that food insecurity is spiralling across Somalia. Over 6.6 million people — one third of the population — are expected to face crisis or worse levels of hunger. That includes 40,000 people fighting for survival in famine-like conditions. Even worse, 1.8 million children are expected to suffer acute malnutrition. We need a five-pronged action plan to address the serious and growing emergency in Somalia. First, I call on all States Members of the United Nations to immediately contribute to the humanitarian response plan for Somalia, which is seriously underfunded. At the World Food Programme (WFP), we are being forced to cut back our life-saving assistance programmes just when they are needed the most.”

    2023-06-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9356 (2023) · source

16. “But now we are in danger of losing the precious gains we have made since those dark days last year. The violence and instability that scar the country have destroyed much of the infrastructure needed to support food production and distribution. What has not been wrecked by conflict has been consumed by Somalia’s climate crisis, which its people did not cause. The longest drought on record killed millions of livestock and decimated crops. It has recently given way to disastrous flash flooding in the south of the country. Inevitably, huge numbers of people have been forced from their homes and lands in search of food and safety. Since the start of 2022, conflict has triggered over 1 million internal displacements. Climate disasters have fuelled a further 2.1 million displacements over the past three years.”

    2023-06-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9356 (2023) · source

17. “One woman I met, Halima, told me she had fled 200 kilometres from her home with her family of 10, to protect her young sons. She said armed groups had been taking boys from their families by force to join their ranks, killing anyone who refused. For Halima, the violence and instability had been even more devastating than the vicious drought. She said to me that even if one has everything one needs, one cannot live in a place with conflict. I am here today to tell the Council that Halima and her family — and the countless thousands like her — urgently need help and hope. Somalia was hauled back from the abyss of famine in 2022 because the international community saw the warning signs flashing red and raced to respond. Donors funded an unprecedented humanitarian scale-up.”

    2023-06-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9356 (2023) · source

18. “Ms. McCain: I thank you, Mr. President, for inviting me to brief the Security Council on the dire hunger emergency unfolding in Somalia. This is my first time before the Council since joining the World Food Programme (WFP), and I welcome the opportunity to contribute to its vital work. I went to Somalia just last month, and I saw for myself how conflict and climate change are conspiring to destroy the lives and livelihoods of millions of Somalis. I was horrified and heartbroken by what I witnessed — violence, fear and starvation are the daily reality there. I spoke with mothers in a camp for internally displaced people in Dolow. The women told me stories of entire herds of livestock being wiped out in the droughts; terrorists recruiting children as young as 11 and the dangers they faced every day as they fight to survive.”

    2023-06-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9356 (2023) · source