YouSaid · the spoken record

Mhaissen

lines on the record
10
first
2021-09-28
most recent
2021-09-28
sittings or episodes
1
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un-security-council

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  1. “It is time to activate the role of women as community mediators and bring their everyday demands to the negotiating table. Finally, peace in Syria will require the Council to move from its fixation on great-power politics to dynamic engagement with communities affected by conflict in order to understand our perspectives. Put Syrians at the forefront of any strategy. Speak to us — not about us or in our name. Invest in us if the Council is serious about achieving sustainable and just peace in a democratic Syria, free of oppression, violence and extremism and advancing global peace and security.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  2. “It is time for societal structures, including leadership and legislative frameworks, to reflect the shifts in gender dynamics that are emerging every day at the community level. As we stand here today, it is difficult to deny that the traditional efforts to convene the parties around the table — alone — are insufficient in the face of military developments inside Syria and are subservient to the will of proxies and regional Powers. This increasing grass-roots approach to crafting healthy communities, despite polarized and divisive environments, both inside and outside Syria, shows promise in increasing the unity of the Syrian people and healing the divisions and trauma caused by 10 years of conflict. However, this approach alone will not pay off if it is not accompanied by a political settlement that is fair and just to all.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  3. “Nevertheless, the stalling of a political settlement has not stopped local actors at the community level — many of them women activists and agents of change — to push for local dialogue and mediation efforts, often at great risk to themselves. They have fought for spaces to express their needs, negotiated with parties to the conflict, demanded to know the fate of their loved ones and fought to ensure that their children are well fed and receive an education. Again, if that is not political participation, then I do not know what is. In order for any political settlement to be successful, we must focus on building local resilience and supporting Syrians, especially women’s voices and agencies.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  4. “Today we continue to see evidence of returnees leaving Syria again; we continue to see big waves of forced internal migration. Refugees and internally displaced persons are continuing their search for a decent life, flowing into Egypt, Turkey and Europe through newly formed trafficking channels. The prolongation of the current status quo at the political process level inside Syria and in the neighbouring countries will not be conducive to stability and a sustainable voluntary return of refugees. Those issues rarely find their way into political discussions. The political process, in line with resolution 2254 (2015), requires compromises, but those compromises should be at the expense of the parties’ interests rather than those of the people.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  5. “In the direst of circumstances, those women have gathered their grievances, losses and hardships into a unifying power — rising above affiliations, ideologies or the instrumentalization of their voices. They said it clearly: Syria first. To honour them, a Syria for all must remain first — above any one person, one party or one interest. Nonetheless, it is difficult to make that vision of a dignified life a reality when the political process continues to be obstructed. Throughout our work, we see that, despite challenging times in neighbouring countries, refugees’ intentions to return today are at their lowest levels. Yet we see no prioritization of alleviating pressures on forced refugee returns when conditions are not safe.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  6. “Politics is about monitoring humanitarian aid. It is about documenting human rights violations. It is about negotiating the release of loved ones. It is about forging new civil spaces. It is about continuing to fight for inclusion at all levels. How can one expect a wife who knows not the fate of her husband — imprisoned, disappeared or kidnapped — to contribute to any sustainable peace? How can one convince a woman who cannot return to her land with her children to accept a political settlement that does not guarantee her rights? Those are the Syrians we cannot fail. We cannot allow the political process to bring them justice before anyone else to continue to stall.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  7. “We simply cannot talk about peacebuilding when Syrian’s rights, especially Syrian women’s rights, are being breached on a daily basis. Many stakeholders engaged at the Syrian political level have seen a constant belittling of safety, livelihoods, housing and education rights. Those are set aside as pure humanitarian concerns to be addressed only in humanitarian meetings. But the concerns of everyday Syrians are what is most political. If accessing one’s home and land is not political, then what is? If one’s ability to vote in one’s constituency or place of origin is not political, then what is? If one’s ability to live in dignity in a country that welcomes, resembles and protects one is not political, then what is? And if the everyday women heroes fighting for those demands are not recognized at the political level, then who is?”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  8. “The successes are modest, but we did manage to participate in official delegations to the United Nations-led talks, including 28 per cent representation in the Constitutional Committee, the Syrian Women’s Advisory Board, the women members of the Civil Society Support Room and women briefers to the Security Council, to name just a few. However, a lot remains to be done to ensure that women are truly participating and that women are included at all levels. The everyday contributions of women at the community level remain unseen, and their demands remain unheard at the peace-process level. “Peace process” is a phrase much used, but often stripped of its meaning. We are today far from peace or peacebuilding in Syria.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  9. “Until Syrians — inside Syria or in forced refugeehood — can exercise their long-demanded human rights under international law and until a fair political settlement and a holistic transition are reached, it is our imperative to actively work on ensuring that Syria remains on the international agenda and that the everyday demands of people — not only the interests of those in power — find their way to the negotiating table. Yes, there have been some gains that we as Syrians, as Syrian women, are proud of at the level of political representation. The wall of fear surrounding us has been toppled. We have penetrated realms where we were not previously welcome. In the past years, we have carved out spaces for us as Syrians and fought for a seat at the table of the political process as women.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source

  10. “Ms. Mhaissen: With the pressing socioeconomic and political issues in multiple Security Council Member States, the escalation and heightened nature of conflicts in countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, the Sudan and others and the protracted nature of the Syrian conflict, it is a challenge today to keep Syria on the priority agenda, whether on the political or the humanitarian levels. However, the demands for which the people of Syria, especially the courageous women of Syria, went to the streets in 2011 remain unmet.”

    2021-09-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8866 (2021) · source