YouSaid · the spoken record

Munir Akram

lines on the record: 143
first: 2020-07-02
most recent: 2021-10-15
sittings or episodes: 15
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

“It is a matter of great concern that starvation and collective punishment have often been used as tools to advance military or political objectives, in stark violation of international humanitarian law and resolution 2417 (2018). A case in point is the inhuman military siege imposed by India on Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir since 5 August 2019 to forcibly change the status and demographic composition of the United Nations-recognized disputed territory, as well as to deny the Kashmiri people their United Nations-prescribed right to self-determination. According to estimates, the direct economic loss incurred by the civilian population in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir as a result of this military siege is well over $ 5.3 billion. Nearly half a million jobs have been lost.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“We thank the United States for convening today’s high-level open debate in the Security Council on conflict and food security, and we welcome this important initiative. Situations of conflict and foreign occupation remain among the principal sources of global hunger and starvation. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, nearly 60 per cent of some 700 million chronically food-insecure people around the world live in conflict-affected countries. Likewise, of the world’s 144 million stunted children, 80 per cent live in countries affected by conflict. The World Food Programme has warned of the danger of famine in some of the poorest countries and conflict zones.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“The scope of the international community’s counter- terrorism strategy must be expanded and adjusted to cooperate and defeat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Some of the measures that the Council should take include calling on States to designate acts of these violent nationalist groups, including white supremacists and other racially and ethnically motivated groups, including Hindutva militants, as terrorism, just as we have done in case of Al-Qaida/ISIL and its affiliated groups; initiating immediate domestic actions to prevent propagation of their violent ideologies, recruitment to and financing of these groups; requesting the Secretary-General to present a plan of action to confront and defeat these violent extremists and their terrorist ideologies; and expanding the mandate of the 1267 Committee to include sanctions against such violent nationalist terrorist groups as the RSS. We have entered a new era of threats posed by emerging forms and manifestations of terrorism.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Such violent racist and extremist terrorism will inevitably breed counter violence and validate the dystopian narrative of such terrorist organizations as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)/Da’esh and Al-Qaida. It is the responsibility of the international community to take immediate steps to arrest the rise of the violent nationalism.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“The violent extremist Hindutva ideology practiced by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its militant parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and other associated militant groups, poses an existential threat to the 180 million Muslims in India. The April 2020 Delhi pogrom was just one manifestation of this violent ideology. International observers have warned against potential genocide in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and against India’s Muslims in general. These violent extremist supremacist groups pose a clear and present danger to regional and international peace and security. They must be outlawed by the Security Council like other terrorist groups.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Yet, as history attests, the colonial and foreign occupying Powers justify State terrorism by portraying the freedom struggle of the oppressed and occupied peoples as terrorism. State terrorism must be addressed urgently and effectively. One of the most concerning new trends in global terrorism is the proliferation of violent nationalism, such as White and Hindu supremacism as well as other forms of racially and ethnically motivated violence. These violent nationalist groups are growing stronger and more popular in North America, Europe and elsewhere, attempting to mainstream right-wing ideologies and exploiting social media to spread propaganda, recruit new members and finance their organizations and operations. In India, such neo-fascist groups now rule the country.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“As we reflect on the global response to terrorism in the past 20 years, one conclusion is inescapable: we will not defeat terrorism unless its root causes are eliminated. These root causes include foreign occupation and intervention, political and economic injustice and inequality, and the failure to deliver economic growth, jobs, education and social development.It is also essential to address certain neglected manifestations of terrorism, one of which is the phenomenon of State terrorism. There are numerous situations of foreign intervention and occupation, such as in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, where occupation forces are perpetrating war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against occupied peoples in order to terrorize them into submission.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Pakistan has conveyed detailed information to the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) on the financing and arming of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaat- ul-Ahrar, two terrorist groups listed on the 1267 Committee’s sanctions list. We hope that the 1267 Committee will take appropriate action to implement its sanctions measures against these United Nations-designated terrorist entities. Pakistan has also presented detailed dossiers to the international community on India’s involvement in subversive terrorist activities against Pakistan and its prolonged campaign to malign my country through disinformation campaigns.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“No other country has made a greater sacrifice in fighting terrorism than Pakistan. We have paid a heavy price, suffering more than 50,000 casualties, military and civilian, and over $120 billion in damage to our economy. Pakistan is a victim of externally sponsored terrorism from across its border. Some of the most gruesome terrorist attacks, including the Army Public School attack in 2014, killing 142 innocent children, the Mastung terrorist attack in 2018, killing 100 innocent Pakistanis, the attack on the Chinese Consulate in Karachi and, more recently, the attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, were all aided, financed and perpetrated by India through its mercenary terrorist groups operating from across our western border.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“We conducted comprehensive military operations along our western borders to eliminate terrorist groups, which had been pushed into Pakistan due to the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan adopted a whole-of-nation approach to defeat terrorism, including a national action plan and the comprehensive National Counter Extremism Policy Guidelines, which, inter alia, banned hate speech and incitement to violence. Intelligence cooperation between Pakistan and its international partners was manifested in averting major terrorist attacks around the world. Pakistan facilitated the agreement between the United States and the Taliban, which has for the first time kindled hope for a peace settlement in Afghanistan. There is now renewed expectation that terrorism will be eliminated in and from Afghanistan.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“I would like to congratulate Tunisia on assuming the presidency of the Security Council and on organizing this important debate on the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1373 (2001). Terrorism has rightly been described as the scourge of our times. Since the attacks of 11 September 2001, the international community has adopted and implemented a number of countermeasures to deal with the threat of terrorism. Yet terrorism has spread across the world, transnational groups have proliferated and the threat has morphed into new forms and manifestations that pose a threat to peace and stability in several regions of the world. For the past two decades, Pakistan has been at the forefront of the global campaign against terrorism. Pakistan is responsible for the virtual elimination of Al-Qaida’s central command.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“We must rely on the vision and courage of our Secretary-General to chart a clear and bold course to respond to the multiple challenges we face simultaneously. The United Nations system has the capacity, if mobilized, to support this epic endeavour for global peace and security, for equitable and inclusive development and for a smooth and early transition to a sustainable global economic, social and political order.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“Unless we do so, regional tensions will rise and conflicts will become more intractable. And, no one can rule out the danger of a global military conflict — precisely what the United Nations was created to prevent. Instead of subscribing to new political blocs and alliances, the Members of the United Nations, and especially the members of the Security Council, must deploy all possible efforts to avoid a great power collision and evolve mutually acceptable ways for revived cooperation on security, development, climate and other common challenges confronting humankind. In these turbulent times, the United Nations is the only universally acceptable instrument available to enable Member States to address the contemporary drivers of conflict.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“It is distressing to witness that, even in these times when humankind faces existential challenges, there is a rise in the phenomena of intolerance, hate speech, xenophobia, and Islamophobia. The cycle of hate and violence can destabilize and divide societies and States. It can subvert the international cooperation that is essential to collectively address these multiple challenges. We must heed the call for mutual respect issued by the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, Mr. Moratinos, on 29 October. As he has stated, freedom of expression should be exercised in a way that fully respects the religious beliefs and tenets of all religions. Finally, we must also act to reverse the growing rivalries among the most powerful States and the new and deadly arms race that is under way.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“Unless we can mobilize the political will to implement these goals of equitable and inclusive development, it is unlikely that we will be able to agree to take the ambitious collective actions required to avoid the existential threat posed by climate change. Destitute developing countries struggling for economic survival will be in no position to make a new green deal. The Economic and Social Council will attempt to advance these essential actions in its Financing for Development Forum next April and the High-level Political Forum next July. It is imperative that today, 75 years after the adoption of the United Nations Charter, we do not again fail to reflect its vision of collective economic security. Never before in human history has the well-being and survival of humans depended so much on the actions and decisions of each other.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“Structural reforms will need to encompass a reform of the financial architecture to enhance the access of developing countries to adequate SDG-linked financing; an inclusive, equitable and transparent debt-management mechanism; preferential banking regulations for developing countries; a fair international tax regime; an end to illicit financial flows from developing countries; a new and democratic trade regime that reverses the restrictive measures imposed by the S/2020/1090 major economies, restores the adjudication system of the World Trade Organization and places the SDGs at the core of trade objectives; the mobilization of at least a $2 trillion investment annually in sustainable infrastructure in developing countries and preferential access for developing countries to the latest technologies, especially to bridge the digital divide.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“Our Secretary-General has declared that this crisis offers an opportunity to “build back better” and realize the SDGs and the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Others have picked up the Secretary-General’s slogan. However, we will be unable to achieve these ambitious and vital objectives unless we address and redress the structural inequalities that have led us into the current and previous financial and economic crises.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“But so far, the response of those in a position to act on these options has been extremely modest and disappointing. The international community must mobilize the political will to implement some of the most important of these options: debt suspension for low income and those small island developing States under stress until the end of the pandemic; the cancellation of debt held by the least developed countries; debt restructuring for other developing countries, including through efficient debt buybacks and swaps; sizable net inflows from multilateral development banks; vastly expanded concessional financing through the International Development Association and other sources; the fulfilment of the 0.7 per cent official development assistance commitment by richer countries; private sector participation in debt suspension and relief, including through mechanisms to lower interest rates on loans to developing countries; and, most important, the issue of new special drawing rights (SDRs) and the repurposing of unutilized SDR quotas for investment in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“While the rich have pumped in more than $13 trillion to stimulate their economies, the poor are searching for ways to mobilize the $2 trillion to $3 trillion they need to keep their economies afloat. Unless they are helped to find this money, many developing economies — with lost revenues and laden with unpayable debt — are likely to face economic collapse. This would spread chaos and further inflame regional conflicts and global tensions. As early as April, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, called for global debt relief for developing countries. In May, the Secretary-General, together with the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica, launched the timely financing for the development process. The process has identified 260 options for action.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“It is a world where power prevails over principle; where the voices of the weak are suppressed and splintered; where the strong enjoy impunity for even gross violations of the Charter’s fundamental principles, Security Council resolutions and human rights and where the international cooperation enjoined by the Charter is increasingly absent. It is in this milieu of inequality that the world has been hit by the worst pandemic since 1916 and the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The world economy is projected to contract by between 5 and 10 per cent, depending on when the virus can be brought under control. As usual, the poorest countries and the poorest peoples will suffer the most. More than 100 million people will be pushed back into poverty.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“In his Nelson Mandela address earlier this year, our Secretary- General observed that “inequality is the hallmark of our times” — so it is when the 26 richest people own half the world’s wealth.S/2020/1090 The origins of many, if not most of the plethora of conflicts and disputes on the agenda of the Security Council, can be traced to this unequal world order. The root causes of these conflicts range from the internal struggles for scarce resources; external contests for precious natural resources and interventions designed to suppress the struggle of peoples to reclaim their own political and economic destinies.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“Secondly, the rapid process of decolonization did not entirely eliminate the legacy and mentality of colonialism. The decolonization process left behind unequal post-colonial societies and their continued economic, trade, and, often, political and military dependence on former colonial powers. The post-1945 military, political and economic structures and institutions reflected this embedded inequality. Thirdly, and perhaps most important, State power, especially in the most powerful countries, was captured by mercantilist interests, prioritizing profits over the common good and the Charter’s vision of collective economic security. The cumulative outcome is a world quite unlike that visualized by the founders of the United Nations.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“It follows therefore that the economic health of every country is a proper matter of concern to all its neighbours, near and distant. Only through a dynamic and a soundly expanding world economy can the living standards of individual nations be advanced to levels which will permit a full realization of our hopes for the future”. In the 75 years since the Charter’s adoption, the States Members of the United Nations have failed to live up to the ideals of collective and cooperative security proclaimed by those who conceived the United Nations. Several reasons can be offered to explain this failure. First, the Cold War intruded into the vision of universal and cooperative security. The world was effectively divided into rival camps. The Marshall Plan rehabilitated United States-allied Europe only and later Japan.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“These objectives include higher standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social progress and development; solutions to economic, social, health and related problems and universal respect for human rights. Although little noted and never utilized, Article 65 of the Charter provides that the Economic and Social Council “may furnish information to the Security Council and shall assist the Security Council upon its request”. The Charter’s framers clearly conceived that the United Nations would both collectively maintain and enforce peace as well as create the “conditions for peace and stability”. Speaking at the Bretton Woods Conference, United States President Roosevelt emphasized the essence of collective economic security. He said that “[e]conomic diseases are highly communicable.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“It is a great privilege to be asked to brief the Security Council on the timely topic of the contemporary drivers of conflict. May I first congratulate Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on assuming the presidency of the Security Council and convening this important debate. The concept of collective security enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, from which the Security Council draws the authority conferred on it by the States Members of the United Nations, is accompanied by the parallel objectives, set out in Article 55, to create conditions of peace and stability, “which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples”.”
2020-11-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1090 (2020) · source
“Fourthly, effective border controls are a prerequisite to clamping down on transnational organized crime and terrorism. Finally, strategies must be tailored to specific challenges presented by particular regional dynamics and conditions. It is vital to build the capacities and capabilities of States facing these challenges. This is where the United Nations can play an effective role. Pakistan will continue to play its role to sever the vicious link between terrorism and organized crime in our region. This is critical for our own people as well as for our neighbourhood, and indeed the rest of the world.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“First, to ensure that our responses are evidence-based, the international community should allocate proper resources to better understand the correlation between the financing of terror and transnational organized crimes. Secondly, there are instances, including in our region, where there is a nexus between drug production, instability and lack of alternative economic opportunities. It is important to re-establish Government control over territories used for drug production and promote development to provide alternative livelihoods. Thirdly, in dealing with the world drug problem, it is important to focus on reducing both the supply and the demand of narcotic drugs through a well-integrated, comprehensive and balanced approach.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“We are cooperating with Iran and Afghanistan under the UNODC-sponsored Triangular Initiative. Pursuant to the quartet initiative, we are collaborating with Russia, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan to combat drug trafficking. We have strengthened cooperation with the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre, which is a useful forum for coordinating regional anti-drugs efforts at the operational level. My country believes that only through collective regional and international efforts can we choke off the various sources that support terrorist outfits through organized crime. We believe an effective strategy to achieve these goals must take into account the following five points.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“Pakistan will continue to make every effort to expose the ominous role being played by India, the fountainhead of terrorism in our region. Located next to the epicentre of the world drug problem, Pakistan also remains one of the most affected transit States for illicit drug trafficking. With limited resources, our law enforcement agencies continue to make record drug seizures year after year, which is a tangible manifestation of our consistent and dedicated efforts aimed at protecting not only our own country but also the rest of the world from this scourge. At the regional and global levels, Pakistan has remained constructively engaged with various counter-narcotics-related forums and initiatives. Pakistan is an active participant in the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“This nexus of mercenary terrorists and their patrons generates finances through proceeds from the narcotics trade, kidnapping for ransom, extortion and smuggling of such natural resources as timber. An example of this patronage was proven by the arrest of Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian intelligence agent who was running a syndicate of criminals and terrorists to foment terrorism in Pakistan. Similarly, we submitted the names of four other terrorist facilitators to the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999). Such Indian terrorism facilitators, hiding in our neighbourhood in plain sight, continue to fuel terrorism inside Pakistan. The recent attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, condemned by the Security Council, was the work of India-sponsored mercenary terrorists such as these.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“Secondly, terrorist outfits are increasingly relying on organized crime as a financing tool. Thirdly, terrorist groups recruit criminals, in particular marginalized youth, to advance their agenda. Fourthly, organized crime flourishes in areas outside Government control and under the patronage of terrorist outfits. As one of the principal victims of terrorism, Pakistan is clearly and unwaveringly resolved to eliminating this scourge. Terrorist organizations such as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar attack Pakistan using bases outside our borders. These organizations do not have any ideological motivation. They are mercenary terrorist organizations and work with the State patronage of third countries in order to generate a profit.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“Similarly, the 2016 European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report highlights that investigations into the unfortunate Paris attacks of November 2015 found that some of the attackers may have actively participated in organized criminal networks, instead of just being their clients. Moreover, the widespread use of enslavement, rape and human trafficking by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is well-known and has been met with widespread international condemnation. These and many other instances clearly signal the existence of linkages between terrorism and organized crime. In our view, there are four major areas of confluence between organized crime and terrorism. First, there is ever-growing cooperation for the acquisition of arms, ammunition and explosive materials.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“My delegation congratulates Indonesia on assuming the presidency of the Security Council and for convening today’s open debate on this important topic. I also thank the briefers for their insightful presentations this morning. The nexus between terrorism and organized crime is complex, and varies across different contexts. We know that since 9/11, criminal and terrorist outfits have cooperated to facilitate each other’s activities, and have been found to coexist, cooperate and sometimes even converge. For example, the World Drug Report 2017 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) underlines that terrorists and non-State armed groups profit from the drug trade and opium poppy cultivation in our neighbourhood, in Afghanistan.”
2020-08-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/791 (2020) · source
“These actions are urgently needed not just to calm the tensions in our region, but also to protect the credibility of the Security Council and the continued efficacy of the United Nations in matters related to peace and security.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“In this regard, the Council must urge India to, first, immediately lift the continuing military siege in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and rescind the illegal and unilateral actions undertaken since 5 August 2019; secondly, remove restrictions on communication, movement and peaceful assembly in Kashmir and restore Internet access so that people can get accurate and reliable information relating to the pandemic; thirdly, allow access to international human rights and humanitarian organizations so that relief efforts may be undertaken in Kashmir; fourthly immediately release arbitrarily detained and incarcerated Kashmiri political leaders and allow them to express wishes of the Kashmiri people; fifthly, freeze and reverse new domicile rules designed to change the demographic composition of Kashmir; sixthly, remove draconian laws that enable Indian occupying forces to commit human rights violations with impunity; and finally, protect the Muslim minority in India from apartheid-like segregation and oppression.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“Peaceful protesters, including children as young as four years of age, have been blinded by pellet guns. Women and girls have been dishonoured and threatened with rape and violence, hundreds have been killed in extrajudicial executions, and whole neighbourhoods have been destroyed as a form of collective punishment. The Security Council has a primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It cannot afford inaction and appeasement in the face of open aggression and atrocities against an occupied people. The Council must denounce India’s illegal actions in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and take urgent actions to rein in its fascist ambitions, which are putting enormous strain on the peace and security of our region and beyond.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“While the world’s attention is focused on the virus, India has taken advantage of the situation by implementing additional steps to consolidate its occupation. Besides the extended lockdown and a communications blackout, India has introduced a new domicile rule to engineer a demographic change in Kashmir with a view to transforming it from a Muslim-majority State to a Hindu-majority territory. These measures are in direct contravention of relevant Security Council resolutions and international law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention. Hundreds of senior Kashmiri political leaders and thousands of young men, including human rights defenders and journalists have been arbitrarily detained and incarcerated to stifle the call for azadi — freedom — and suppress their legitimate struggle for their right to self-determination.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“For over 10 months, the Kashmiris have faced crippling restrictions on civil liberties and unrelenting human rights abuses at the hands of Indian forces. The coronavirus has now condemned them to a double lockdown, bringing them to the precipice of a vast human tragedy. The prolonged lockdown in occupied Jammu and Kashmir had already depleted essential medical supplies in hospitals, turning them into graveyards. Now with the coronavirus spreading rapidly, they are entirely incapable of meeting the public-health crisis. Today, Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is the world’s most militarized zone, with 900,000 Indian troops suppressing 8 million Kashmiris, and there is only one doctor for every 4,000 Kashmiris.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated tensions between major Powers and brought about a sharp spike in their rivalry. A blame game on the origins of virus, increased polarization and reliance on populist narratives have exposed fissures in the global response, at the cost of solidarity, humanism and multilateralism. One example of these divisions is the lacklustre response to the Secretary- General’s timely and well-intended call for a global ceasefire. In many conflict zones around the world, there has been no real reduction in violence. Instead, some States have taken advantage of the situation and tried to consolidate their illegal occupations of foreign and disputed territories. In occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India has callously exploited the COVID-19 crisis to further advance its unlawful occupation.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“The United Nations and other international organizations, including international financial institutions and several States Members of the United Nations, have stepped up relief efforts to help the most affected countries. Medical expertise, essential life-saving and protective supplies, scientific research and public-health data are being shared despite disruptions in the global supply chain and political tensions. The calls for financial assistance within countries and internationally have met with a positive response. Initiatives like debt relief for developing countries have seen widespread support, although much more is needed to address the monumental health, economic and social challenges of developing countries.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“While the virus does not discriminate between rich and poor, it has nevertheless disproportionally affected the most vulnerable, including the elderly, handicapped persons and such displaced people as refugees and migrants, as well as those living in conflict zones and under foreign occupation. In more ways than one, this pandemic has shown that in today’s interconnected world, no one is safe until everyone is safe. At the same time, it has also reinforced the idea that without coordinated international efforts to contain the virus and mitigate its multifaceted impacts, we cannot win the fight against this pandemic. As COVID-19 rages through the world, two different streams of response have emerged. On the one hand, we have seen a rise in international solidarity and cooperation.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source
“We congratulate Germany on assuming the presidency of the Security Council and thank it for organizing today’s timely debate on the important issue of pandemic and security. Following the Ebola outbreak, the Security Council pronounced in resolution 2177 (2014) that pandemics constitute a grave threat to international peace and security. They not only undermine the political, social and economic stability of the most affected countries, but also vitiate the overall security environment, becoming drivers of instability in the concerned regions and beyond. Unlike Ebola, however, which was contained within a region, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has proved to be much more infectious, spreading exponentially all over the world and posing a threat to the lives and livelihoods of all nations of the world.”
2020-07-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/663 (2020) · source