YouSaid · the spoken record

Nebenzia

lines on the record: 5,044
first: 2017-08-02
most recent: 2023-12-30
sittings or episodes: 461
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

“Regardless of the billions of dollars that are allocated to countries in need, international peace and security will continue to deteriorate, and inequality, poverty and large-scale migration will only continue to increase. Consequently, the number and severity of conflicts will increase. One need not be an economist to understand that what is required, above all, is the mobilization of vast financial and non-financial resources for the countries of the global South to implement the 2030 Agenda, so that they can jettison colonial economic models, embark on an independent development path. It is also vital to ensure that such resources exist not only on paper or disappear into the pockets of consultants from donor countries, but actually reach those in need. Needs assessments vary.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“We believe it would be worthwhile to look through the prism of multidimensional economic vulnerability — in our view, it is a useful concept that is being developed — in order to consider the situation in countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or countries in Africa, in which unilateral restrictions and blockades make it difficult to attract international financing, technical assistance and capacity-building. The United Nations should assist those countries in building a network of effective and sustainable development partnerships. We believe that, if we fail to develop a common understanding of the root causes of existing issues related to peace and development, the United Nations will be unable to reverse the trends we see today that are extremely deleterious for developing countries.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“It is impossible to ignore the worsening debt crisis, the issues of the commodity dependence of former colonies, the bias of credit-rating agencies and Anglo-Saxon arbitration courts — all elements of neocolonial policy aimed at perpetuating the enslavement and underdevelopment of developing countries. In sum, ensuring the prerequisites for a decent life and a peaceful, conflict-free existence will organically require a radical reform of the international economic development system.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“They themselves do not hesitate to resort to them when and where it is beneficial to them, and developing countries are ultimately deprived of the opportunity to catch up with the “garden in bloom”, which is “being greened up at an accelerated pace”. The concept note (S/2023/870, annex) by our Chinese friends also rightly draws attention to the unequal access to public and private financing, which is largely due to the structural features of the existing international financial system and its institutions, established by the West to serve its own interests.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“Instead, they are keen to increase weapons transfers to conflict zones, from which Western arms manufacturing companies are known to profit. At the same time, development aid from Western donors is often accompanied by interference in the internal affairs of developing States in the form of demands to implement certain socioeconomic measures, for example, skewed towards climate agenda reform, or even political changes. At the same time, we note that the European Union and the United States are primarily concerned about creating competitive advantages and impose a forced energy transition and the abandonment of traditional fuels on the countries of the global South.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“We share the concerns of the Secretariat and leading experts in this area that progress towards achieving the main objective of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically poverty eradication, has stalled. In addition to the impact of the pandemic, it is due to serious macroeconomic miscalculations by the West and the increasing politicization of international development by major donor countries, including the collective West’s ongoing practice of illegal unilateral coercive measures that undermine the welfare of ordinary citizens in the most vulnerable States, lead to the fragmentation of global trade and restrict access to investment and technology. Developed countries are not honouring their commitments to the global South in the areas of official development assistance and climate financing.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“At the same time, we should like to underscore that, in discussing the modalities for constructively linking sustaining peace with development issues, which are still being developed in conceptual terms, it is important to ensure strict compliance with the principle of the division of labour among the Organization’s main organs in the area of peace and development, as set out in the Charter of the United Nations, and to avoid the duplication of mandates. We believe that development issues should be addressed, first and foremost, by specialized platforms, including the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the development system.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): We listened with great attention to the Secretary-General’s statement and the briefings by the President of the New Development Bank, Dilma Rousseff, and Mr. Jeffrey Sachs. We thank the Chinese presidency for its initiative to discuss in the Security Council the nexus between peace and development. It is particularly symbolic today as we mark Africa Industrialization Day.”
2023-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9482 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): I would like to thank the representative of Ukraine for her direct and indirect confirmation of our premise that the Kyiv regime is fighting specifically against canonical orthodoxy in Ukraine. We also heard a vivid example of the promotion of hate speech in this Chamber. The meeting rose at 11.35 a.m.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“It is an issue of security measures, because the fact that it has not been resolved means that it can lead to consequences that they are incapable, or nearly incapable, of imagining, just as they were unable to foresee the consequences of decades of violations of the Palestinians’ rights in the occupied territories. We ceased to be shocked by their short-sightedness long ago, unfortunately.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“We are not talking about Russia here but about ordinary Ukrainians who have fallen under the yoke of Zelenskyy’s repressive machine. Of course, we did not expect to hear an in-depth understanding of the problem we are discussing on the part of certain Council members. They have neither the real understanding nor the political ability to rise above the positions that they have taken in support their pro-Kyiv attitudes or to realize the degree to which the regime they are unconditionally defending wants nothing to do with the values that they claim to defend. The topic we have proposed is not about discussions on human rights in the Security Council, despite the fact that Western representatives have sarcastically welcomed it as such.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): I want to thank all the members of the Security Council who have called for respect for freedom of speech in Ukraine. I would like to say to our Western colleagues — who have no interest in facts — that now that they have read out their standard and clichéd statements saying that Ukraine can do whatever it wants, including destroy churches, that they consult the Internet and watch the hundreds of videos of churches closing and clergy and parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church being beaten. Listen to the statement by the monks of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. They should familiarize themselves with it and compare it to their own statemens. Perhaps they will then realize that those statements are abetting and justifying the crimes of the Kyiv regime.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“In fact, this is an attempt to reshape the mindset of tens of millions of Ukrainians, for whom the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is their native, ancient, genuine and legitimate church — the church in which they have worshipped for centuries. Zelenskyy and his clique are are heaping burning coals on their own heads, fomenting religious hatred and striving to destroy the social fabric of Ukrainian society, which they declare to uphold. Those who are supporting the newly sprung persecutors of Christians in Ukraine — Zelenskyy and his regime — are becoming complicit in the horrific twenty-first century crime that is the attempt to destroy the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Ending that crime is our shared duty.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Those members of the Council who lecture us about the legitimacy of the Kyiv authorities’ activities fail to understand the depth of the tragedy that has been unfolding. That is partly due to political considerations and unconditional support for the Kyiv regime and partly due to lack of knowledge or misunderstanding about the magnitude of what is taking place. For many here, this is a struggle of religious structures that have the word “orthodox” in their name — the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. One of them is supported by the authorities as “national” — the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The other — the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — is persecuted as a “collaborationist” structure that is subordinate to Moscow, which is a lie.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“I hope that the members of the Council have had an opportunity to watch his interview with lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who is currently protecting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from persecution by the State. It was published online on 27 October. This broadcast was viewed by more than 103 million people in just the first five days. That is excellent proof of people’s genuine interest in this topic, which the Western media are trying to ignore. According to the presenter, the prohibition on religious faiths fails to fit in the values of the liberal authorities. Moreover, the fact that not only Christians, but the leaders of all faiths did not stand up against the Ukrainian Government is something that he called shameful.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“After all, Zelenskyy and his regime are fully sponsored by the West and cannot take a single step without its instructions. It is unlikely that any of our colleagues today will dare voice any reproach to the Ukrainian dictator. Fortunately, voices of reason are still heard around the world. Mention was already made today of the interview of Tucker Carlson, a political commentator. He has repeatedly criticized the actions of the Ukrainian authorities against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He responded promptly after the events of December 2022, when the Security Service of Ukraine began mass raids in monasteries and churches, stating that there was no justification for such actions.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Zelenskyy signed a law on upholding the rights of national minorities. That situation clearly demonstrates how the rights of national minorities are being protected in Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly drawn the Council’s attention to Kyiv’s campaign to destroy canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine. We raised that issue during Council meetings on 17 January (see S/PV.9245) and 26 July (see S/PV.9385). On 12 May, at our initiative, the Council held an Arria Formula meeting on the topic “The situation of freedom of religion and belief in Ukraine: the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”. However, the Western members of the Council continue to overlook this situation. They are not allowed to criticize Zelenskyy, otherwise the question may arise of to whom exactly they are supplying weapons and for what purpose.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“At the same time, no one considered that, among other things, the Metropolitan is also the founder and head of an orphanage in Molnytsia, in the Chernivtsi oblast of Ukraine, where approximately 400 young pupils live, and he is their guardian. Several children have serious diseases, and some are disabled. Some have HIV; others suffer from cerebral palsy. All of them need special and continuous care, which the Metropolitan and hired staff had been providing. After the Security Service of Ukraine began persecuting him, the alarm was sounded by the Orthodox community and parishoners — in the event of the arrest of Mikhail Zhar, those children would face the risk of abandonment. Incidentally, Metropolitan Longin, like most of the inhabitants and children in the monastery, are Romanians. And on 3 November Mr.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“By the way, that is also included in an OHCHR report. On 13 November, the Sosnovsky District Court of Cherkasy held another hearing regarding Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kaniv on mendacious accusations. Earlier, on 2 November, the court extended his house arrest, imposed since February, for another two months. In early September, clerics and worshippers of the Cherkasy diocese sent an appeal to Zelenskyy demanding to end the criminal prosecution of the Metropolitan. On 19 May, Mikhail Zhar, also known as Metropolitan Longin, former vicar of the Holy Ascension Banchen Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who was relieved of his post at the end of September, was served notice of a criminal case launched against him for inciting religious hatred. On 11 September, the investigation materials were submitted to the court.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“In the past six months alone, OHCHR documented 10 cases of physical violence and six cases of threats as a result of conflicts among worshippers of various Orthodox Christian communities. That is what OHCHR calls the expulsion of canonical parishioners and priests from their churches. That is but a drop in the bucket, as compared to the real facts. For example, on 28 March in Ivano-Frankivsk, criminals used tear gas in a Ukrainian Orthodox Church site where clergy and worshippers had gathered. Several people were wounded, and one clergy member was hospitalized. Although police officers were but a few steps away from the scene, they did not disperse the criminals and did not prevent the violence. There is a well-known case of a woman who had a miscarriage as a result of a tear-gas attack.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Moreover, on 14 November a commission of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine decided to transfer to the State ownership of the Yelets Assumption and Trinity monasteries, as well as of the Transfiguration Cathedral and Pyatnytska and Saint Catherine’s Churches in Chernihiv, following their effective seizure from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. These were all closed to worshippers from the very beginning of the commission’s work under the pretext of the need for inspection. Access to said sites was blocked by people in camouflage. In January, Ms. Brands Kehris said that she was aware of three instances of persecution of clergy in Ukraine (see S/PV.9245). The statistics that she shared today do not match ours. Less than a year later, the number of such cases exceeded 200.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Today the leadership of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra reserve, working at the behest of Zelenskyy, is attempting to expel the inhabitants from the monastery by refusing to turn on the heating in the premises. At the same time, the premises of the Lavra are being sealed and gradually handed over to the schismatics. The places of worship and other facilities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are constantly subjected to searches by the Ukrainian authorities. The clergy are being served notices of suspicion of committing crimes, and they are being arrested. The activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are banned at the level of local and regional councils, despite the fact that such a ban is outside their authority. And these are not our views on the matter, but rather data provided by OHCHR.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“The ongoing presence of the Ukrainian authorities on its territory has been conditioned on the transfer of the clergy to an organization called the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was essentially established pursuant to a decision of former President Poroshenko. In other words, the State is using blackmail to force monks to change their church affiliation or, plainly speaking, to join the ranks of the schismatics. The brethren, led by Metropolitan Pavel, decided to take a stand. For that brazen display of dissent, the so-called democratic Zelenskyy regime, which aspires to become part of the civilized world, civilized world, arrested the elderly leader of the monastery, who was released on bail of approximately $1 million. The criminal case against him is ongoing.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“An egregious example of that practice is the expulsion of the monks of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the oldest monastery on the territory of modern Ukraine and a symbol of canonical Orthodoxy. The early termination by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of the long-term lease agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is mentioned even in the reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which has a modest approach to that issue, apparently afraid of falling out of favour with Kyiv and its Western sponsors. I remind the Council that attempts to expel the monks from the Lavra have been undertaken since the beginning of this year.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“The purpose of the fakes and hate speech about so-called clergy saboteurs that is spread on social networks is obvious — the Kyiv regime is attempting to justify cleansing the country’s religious space and untying the hands of radicals of all stripes to perpetrate violence and lawlessness. Since 2019, churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been seized, and there has been forced, illegal liquidation of their communities in the guise of alleged voluntary transfers conversions to other faiths. At the same time, as we see from video clips on social networks of Ukrainian Orthodox parishioners, the seized churches are either closed or empty because the Kyiv regime lacks the necessary number of schismatics willing to serve it, nor does it have the necessary number of worshippers willing to tolerate such blasphemy.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“However, the Kyiv regime is moving with confidence in that direction, and that is not a figure of speech. In our time, on 2 May 2014 in Odesa, before the eyes of the entire world, a zealous crowd of Ukrainian nationalists burned alive participants of the peaceful protest against Maidan who were locked up in the trade union building. We will never forget that crime. A broad disinformation campaign has been launched to discredit the clergy in the eyes of the flock, creating the image of a henchman of the enemy. Every day, the Ukrainian police and the Security Service of Ukraine, as well as journalists, make baseless accusations into the information space that weapons, munitions and provisions for the so-called aggressor are stored in churches.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Even during the Great Patriotic War, the German fascist occupiers did not go that far, but the current Kyiv regime did. President Zelenskyy, who began his career as a comedian and a showman, promised to bring peace to Donbas, but instead he unleashed a new wave of escalation that resulted in this conflict. Today, it seems that he decided to share the notorious fate of well- known Roman persecutors of Christians — emperors Claudius, Nero, Trajan and Diocletian. Under his leadership, measures have been consistently adopted from legislative and pseudo-law enforcement, to the level of the media, with the purpose of eradicating canonical orthodoxy in Ukraine. All that is missing is the Colosseum with the public maiming and mutilations of Christians.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“If adopted, the aforementioned draft law would legally prohibit the activity of any Ukrainian religious organization “affiliated with centres of influence in Russia” — that is how it is worded. Moreover, the authors of the current draft law are stating the specific religious organization they have in mind, that is, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The procedure for identifying that affiliation is tailor-made to serve that purpose. There are no clear criteria, and the choice is left to the discretion of the State service of Ukraine for freedom of conscience and religion, headed by the well-known fighter against orthodoxy, Viktor Yelensky. In that way, the draft law, if adopted, will become a practical step towards the destruction of an ancient church with millions of parishioners.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Brands Kehris did not find the words to condemn that draft law, which is currently under consideration by the Ukrainian Parliament to prohibit an ancient canonical orthodox church. Instead of raising the alarm and demanding the draft law be rescinded, today she read out a lecture on how best to formulate it so that it not seem so appalling. Moreover, she was unable to say a single word of condemnation of the use by Kyiv’s law enforcement machinery to persecute respected clergy. On 19 October, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted, on the first reading, draft law No. 8371 introducing changes to some laws in Ukraine on the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine, the only purpose of which is a complete prohibition of the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“We are saying this so that the Ukrainian law enforcement will not take today’s meeting as a pretext to conduct reprisals against peoples and churches who are already their hostages. Nine months ago, on 17 January, during the first Council meeting Russia convened on this topic (see S/PV.9245), Ms. Brands Kehris voiced concern about the Ukrainian Parliament introducing legislation according to which there could be a prohibition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. At that point, she correctly noted that such adoption could undermine the right to freedom of religion, conscience and belief enshrined in article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today, Ms.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): Today, once again, we convened a meeting of the Security Council to draw the attention of the international community to the cynical persecution of the canonical orthodoxy in Ukraine, which has been unfolding before our very eyes. We are grateful for the participation in today’s meeting of the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris, and the Vice-Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and Mass Media of the Moscow Patriarchate, Mr. Vakhtang Kipshidze. At the outset, we wish to emphasize that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church did not request that today’s meeting be held, nor did it authorize us to speak on its behalf. Individual clergy or parishioners also did not do so.”
2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source
“We will be carefully monitoring the situation and will not allow the issue to be swept under the rug. Our top priority remains the adoption of a strong, fully fledged Council product that sends an unequivocal appeal for an immediate ceasefire. We hope that work in that regard will begin as soon as possible.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“We have very serious concerns that the provisions of the resolution will not be implemented on the ground. Who will agree to the humanitarian pauses? Who will monitor and verify them, and what will be the consequences of non-compliance? The resolution we have adopted will therefore not help to deal with the humanitarian crisis in which the Gaza Strip and its population find themselves. We hope that at our next meeting on the Middle East peace process the Secretary-General will report on the implementation of the resolution and present the Council with options for establishing a mechanism for the international monitoring of the process as soon as possible. It is essential that the Council decide on the next steps, such as the observers to be sent to the conflict zone and the United Nations contingents to be involved.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“It is simply a disgrace that with a uniquely powerful set of tools at its disposal, including Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the Council was barely able to squeeze out a call as weak as this. As the saying goes, the mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse. For many weeks now, all the United Nations humanitarian agencies, and the Secretary- General himself, have been calling unanimously for a humanitarian ceasefire. That is why we proposed a corresponding amendment to today’s resolution and were deeply disappointed that it was not adopted. There are some here who are not worried about whether the Council’s response is effective. The main thing for them is to demonstrate that the Council took some sort of humanitarian action.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“My American colleague has just expressed outrage that the Council has been unable to condemn the Hamas attack on 7 October and criticized those who prevented such a condemnation. I would simply like to remind her of the sequence of events, because it was the United States on 18 October that vetoed the draft resolution submitted by Brazil (S/2023/773), which did condemn that act. While Russia and the United Kingdom abstained in the voting at the time, the rest voted in favour. The United States therefore has only itself to blame in that regard. We regret that under pressure from Washington, the language of the resolution has been watered down. The Council has not even demanded that the parties introduce humanitarian pauses, it has merely called for them, which is a mockery of the Council’s prerogatives.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“From the very beginning of the current escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, the United States delegation has sabotaged any attempt to develop a balanced and unpoliticized document aimed at adopting realistic and urgent measures to de-escalate the situation. Our American colleagues in the Council justified the collective punishment and destruction of Palestinians — especially the civilian population — by using the pretexts of combating terrorism and of Israel’s right to self-defence, effectively paralysing the work of the main United Nations organ responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. Washington has consistently rejected draft resolutions demanding a humanitarian ceasefire.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“I want to emphasize once again that humanitarian pauses are not and cannot be a replacement for a ceasefire or even a truce. This is only a brief pause, after which the hostilities will be resumed with renewed vigour. In other words, the people who will be successfully evacuated will again find themselves being bombed, the destruction of civilian infrastructure will continue and there will be ever more victims. We would like to draw the Council’s attention to the fact that just today, the Permanent Mission of the Observer State of Palestine circulated a letter to the Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“Moreover, in the very near future — that is, on 16 November, according to the estimate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — the residents of the enclave will find themselves without any ability to communicate, with no Internet and completely isolated from the outside world. We will have no idea what is going on there. The Gaza Strip will be plunged into complete darkness and chaos, and coordination between emergency services will be disrupted. At this very moment, while delegations in the Security Council are honing their eloquence, the Israeli army is storming the Al Shifa Hospital and bombing UNRWA schools. We are hearing worrisome reports of medical personnel being shot and warehouses storing medical equipment and medicines destroyed.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): The Russian Federation abstained in the voting on the resolution submitted by Malta (resolution 2712 (2023)). We could not fail to respond to the calls, including from countries in the region, for the Security Council to adopt at least some kind of humanitarian product. That is the only reason why we chose to disregard the many shortcomings of the text, chief among which is its lack of a call for an immediate ceasefire. That was and remains the top imperative. Any humanitarian action requires an immediate cessation of hostilities. Under shelling, it is impossible to clear rubble, evacuate people or bring in much-needed fuel — without which Gaza’s hospitals will soon run out of electricity.”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): Before the members of the Security Council move to vote on the draft resolution submitted by Malta (S/2023/876), we would like to propose an oral amendment to the operative part of the draft resolution. We propose that we add a new paragraph, 3 bis, as follows:”
2023-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9479 (2023) · source
“Russia has unique experience in the area of professional peacekeeper training that we are ready to share. Hundreds of Blue Berets from Russia have also contributed to the maintenance of peace and security all over the world. Russian police officers, more than a third of whom are women, are currently serving in five United Nations missions. They include specialists in forensics, criminal investigation, administration and public-order management. We are ready to continue to contribute to the work of peacekeeping police officers.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“United Nations police officers unquestionably need to be professionally trained and appropriately equipped. They must also be highly motivated to carry out their duties. In that regard, we support the work being done through the Secretariat, bilateral intergovernmental cooperation and many regional organizations, especially the African Union, to improve the training of peacekeeping police officers. Russia is actively contributing to that common endeavour. Since 2000, hundreds of foreign peacekeeping police officers — a large number of them women — including commanders, from more than 50 countries, most of them in Africa, have undergone United Nations-certified training at the All-Russian Advanced Training Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Domodedovo.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“United Nations police unquestionably play an important role in the efforts of peacekeeping missions to prevent the resumption of conflict within the scope of their mandate in each specific mission. However, it is difficult to envision police peacekeepers’ potential contribution to the prevention of a conflict or the Secretary-General’s mediation efforts before a crisis has begun and a mission has been deployed. We believe that discussions on all aspects of peacekeeping, including police issues, should be transparent. The platforms best suited to such discussions are the Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations and the General Assembly’s Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, in which all troop-contributing countries are represented and which are mandated to discuss issues related to peacekeeping comprehensively.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“The perception of the mission as a whole largely depends on their ability to build effective communication with local authorities and residents and to ensure that cultural and national specificities are taken into account, as well as possible ethnic, religious and other conflicting factors. Women police officers can play an invaluable role in such efforts. At the same time, the priority here should not be the achievement of any percentage-based gender indicators, but rather the effective implementation of mandated tasks, the actual circumstances of the deployment and the assessment of the security situation. Moreover, when deploying women to United Nations peacekeeping missions, including for leadership positions, the principle of broad geographical representation must be strictly observed.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“It is therefore necessary, even while the peacekeeping mission is still present, to take into account lessons learned from other peacekeeping operations and the specific conditions of the host State in question, as well as factors that could subsequently weaken the infrastructure created. Measures must be put in place to ensure that the capacities of law enforcement agencies and rule-of-law institutions are robust and long- lasting. The Blue Berets are one of the faces of peacekeeping, as police officers are often the first to interact with the population.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“In that connection, another important task that the Blue Berets successfully perform is providing assistance in the post-conflict reform of law enforcement institutions and improving the national capacity of host States. We refer here to the transfer of experience, the organization of activities and training personnel. The more effectively those tasks are carried out, the faster the responsibility for maintaining law and order can be fully handed over to national forces. Particular attention should be paid to ensuring that, following the withdrawal of a peacekeeping mission, the capabilities of national law enforcement forces and the infrastructure that has been created do not deteriorate or fall into disrepair.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“In such circumstances, crime-related issues may increase manifold, including with regard to organized crime, trafficking in persons and drugs, sexual violence and violence against children. Therefore, United Nations police officers, who are better prepared to deal with such circumstances, can make a significant contribution to the critical task of protecting civilians from direct security threats, as well as assisting or even temporarily replacing national law enforcement officers. At the same time, it is important to avoid situations in which the long-term presence of missions essentially leads to the long-term substitution of the efforts of local police officers by those of United Nations personnel.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): We are grateful to the briefers for the information provided. Through the Police Commissioners present, we thank all police peacekeepers for their conscientious fulfilment of their mandated duties in the maintenance of peace and security in complex conflict situations. Police components occupy a special place in United Nations peacekeeping efforts. Depending on the mandate of a particular mission, the scope of the Blue Berets’ activities may vary from advising local colleagues to taking full charge of ensuring law and order. The majority of peacekeeping missions are deployed in countries in which national law enforcement agencies are significantly weakened or indeed altogether absent.”
2023-11-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9475 (2023) · source
“External forces should not be allowed to exploit the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation to derail the recent positive trends to normalize the situation in the Middle East region. The engagement and unity of States in the Middle East and all stakeholders around the well-known Security Council-endorsed legal basis for a resolution, coupled with the political will of the Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate on a range of final status issues, are essential for restarting a comprehensive peace process in the Middle East.”
2023-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9472 (2023) · source
“We believe that without a resolution of the Palestinian problem on the well-known international legal basis, long-term stabilization in the Middle East region is unrealistic, and Israel’s security will also not be possible. Today it is more important than ever to immediately stop the bloodshed and avoid unilateral actions, including the settler takeover of areas of the West Bank of the Jordan River, encroachment upon Jerusalem’s holy sites and incitement to violence and terrorism. We stress in particular the importance of Palestinian unity in the current circumstances. We also fully support the increasingly urgent calls for collective action by influential international players. We also emphasize the central role of States in the Middle East in resolving problems in the region.”
2023-11-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9472 (2023) · source