YouSaid · the spoken record

Nusseibeh

lines on the record: 1,026
first: 2014-04-25
most recent: 2023-12-29
sittings or episodes: 151
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

“We can choose to understand that 7 October evoked moments of visceral fear and vulnerability among Jews in Israel and around the world. We can choose to finally uphold the promise of “never again” and ensure its universality. We can choose to learn the lessons of this ancient playbook and refuse to allow it to unfold once more in generational hatred and grievance. Nothing about this conflict was inevitable. Nothing about where we go from here is inevitable. At every moment, there was, and is, choice. But we must make those decisions now and use the collective courage of the countries within and outside this Chamber to change course. We must give an alternative vision of hope against the raging nihilistic extremism that wishes to see our region swallowed whole in this wave.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“We can choose to admit that we all know this to be true: what is happening in Gaza does not meet this language’s, or any other language’s, definition of self-defence. We can choose to make the hard and necessary sacrifices for peace and security to ensure that, once the war stops, it never restarts. We can choose to impose a prohibitive political, legal and financial cost on the extremist settler expansion and violence that has ravaged the West Bank. We can choose to recognize that, for the Jewish homeland to truly realize its founding aspirations, it cannot be built on top of an occupation. We can choose to deny extremists and their many enablers — however they sound or look — the legitimacy of leadership and our backing.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“Bold steps like that are required, else how would Palestinians, subjected to the unrestrained slaughter of the war, turn around and, over bodies of their kin and rubble of their homes, stretch their hand out to make peace? The late Yitzhak Rabin explained that sanctifying human life, as the Book of Books commands, requires not armoured plating or tanks or planes or concrete fortifications, but peace. Less than a year later, an extremist killed him after a rally in central Tel Aviv, where Israeli and Palestinian flags were flown by thousands yearning to sanctify their lives and the lives of their neighbours. All of us have learned, some more recently than others, that we cannot make Israelis or Palestinians choose what we want them to do. But we can choose.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“With more than 300 dead in the West Bank, 80 of them children, and escalating Israeli raids across Palestinians towns and cities, it is clear that far more tectonic shifts are under way than Gaza alone. When leaders proudly claim that their life’s work was the prevention of the two-State solution, when they openly call for the expulsion of Palestinians from their land and when they routinely threaten other countries with a fate similar to that of Gaza, we must recognize the need here for a fundamental reset. This war is already different, and how it ends must be different. There must be an international presence to monitor the ceasefire, for it to hold. And there needs to be a plan towards separation that starts, rather than ends, with a Palestinian State.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“Two-thousand-pound munitions — bombs not used in half a century — are dropped on Gaza, risking the lives of more than 2 million Palestinians and, it must be said, the more than 129 hostages that remain in the Strip. In the face of the carnage, we have all rediscovered the urgency of achieving the two-State solution as a way forward out of this. But the reawakened sense of historic and moral responsibility must manifest itself in decisive action, with clear guardrails defined to keep this on track. It must recognize that the violence visited by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank is the logical endpoint of a settler enterprise that has been swallowing up Palestinian land for decades.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“Since the horrific attacks of 7 October on Israel and the war that followed, we were told within and outside this Chamber that Israel’s defence would decisively achieve a clearly defined endgame, while following the rules of war, because that is what democracies do. After nearly three months and 21,000 Palestinians killed, those declarations and commitments are a fallacy. We have all been in frequent contact with humanitarians on the ground in Gaza, and their dystopian accounts, unbearable to hear let alone live through, are known to everybody here. Civilians move up and down this strip of land in a desperate futile search for safety, too often killed in the process.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“Many of the countries represented in this Chamber, mine included, have to make bold and perhaps uncomfortable decisions at this moment. The alternative is the hellscape of Gaza, expanded into the West Bank, Israel, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East. Gaza in 2023 demonstrates the immense capacity of humans to inflict untold horror on other humans. Advanced military systems have intensified beyond imagination the scale and pace of the death and destruction. This is a war of extremists, radicalizing youth in schools, universities and streets in the Middle East and beyond.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“I would like to say at the outset that here has not been a Security Council meeting on the subject when the Council has not collectively demanded the urgent release of all hostages held in the Gaza Strip. In fact, the resolution adopted by the Council last week (resolution 2720 (2023)), penned by the United Arab Emirates, demanded their urgent release and for medical access to be provided immediately. I would like to thank all the briefers here today for their powerful statements underscoring why the United Arab Emirates called for this urgent meeting on the very viability of the two-State solution and stability in our region. In this latest war of the decades-long conflict, it is clear that we are at a crossroads.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“It starts a challenging, but feasible, path towards a prosperous, peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan, built by Afghans, for Afghans. This has been a productive year for the Security Council on Afghanistan. Amid increasing division and polarization, we have largely maintained unity on this file. I wish to continue inviting incoming and current Council members to strive for such progress. It is an important file worth that unity. In our admittedly brief experience, we have found the purpose of the Council repeatedly validated by the potential and practice of diplomacy. It has been an extraordinary honour and a privilege to serve with Japan as co-penholder on Afghanistan, and they have our full confidence and support as they continue leading on this file next year.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9521 (2023) · source
“A patchwork of well-meaning but unsustainable humanitarian assistance is all that stands in the face of total collapse. Let today signal the beginning of the end for all of that. We have before us perhaps the last opportunity to change course on Afghanistan. It will require compromises from all. Resolution 2721 (2023) sets in motion a principled and pragmatic international approach to Afghanistan. That approach centres on the interests of Afghans, while reflecting the need for regional and international buy-in. The implementation of the recommendations outlined in the Special Coordinator’s report, at the very least, will bring coherence to an often ad hoc and reactive approach by the international community.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9521 (2023) · source
“At this time last year, the Taliban issued some of their harshest edicts to date. They banned girls from education beyond the sixth grade, and they soon followed that with bans on women working for the United Nations and for international non-governmental organizations. What was clear then — and is abundantly clear now — is that there is no coherent international strategy for Afghanistan. Afghanistan and its people — to be crystal clear, that includes its women and girls — are isolated, left to fend for themselves as their tragedy is instrumentalized by outsiders for performative virtue-signalling and cynical self-interest. Afghans struggle for basic needs such as food, shelter, health care, education and a decent living.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9521 (2023) · source
“On behalf of the United Arab Emirates and Japan, I want to express our deep gratitude for today’s adoption. I thank all Security Council members for reinforcing, over the past year, our shared and enduring commitment to Afghanistan. I would also like to recognize Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu and his team for their exemplary work on the independent assessment (see S/2023/856). Finally, and most important, I want to pay tribute to Afghans — women and girls, men and boys, Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Sunni, Shia, Christian, Sikh and Hindu — in all their remarkable ethnic and religious diversity, in the country and in the diaspora. I salute their irrepressible spirit and unyielding dedication to an Afghanistan at peace with itself, its people, its region and the world. I want to assure them that we too are dedicated to that Afghanistan.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9521 (2023) · source
“None of this will be sustainable if there is no equality between Israelis and Palestinians in charting their shared destiny together. It can never be a just peace if equality and dignity are not the basis of it. This resolution gives us a signal of that political horizon ahead. The two-State solution with an independent and sovereign Palestinian State is the only path to achieving just peace that guarantees security, stability and prosperity for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples alike, who both have a right to statehood on their ancestral land. The United Arab Emirates will never tire in its pursuit of that goal.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“It will quite literally make the difference between life and death for hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians. It is vital that the Council live up to its responsibility by ensuring its full implementation. But as we help save lives here in Gaza so too must we focus here on restoring the hope of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Today’s resolution is an important step on the long journey ahead. Any lasting and comprehensive solution demands an end to the war in Gaza, addressing the dramatic situation of those internally displaced, uniting Gaza and the West Bank under a single legitimate and representative Palestinian Authority, reconstructing what has been destroyed and ensuring that never again shall violence, incitement and terror be allowed to thrive.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“We are all responsible for making sure that it works. We thank each and every Council member for their dedication and support to the process, including the 10 elected members of the Security Council for their steadfast unity on this file. I would like to thank the United States again, and the United Kingdom, for their important constructive diplomatic work behind the scenes on this issue. I would also like to thank the Ecuadorian presidency for its patience and wisdom in enabling this adoption despite very challenging negotiations. To the United States, I would like to thank Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose personal dedication and commitment to help save lives made today possible. This outcome will enable life-saving humanitarian assistance to get into Gaza and reach those in need.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“But what is possible is not predetermined; it is the product of active choices. The collective choices of the Council, influenced by its structure, have shaped this grim reality. They can help shape a different future. Doing that must begin by understanding that 30 years after they recognized the State of Israel, there is very little left for Palestinians to concede. The injustice of the occupation persists with the international community’s complicity. If you have a moral, national or political interest in saving the two- State solution, you must act now. This resolution gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that, at the very least, the world will not tolerate the continued deprivation of the people of Gaza from basic necessities. It puts in place a system that is necessary now and that will remain necessary when the war ends.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“The text compels the international community to finally share in the burden that Egypt has been shouldering, and it commits all of us to breaking the cruel blockade strangling Gaza for the past 16 years. But the Palestinian struggle is singular in how every instance of progress serves as a reminder of the scale of the tragedy. It is not lost on us that, while today we start building a humanitarian architecture that responds to an intolerable situation, we are still unable to stop the war. It is not lost on us that, despite the incalculable damage visited upon them with impunity, Palestinians are asked to accept that diplomacy is the art of what is possible. It is not lost on us that, although what has been possible has been brutally inadequate, they have kept faith in the international system.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“For the record, I would like to state that the draft resolution that was put into blue on Friday received 83 sponsors from the membership, but that today’s resolution 2720 (2023) was not open for co-sponsorship, due to the last minute nature of the negotiations and due to the fact that it was put into blue only this morning, so no one withdrew their co-sponsorship. It had not been open for co-sponsorship, but I am sure that it would have received widespread support if it had been. I would like to reflect on the voting that just took place and what it says about this conflict and this body. We welcome its adoption and are grateful for the Council’s support. We believe that the resolution begins to unblock life-saving aid, whose denial has condemned more than half a million people in Gaza to famine.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“If the current situation continues, over the next few days, while we are safe at home with our loved ones during the festive period, civilians in Gaza will be dying either from military strikes or the secondary impacts of war, hunger, disease and widespread infection. The Council has a responsibility to ensure that they are not victimized twice over. We have extensively negotiated and tried to find language that meets everyone’s concerns, but also addresses the challenge with a practical response. I would like to thank each and every Council member who has contributed to, and improved, the text, and I would like to thank the United States for its complete engagement in trying to find a draft resolution that meets the moment. Let us not reject this draft resolution when the needs of the people are so great.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“We have established similar mechanisms in other humanitarian crises. We have been watching scenes on our screens in recent weeks of civilians desperately scrambling in Gaza over basic necessities to live. That should be an alarm bell indicating a breakdown of civil order in Gaza. Not only is it morally abhorrent, but it is not in anyone’s interest and could spiral unless we address it head on. Many Governments, including those represented at this table, have made tremendous efforts to provide aid, funds and advanced negotiations regarding hostages, but until we pool efforts for an international response, we will not be able to manage the crisis sustainably.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“The draft resolution that the United Arab Emirates has put in blue this morning responds to the calls for a sustainable cessation of hostilities and a massive scale-up of humanitarian aid. Often, in diplomacy, the challenge is meeting the moment in the world we live in, not in the world that we want, and we will never tire of pushing for a full humanitarian ceasefire. The draft resolution tasks the Secretary-General with appointing a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator. Their mandate will be to monitor, verify and facilitate humanitarian relief to Gaza, and the draft resolution gives them the necessary resources and equipment to do so. The coordinator will establish a mechanism for accelerating the delivery of aid, and we expect the initial report on its work within 20 days.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“The text also calls for urgent steps to allow unhindered and critically expanded humanitarian access, and it also calls on the parties to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. We know that it is not a perfect text. We know that only a ceasefire will end the suffering, and that is why the United Arab Emirates put a draft resolution (S/2023/970) to a vote in the Council on Friday, 8 December (see S/PV.9498). Unfortunately, it failed to be adopted. On 12 December, 153 countries called for this in the General Assembly. Again, a ceasefire did not happen as a result of that call, although its significance in its moral clarity is clear.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“What that means is that all possible land, sea and air routes into Gaza must be utilized to allow life-saving aid to enter. That includes ensuring that the Kerem Shalom/Kerem Abu Salem crossing remains open in full, with the Council’s backing. But even if trucks are going in at scale, if deconfliction does not happen, aid simply cannot reach those who need it. Current deconfliction efforts are clearly not working if 136 United Nations workers have lost their lives because of the conflict. That is why the text reaffirms that United Nations and humanitarian personnel, premises and consignments are protected and must not be attacked — a vital principle of international humanitarian law that has been repeatedly violated in this conflict.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“The text (S/2023/1029) is the product of extensive consultations and engagement among members of the Council and concerned parties, in particular Egypt and Palestine, for whose efforts we are especially grateful. The purpose of the text is very simple. It responds, with action, to the dire humanitarian situation on the ground for the Palestinian people bearing the brunt of this conflict, while protecting those who are trying to deliver life-saving aid, and it demands the urgent release of the hostages and for humanitarian access to address their medical needs. The draft resolution reaffirms that we are building on the important resolution 2712 (2023) and its provisions. It demands that the parties to the conflict allow and facilitate the use of all available routes to the Gaza Strip for the provision of humanitarian assistance.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Let us be clear: in the coming period, unless we take drastic action, there will be famine in Gaza. This war and the unbearable price being paid by Palestinian civilians, 70 per cent of whom we know are women and children, is also having a significant impact on neighbouring countries. Regional spillover is a real possibility. We are seeing it already, including in the West Bank, where almost 300 Palestinians, including 75 children, have been killed. Egypt’s efforts to mitigate the crisis on its border are admirable, but it needs help. It is not Egypt’s problem alone. There must be an international response, and that is why the Council has been asked to urgently step in.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Thousands of trucks trying, and failing, to enter through a choke point, a crossing that was only ever intended to be for pedestrians. Nearly 1 million people are crammed into an area at the Rafah border in Gaza where, before the war, there were less than 300,000. According to the World Food Programme, the food that has entered Gaza since the beginning of the conflict is only 10 per cent of what is necessary to sustain the population. Half of the people of Gaza are now starving. The United Nations has reported that the proportion of people going hungry in Gaza is higher than in any country in any conflict in the past 20 years. Given the desperate situation I have just described, which is being detailed by the Secretary-General to all United Nations agencies, things cannot possibly get any worse.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Last week, a group of Security Council members travelled to the Rafah border. We saw first-hand the dire challenges that we have been discussing in this Chamber for more than two months now, and we met victims who endured and survived the hell unleashed on Gaza following the 7 October attacks on Israel. I will never forget meeting Mohammed, a boy who is almost the same age as my son, Laith. Like countless other children, he was recovering at the Al-Arish hospital from wounds caused by an Israeli air strike. He told me that he just wanted to go home and see his parents, and it was heartbreaking to hear from hospital staff that he had no idea that the strike that had wounded him had also killed every single member of his family. The situation Council members saw at the Rafah border is unbearable.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“The Security Council and the international community must lend its support to a principled and pragmatic process that serves the lives and livelihoods of all Afghans. Nobody is served if Afghanistan is isolated, if its economy implodes, if border tensions escalate, if farmers are made destitute or if terrorism is allowed a foothold — not least of whom Afghan women and girls, who must be included in charting their own destiny and that of their country.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“The United Arab Emirates is therefore today pleased to announce that it will sponsor the position of a climate security adviser within UNAMA. The adviser will be responsible for mapping out climate risks and devising appropriate strategies for addressing those, in order to reduce climate-related vulnerabilities. However, effectively responding to climate security risks in Afghanistan will require tailored engagement and technical assistance to the de facto authorities — exactly as the independent assessment proposes. Despite UNAMA’s crucial work and the various efforts by Member States, there remains an enormous gap between the reality of Afghanistan and the aspirations of its people. That gap will not be narrowed if we double down on a failed approach.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“We have just wrapped up the twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in the United Arab Emirates, and the Conference highlighted, as never before, the interplay between climate and stability. The changing climate in Afghanistan does not only imperil its people, but also has significant implications beyond its borders. The ongoing drought is diminishing agricultural yields, leading to disputes over access to water, keeping children away from school and driving people away from their homes. In a country with the world’s highest humanitarian needs and where 80 per cent of livelihoods depend on agriculture, the destabilizing effects of climate change can be devastating.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“While we fundamentally abhor and reject the restrictions imposed on women and girls, we are at the same time convinced that withholding assistance that is aimed at basic human needs runs counter to our commitment to Afghanistan and its people and to our humanitarian imperative. Of course, even if the Council endorses that approach, and we hope that it does, we should not be naive about the road ahead. That process will be neither easy nor quick. But the essence of the pathway outlined by the Special Coordinator is that it demonstrates what can be gained by both sides from mutual and principled engagement.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“With the submission of the independent assessment mandated by resolution 2679 (2023), we now have a blueprint for an approach that would offer hope for ordinary Afghans. While the assessment is no panacea, it does provide a constructive alternative to a failed status quo. The measures outlined as immediately implementable include provisions such as support for agricultural livelihoods, improvements in the health sector and assistance with water management. Looking at the staggering scale of the needs in the country and the limited amount of aid available, it is very hard to argue against those types of activities.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“The October earthquake in Herat compounded humanitarian needs in a country where two thirds of the population continues to require assistance. None of that is sustainable, and all of it must move on a different trajectory of hope and development. Afghanistan deserves better. This year, we voted unanimously to renew the mandate of UNAMA, to commission the independent assessment and to stand up for the human rights of Afghan women and girls (see S/PV.9283). Despite the divisions that sometimes preclude this body from taking necessary action, there was resounding unity on this file. All 15 members reaffirmed the international community’s commitment to the present and the future of Afghanistan and its people, especially its women and girls. We did not let them down, and we will continue to support the way forward.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“It has been two and a half years since the fall of Kabul. Afghan women and girls continue to face severe curtailment of their rights. For just one example, the recent UNAMA report on the response to sexual and gender-based violence documents how women who are victims of this violence are sent to prison, because authorities say there are no other ways of protecting them. The security situation remains precarious, with profoundly alarming cross-border incidents. A week ago, a terrorist attack, claimed by Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, targeted a Pakistani police station close to the border, killing 23 officers and wounding 32. Additionally, Afghanistan’s fragile and contracting economy is threatened by the decrease in aid funding.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“I thank Special Representative Otunbayeva for her invaluable briefing; and since this is our last meeting as co-penholders on this file, allow me to also recognize her tireless commitment to Afghanistan and to its people and her steady leadership of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). I assure her that the United Arab Emirates will continue its strong support of her vital role and efforts in Afghanistan. I also thank the briefers for their insightful remarks. In carrying out our responsibility for this file over the past year, alongside our partner, Japan, we have worked to build and maintain Security Council unity. From our perspective, it is vital that this unity continue and that it coalesce around an international approach towards Afghanistan that works.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source
“The United Arab Emirates supports all diplomatic efforts aimed at bringing this crisis to an end and believes that there is no military solution that provides the Sudanese people with security or stability. At a moment of significant security, political and humanitarian challenge, our ultimate objective is clear — peace, stability and prosperity for the people of the Sudan.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9492 (2023) · source
“I want to stress that the effectiveness of United Nations efforts requires close cooperation with the host State. The Sudan’s 16 November letter expressed the commitment “to engaging constructively with the Security Council and the Secretariat on a new, appropriate and agreed upon formula, with a view to ensuring positive and implementable results” (S/2023/884, p.2). That close cooperation will be critical, particularly throughout the coming weeks and months. We reiterate our call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Sudan and the implementation of the parties’ commitment to what was agreed to in Jeddah in May, including unhindered humanitarian access and the protection of civilians.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9492 (2023) · source
“We are sure that the findings and recommendations of the independent strategic review currently under way will assist the Council in understanding the needs and capacities required to support the Sudanese people and the Sudan under these exceptional circumstances. We also wish every success to the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sudan, Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, in his new appointment. We are fully aware of the complexity that comes with the drawdown of United Nations missions, including the logistical challenges that must be overcome. We hope that the Mission’s withdrawal process will take into account the lessons learned from past experiences and that of the authorities in ensuring the safety of United Nations personnel, as well as ensuring a smooth transition of tasks and expertise to the United Nations country team.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9492 (2023) · source
“I would like to thank the United Kingdom again today for its tireless and effective efforts in its capacity as a penholder that has steered resolution 2715 (2023) to its adoption. As the Council terminates the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS) in response to the Sudan’s request, I would also like to take this opportunity to express my country’s gratitude and appreciation to UNITAMS personnel for their dedication in carrying out their work. Let me be clear: the United Nations is not abandoning the Sudan. The Security Council will follow the drawdown and transition process to its conclusion.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9492 (2023) · source
“We encourage the broader United Nations system, Somalia’s partners and the international community at large to continue their efforts in assisting the country in the creation of conditions conducive to economic recovery, growth and stability. The United Arab Emirates remains steadfast in its support for Somalia and its people, and we will continue to work alongside them and their partners in support of a peaceful and prosperous future.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9491 (2023) · source
“While today’s resolution is a big step, it is just a first step, and the threat of Al-Shabaab’s terrorist activities still hangs over Somali civilians. The immense challenges that the country faces today cannot be solved solely through military means. In addition to the vision so clearly articulated by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in the Council last June (see S/PV.9356), it is vital to continue multilateral engagement and support for Somalia from the international community. As the country continues to make strides towards lasting stability, we must look to consolidate peace gains. There is still a distance to go.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9491 (2023) · source
“The United Arab Emirates welcomes today’s resolution (resolution 2714 (2023)) and fully supports the lifting of the arms embargo on the Federal Government of Somalia. The resolution marks the culmination of a partnership between the Council and the Government of Somalia, and it enables the Council to respond to the calls made by the Government to review the sanctions regime, which were also strongly supported by the African Union. Today’s resolution sets a precedent on the way in which sanctions regimes can be adjusted according to developments on the ground. The United Arab Emirates believes in the importance of sending a strong message that Somalia’s plight matters and that the Council stands with the Somali people.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9491 (2023) · source
“I would like to begin by thanking China for its stewardship as President of the Security Council for the month of November. In a month that proved to be exceptionally challenging, China helped to steer our discussions on critical issues with wisdom and skill. I also wish to congratulate Ecuador and wish them every success as they assume the presidency of the Council for December. Turning to the resolutions adopted today (resolutions 2713 (2023) and 2714 (2023)), I would like to first express our appreciation to the United Kingdom for their creative approach as penholder. We believe that the work that has been done here will positively affect the future of Somalia. I also thank Council members for their constructive engagement throughout the negotiations of what is the Council’s longest-ever United Nations sanctions regime.”
2023-12-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9491 (2023) · source
“And Palestinian and Israeli women and children deserve that political horizon. As we watch this war unfold, we are seeing any chance for a peaceful future slip away. But we do not have to take that path, and clear choices lie ahead for Israel and for Hamas. We have all felt anger, despair and helplessness as we have stared into the abyss of Gaza’s grief, but we must not act without the courage and resilience that the innocent have shown and taught us these past weeks — and we should all feel angry if we fail them again today.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We reiterate the need for safe, sustained and at-scale humanitarian access throughout the entire Gaza strip, and we encourage all efforts to that end. That must not be linked to hostage negotiations — we unequivocally reject that premise. That, in addition to other diplomatic efforts, will help alleviate the desperate plight of women and children, who were the priority of Council deliberations last week (see S/PV.9479). If there is one crisis in which the Council should deploy every tool at its disposal today, this is it. I would like to urge my colleagues to be creative and to break out of the paralysis of the status quo approach. Prioritizing efforts to stop the violence and working towards the long-term resolution of this conflict is the only rational strategy to ensure security and stability for both Palestinians and Israelis.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“Let me emphasize that what is at stake is not only the now — women’s and children’s lives, their well- being and dignity — it is also their future. Women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in negotiating and working towards the two-State solution will be critical to secure a lasting and sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians. We are watching those peacemakers lose their lives by the thousands. Ultimately, as United Nations officials have said, only a ceasefire will prevent further violence and suffering. But in the meantime, we call for the full and urgent implementation of resolution 2712 (2023), adopted just last week, and we recall the Council’s request for the Secretary-General to give the Council the options to effectively monitor the implementation of this resolution as a matter of urgency.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“In the West Bank too, Israel’s growing restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement is limiting women’s ability to provide for their families, is preventing access to critical services, including medical care, and is interrupting children’s access to education. The numbers of Palestinians killed there by extremist settlers, including 53 children, since this latest round of the conflict in Gaza, is another indicator that extreme ideologies are being mainstreamed today. That includes some Israeli Government statements calling for the forced transfer of the Palestinian population, which must stop. Misinformation can lead to grave miscalculation, and all Government leaders are accountable for that.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We offer our condolences yet again to the United Nations, which has lost an unprecedented number of over 100 colleagues in the war. The very high number of women and particularly children killed by the relentless bombardment is a strong indicator that international humanitarian law is being violated and that its fundamental principles of distinction and proportionality are not being respected. There have been many debates about that in the media, but the numbers speak for themselves, as do the indiscriminate bombing targets. This must stop immediately. There can be no justification for attacks that imperil large groups of civilians, especially women and children. The laws of war, especially for the protection of civilians, are not optional or reciprocal. And they apply to all, including Hamas, and must be abided by.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We thank Qatar, Egypt and the United States for their tireless mediation efforts, a welcome note of hope in what have been described as the darkest of days for the Palestinian people. We hope that the four-day truce announced can be extended to allow life-saving humanitarian relief in for Palestinians in Gaza and the safe return of the remaining hostages there. Many lives hang in the balance in the coming days, and those numbers have faces and names. The truce did not come in time to save countless lives, like that of Dima Alhaj, a World Health Organization staff member who worked at the Limb Reconstruction Centre in Gaza. She was killed yesterday, with her 6-month-old baby, her husband and other family members. Dima and her baby should still be alive today, like all the other women and children whose lives were cut short by the war.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We are witnessing grief and horror of immense proportions, as well as the normalization of hate speech and the dehumanization of the other across social media and in the real world. There is also an alarming rise in both antisemitism and Islamophobia unleashed as a result across the globe. So this conflict is not compartmentalized and contained in the Gaza Strip, and it threatens to unleash forces that destabilize all of us. That is why our efforts must be scaled up to defeat the rising tide of hatred. We therefore welcome the announcement today of the agreed release of 50 women and children hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian women and children detained in Israel, as well as some additional aid to enter Gaza.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source