YouSaid · the spoken record

Obrien

lines on the record: 875
first: 2010-06-29
most recent: 2017-08-30
sittings or episodes: 46
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

“I was also asked by the United Kingdom representative about the continuing United Nations plan on airdrops to access besieged areas and, as is well known, the United Nations is using various logistical methods to bring assistance to people in need throughout Syria by every means possible, land, sea and air. The World Food Programme, as has been noted already, has developed concrete plans for airdrops and air bridges to other locations, so International Syria Support Group members are aware of what is needed to make this a reality. The World Food Programme has indicated that the consent of the Government of Syria and security guarantees from all parties would be a precondition; in any event, it is a precondition of the civilian operators ofthose proposed air operations.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“A request was included in the July convoy plan and has been approved by the Syrian authorities. We have, however, not yet been able to go because of the security situation. So the question about the Castello road is an absolutely key moment, as will be clear from the point of view of why we are asking for a 48-hour humanitarian pause. Because the Castello road is now so damaged, it cannot take large lorries, only very small lorries; so in order to get the necessary quantities, we need a longer period of time for the added number of trucks to be able to proceed and, indeed, to return once they have delivered. So that is why the Castello road issue and the clarification that was sought is so absolutely vital and therefore a crunch point.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“In order to prevent this from happening, since 7 July, civilian, humanitarian and commercial movements in or out of the eastern part of Aleppo City have, as the Council is aware, come to a halt, and we need to reposition food stocks that would be sufficient for at least one month for the 150,000 people in need of food assistance in eastern Aleppo. Basic health supplies, excluding anaesthetics and surgical items, will be sufficient for about four to five months, so long as water continues to be pumped through the water-pumping stations. The entire Aleppo City is located in eastern Aleppo, so we have tried to establish an access route across the conflict lines via our United Nations hub in the Government-controlled western Aleppo City. There is, as was referred to by another representative, some movement between east and west.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Mr. O'Brien: I shall be brief and simply seek to address some of the questions that were raised and then leave it at that. In particular, I was asked by the representative of Spain to give a little bit more detail on the Castello road issue, and, as I said in my statement, eastern Aleppo City is currently at serious risk of besiegement, and a besieged eastern Aleppo would add at least a quarter of a million people to the current number of besieged civilians, bringing this to somewhere near 1 million people.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“The international community has shown unity of purpose before and must show it again before it is too late and we face the prospect of losing another generation of Syrians to conflict and misery.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Anything less than the full lifting of the sieges will never be enough, and we cannot pretend otherwise. I will close by repeating what I and my colleagues have said many times. The crisis must end with a political solution, not a military victory. But we should make no mistake as to the current humanitarian trajectory; despite some sentiment and even rhetoric within the international community, the available protection space is shrinking, humanitarian conditions are worsening and the level of despair is rising. Those cannot and must not become accepted trends to which the international community seemingly resigns itself as the search for a political solution continues.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“It is well within the power of all parties and those who back them to minimize civilian casualties and avoid further crimes and atrocities. They must do so. Civilians and civilian infrastructure are not pawns to be sacrificed, but are specially protected under international law. Secondly, it must include all necessary action from the parties and their supporters to ensure safe, sustained, unhindered and unconditional access. That must include humanitarian truces and pauses in the fighting, so that we can reach those civilians trapped behind the front lines and that they can reach life-saving services not available in their areas. Better still, of course, is for all the fighting to stop. Thirdly, it must include an immediate end to the sieges that still collectively punish hundreds of thousands of civilians mercilessly.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“It is vital that all humanitarian organizations, personnel and other assets - wherever they are based, wherever they are operating, or however they deliver assistance in Syria - be provided all necessary protection by all parties to the conflict, as afforded under international humanitarian law. Let me be frank - we need to urgently regain the momentum on protection and access. The momentum created in the first half of the year and since the creation of the International Syria Support Group's humanitarian task force must be the platform for a step change in the protection and access situation for civilians into the second half of this year. That must include, first, a restoration and consolidation of the cessation of hostilities and an end to indiscriminate attacks that recklessly kill and injure civilians.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“I would like to recognize the bravery of those who risk their lives every time they cross conflict lines and borders or enter active conflict areas to provide much needed life-saving assistance to those in need and remind those who sometimes carp that gaining the Government of Syria's permission is the only way to mitigate these live and present mortal dangers to our brave United Nations colleagues and their partners, many of them local Syrians. Collectively, through these efforts, we are reaching millions ofpeople per month through regular programming, cross-border and cross-line activities, as well as air operations.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“This deliberate denial of essential medicine and surgical equipment undermines the very basis of humanitarian action. Meanwhile, some non-State armed groups have also attacked, threatened and refused to cooperate with humanitarian workers. And sustained United Nations access to areas under the control of ISIL, such as parts of the Raqqah and Deir ez-Zor governorates, remains extremely limited. Throughout Syria, United Nations agencies and partners from non-governmental organizations continue their tireless efforts to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Syrian population, often at great personal risk. We saw that first-hand on 29 June, when during a convoy to Irbin and Zamalka, one of the drivers of a supply truck was shot in the chest, and another round struck an armoured vehicle.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“The team on the ground continues to press for the delivery of aid based on independent United Nations needs assessments, as called for by the Security Council in its resolutions Even when approvals are granted and the large amount of paperwork is completed, permits given by the Government centrally do not always translate down to their security forces. In particular, despite repeated calls for the free passage of all medicines and surgical equipment in aid convoys, from the Council and others, medical and surgical items continue to be excluded or removed from midwifery kits, paediatric kits, and diarrheal-disease sets, depriving thousands of people each month - I repeat: midwifery kits, paediatric kits, and diarrheal-disease sets.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Beyond Aleppo and the four towns, we have seen that very clearly in July, as even with Government of Syria approvals we have been unable to reach many other locations, such as Darayya and Duma, due to bombing and shelling and fighting along key access roads. The United Nations and partner cross-border operations from Turkey and Jordan have also been affected by insecurity along border areas and key access routes, thus affecting our ability to reach tens of thousands of people. Arbitrary restrictions and obstructions continue to limit or obstruct where we deliver aid, to whom and how often. Notwithstanding the high level of approvals for the July inter-agency convoy plan, the Syrian authorities only authorized us to deliver to 75 per cent of the population estimated by the United Nations to be in those areas.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Significant progress was made on approvals by the Government of Syria for the July inter-agency convoy plan, with 34 out of 35 locations approved for convoys, including, for the first time, all requested besieged areas with the full package of assistance. Those breakthroughs, however incremental, are proof that, when there is enough political will, it is really possible to reach people in desperate need of life-saving assistance. I thank those with influence on the parties for bringing their weight to bear on the issue, especially recent initiatives by the United States and the Russian Federation, not least the Russian Federation's Ambassador and his team in Damascus. At the same time, we have to recognize the enormous access challenges still in front of us. The escalation of fighting and insecurity continues to further constrain access.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Surely none of us, no one here, is immune to those horrors, which constitute daily life for so many of our fellow human beings who just happen to have been Syrian in Syria when their world exploded around them over five years ago. The life-or-death situation in many parts of the country is exactly why we press from every possible angle to get regular and sustained access to all besieged and hard-to-reach areas. It is true that some progress has been made this year. Overall, we have now reached over 1 million people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. We have reached each besieged area at least once this year, including 400,000 of the 590,000 people, including as well through ongoing airdrops to 110,000 people in Deir ez-Zor city.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“They are places where those fortunate enough to find care all too often die in their beds when their medical facility is hit. And yes, in Syria, there are unspeakable sexual crimes against children - it is abhorrent and on our collective watch. When you look beyond the numbers, Mr. President, that is the reality that people are facing in those areas day in and day out. It is not the fighters or those at checkpoints who are suffering and dying in such ways. It is the civilian population, the most vulnerable, children, women, disabled persons and the elderly. Those are indisputable facts, and they speak for themselves.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Most of those people are completely desperate for an escape from the constant fighting, shelling and snipers that engulf their lives. Parents have no food for their near-starving children. Malnutrition is so severe that children die as a result. There is no running water or electricity. Prices for the little commodities that reach those areas are dozens of times higher than in neighbouring communities, and thus simply not affordable for those already reduced to nothing. They are places with little education, and where sexual violence, child recruitment and early marriage are commonplace. Imagine a place where a pregnant woman cannot give birth safely because she cannot receive the necessary painkillers or the care that is needed.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“I am also gravely concerned about the situation at the berm along the Jordanian border, where the number of people seeking shelter from the fighting inside Syria increased exponentially in recent months. The vast majority of those stranded are children, women and elderly people, as well as those in need of medical care, including hundreds of pregnant women. It is baking hot, totally arid - a no-man's land of a barely living hell. The fact is that across Syria approximately 5.5 million people are in need in hard-to-reach and besieged areas with little physical protection and limited access to basic life-saving assistance. Of that number, some 590,000 people remain totally trapped in besieged areas. IfI may, let me take a moment to describe what it is actually like to live in those areas.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“I call on all parties to allow the sick and wounded to exit the four towns and all other besieged areas to get the medical care they need to survive, and put an end to the tit-for-tat approach. Medical evacuations are not a question of politics or military advantage, but of basic humanity. I have highlighted Aleppo city and the four towns today, but members will find similar conditions in many more places: the tens of thousands trapped and exposed to fighting in Menbij with no humanitarian support; or the reports of dozens of civilians killed in strikes in Tokhar, in rural Aleppo; the continued bombardment of Douma, Darayya and Khan El-Shieh, in rural Damascus; and relentless attacks by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant on the besieged parts of Deir ez-Zor city.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Let me be clear: we will see such images again unless the parties enable immediate and unconditional humanitarian deliveries to the four towns. This is no hollow warning; this is highly likely to occur again unless the Council enforces access. Urgent medical evacuations must also be immediately available where needed. The current tit- for-tat arrangement, which has led to children dying in one of the towns because there is no equally sick child in another location to evacuate at exactly the same time, should be a shameful blot on the conscience of the parties and those who support them. In any event, such a callous tit-for-tat arrangement is not in compliance with international humanitarian law. The only measure for humanitarian access and action is to meet needs, not reciprocity.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“I am equally alarmed by reports of deteriorating humanitarian conditions and urgent medical evacuation needs in Madaya, Fo'ah, Zabadani and Kefraya, where more than 62,000 people are and continue to be besieged. Despite the approvals granted by the Government of Syria over the past three months for the United Nations and humanitarian partners to provide assistance to besieged civilians in the four towns, the United Nations and partners have not been able to access the towns because of tension among parties to the agreement, heavy aerial bombardment in Idlib and shelling on Fo'ah and Kefraya. We should all remember the disturbing images of starving children in Madaya earlier this year, many of whom died even after aid was finally allowed in.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“The international community simply cannot let eastern Aleppo city become yet another, and by far the largest, besieged area. This is medieval and shameful. We must not allow this to happen, but the clock is ticking. I urgently call upon the parties and those with influence to act now to establish a weekly, 48-hour humanitarian pause for eastern Aleppo city so that the United Nations and partners have safe, regular and sustained access to the quarter ofa million people trapped behind the front lines. This must be a full United Nations call - not just from me as the United Nations humanitarian chief - it must come from the Security Council.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Indeed, over the last 48 hours, we have received reports, which are in the process of being verified, of attacks on or near several facilities in Aleppo City and in the countryside. Such attacks have a devastating multiplier effect * not only killing people and destroying facilities, but leaving thousands unable to get even basic care at a time when they need it most. I cannot stress enough how critical the situation is for those trapped in eastern Aleppo city. That population is at serious risk of besiegement as the fighting closes in and their access to basic necessities runs out. Our highest priority is to ensure access through both cross- line or cross-border operations, under the existing resolutions of the Security Council, so that we can replenish stocks and ensure people's access to the basic necessities of life.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Castello Road, the last remaining access route in and out of the east of the city, as I alerted the Council in my two previous briefings, where an estimated 250,000 to 275,000 people reside, has now been cut off due to the fighting. The United Nations and our partners prepositioned stocks in sad but all too real anticipation of such developments, and food in east Aleppo is expected to run out by the middle of next month. While medical supplies are available for a longer period, I am extremely worried about the continuing attacks on medical facilities in eastern Aleppo, such as that on a hospital in Alma'adi neighbourhood, which has now been hit three times in the last month alone.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“The undeniable fact is that today, in many places, civilians in Syria are as much at risk as they have ever been, owing to the parties' continued blatant disregard for international humanitarian law, whose primary and overarching principle, as advocated by but also supposedly enforced by the Security Council, is the obligation to protect civilians from the effects of armed conflict. I am deeply alarmed by the disturbing developments in and around Aleppo city. Hundreds of mortars, missiles and projectiles were launched on both eastern and western Aleppo in past weeks, resulting in scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries. Since 7 July, civilian, humanitarian and commercial movements in and out of eastern Aleppo City have come to a halt.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“The fighting and violence have escalated across several parts of the country over the last few weeks, resulting in Widespread civilian deaths, injury and displacement. Strikes, by all sides, continue to be launched on and from heavily populated areas from the air and the ground without regard for civilian presence. Attacks on other civilian infrastructure remain an almost daily occurrence in some areas. A recent World Health Organization (WHO) report indicated that health care is attacked in Syria more than in any other place on Earth.”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“Mr. O'Brien: Every time I have briefed the Council, I have described the horrors of a brutal conflict characterized by the complete failure to protect civilians, which has generated gargantuan levels of suffering for most civilians. Truth be told, words are not adequate to depict the grim and gruesome reality facing the people of Syria today. We have seen the hopes of ordinary Syrians for an end to their nightmare raised and then dashed time and again as the Government, non-State armed groups and terrorist groups have relentlessly continued on a military path that has further devastated cities, towns, communities and families. As the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently said, "The number of war crimes already committed surpasses our worst nightmares".”
2016-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7744 (2016) · source
“That is the disgusting reality oflife The President (spake in French): I thank in Syria today. While the ultimate responsibility lies MT- O'Brien for his briefing. with the Syrian parties, future generations will judge 1 now invite Council members to informal us harshly if we have an inability of the international consultations to continue our discussion on the subject. community to save and protect civilians in Syria. The meeting rose at 10.40 am.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“The bottom line, however, is that the real extent of the progress cannot only be measured by ad hoc deliveries to besieged communities. The fact that dozens of barrel bombs were reportedly dropped on 10 June in Daraya - the day after the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent delivered the first food aid to the town since November 2012 - shows that the situation for people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas will not be resolved by humanitarian aid delivery alone. The real measure will be when these medieval sieges are no more; when boys do not risk sniper fire when bringing medicine to their mothers; when doctors can administer life-saving treatments without the fear of imminent attacks; when Yazidi girls do not have to scratch their faces out of fear of being bought and sexually enslaved.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“In order for that to happen and to ensure sustained access in the weeks and months to come, we will require the continued support of the Security Council, the International Syria Support Group and Member States. We also need to continue to support our brave non-governmental organization partners working tirelessly in besieged and hard- to-reach locations, whose ongoing programmes are absolutely vital to complement the important efforts of the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in reaching people in need. As I have said numerous times before, we remain committed and ready to deliver aid through any possible modality, including airdrops for civilians in desperate need, whoever and wherever they are.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Council members may rest assured that, if given the full approvals to all areas, the United Nations and its partners do have the capacity to step up and fulfil those needs so long as the funding is flowing as cash and not just as the words of pledges. We have now also submitted the July access plan to the Syrian authorities; we did that on 19 June, requesting access to reach 1,220,750 beneficiaries in 35 besieged, hard-to-reach and crossline priority locations. This must be approved in full and without any conditions. We also need the parties to the so-called Four Towns agreement to end the tit-for-tat so as to ensure that approved convoys can proceed and that civilians in need of medical treatment can get timely access for their health care.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“It is therefore vital that the stuttering momentum sustained on humanitarian access over the past few months continue and improve, and be significantly expanded into the second half of this year. The key now is to turn these requests and approvals to besieged and hard-to-reach locations into full and sustained humanitarian deliveries to all Syrians in need. The team on the ground is working day and night to make this a reality, including by negotiating with the Syrian authorities to turn partial approvals into full approvals and to put an end to the removal of medical supplies, which, abominably, continues. By the end ofthis month, we hope, we will have been able to reach all besieged locations.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“This includes 334,150 of the some 590,200 people living in besieged areas as designated by the United Nations, some more than once. While this certainly represents progress and is welcomed, it is but a trickle compared to the level of protection concerns, needs and suffering in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. Moreover, following careful review, we now estimate that some 5 million people are living in hard-to-reach areas, which is an increase of over 900,000 people from the previous estimate. This large increase is based on several factors, but primarily the inclusion of areas in parts of Aleppo, Al-Raqqa and Al-Hasakeh Governorates as a result of insecurity as well as constrained access for humanitarian actors both from within Syria and via cross-border operations.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“In Syria, when presented with the reality of the conditions I have described today - and indeed I describe every month - during an active and volatile conflict, it is a Herculean challenge fraught with danger, conducted by these very extraordinary and brave people, whose work we must make safer, not even more dangerous, by allowing them the space to negotiate and, as I urged before, without the glare of publicity attending their every move. It is not one, however, at which, frankly, we can afford to fail. I call yet again on all with influence to continue to pressure the authorities to allow unrestricted, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, free from interference. Since January this year, some 844,325 people have been reached by the United Nations and its partners through inter-agency cross-line convoys.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Organizing the delivery of aid must remain the responsibility of the United Nations and its partners based on need; it must not be subject to political or other considerations. We must understand that the delivery of aid is not a simple matter of pointing a truck in the right direction in the morning and hoping for the best. Security issues are a minute-by-minute concern for those on the ground organizing humanitarian convoys, trying to calculate the safest, most efficient way through a nightmarish conflict situation. This requires exceptional and brave people. In the most optimal conditions, it is a complex undertaking.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Despite the continued best efforts of the United Nations and our humanitarian partners on the ground to reach all those in need in communities across Syria, the realities of the ongoing conflict and the continued interference and intransigence of the parties to the conflict present serious challenges to our ability to do so. The limitations by the Syrian authorities placed upon access in terms of where, who and how much aid can be delivered continues to make assistance to some communities quite simply a non-starter and is compounded by those same authorities then making every effort to delay, distract and dismantle convoys as we are attempting to undertake our work.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“The day before, on 9 June, the United Nations and its partners delivered food, nutrition, health and medical, WASH and education assistance to Darayya as a follow-up to the 1 June convey that delivered health supplies, including vaccines and certain nutritional supplies for children. This was the first time that the United Nations and SARC were able to deliver supplies to Darayya in four years. Moreover, on 1 and 3 June, inter-agency convoys were deployed to Moadamiya to deliver food, health, nutritional supplies for 45,000 people.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“That same day, an inter-agency convoy delivered humanitarian assistance to 37,500 residents in the besieged neighbourhood of Al Waer in Homs. A follow-up convoy is planned in the coming days, pending Government approval. Together, these convoys to A1 Waer will provide food, medicine, health, nutrition, WASH and emergency supplies for 75,000 people. Earlier this month, a United Nations-SARC convoy delivered food, health, nutrition, WASH and NFI materials for 33,500 beneficiaries in Al-Dar Alkabirah, Tier Mallah and Al-Ghanto in northern Rural Homs. In addition, on 10 June, the United Nations and its partners completed the first of a multiphase delivery to bring food for 24,000 people, as well as nutrition items, health, hygiene and other humanitarian supplies for some 40,000 people in Douma.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“This is the first of a multiphase delivery to bring food, nutritional items, health, hygiene and other humanitarian supplies for some 22,500 beneficiaries. On 19 June, a United Nations-Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy proceeded to Kafr Batna sub-district, providing food and health assistance for 25,000 beneficiaries in two besieged locations, Ein Terma and Hamouria, as well as three hard-to-reach communities, namely Hazeh, Beit Sawa and Eftreis. On 16 June, a United Nations- SARC convoy delivered food, health, nutrition, non-food items (NFI), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) materials, and agricultural assistance for 50,000 beneficiaries in Afrin and neighbouring towns in Aleppo Governorate.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Al-Zabadani is included in what is known as the Four Towns agreement and, as I stated earlier, any delivery to those towns continues to be planned and implemented under that framework. Requests for the other two besieged areas - Yarmouk and Deir ez-Zor - are not under the convoy plan but are covered by separate airdrops led by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the World Food Programme, respectively, both of which continue. As I speak, inter-agency convoys are delivering much needed multisectoral assistance to Jirud, in Rural Damascus and Sheikh Maqsoud, a neighbourhood in the city of Aleppo, which has been the subject of constant shelling in the past months.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Following a second round of consultations, on 6 June the previously excluded town of Al-Waer was granted partial access, and partial approvals for Darayya and Douma were expanded to include food for some beneficiaries. With respect to besieged areas in particular, following intense negotiations at various levels for access to besieged areas requested under the June plan, the United Nations received approvals to reach 15 by land, either in full or to part of the population in need. I should also note that during the month the total number of besieged areas was revised downward, as Zabdin was retaken by the Syrian Government. This leaves a total of 18 locations besieged. The only besieged location requested but not approved under the June Plan is Al-Zabadani in Rural Damascus.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“United Nations agencies and non-governmental organization partners continue their tireless efforts to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Syrian population. The June plan for humanitarian access was submitted on 19 May and sought access to 1.1 million people in 34 locations. On 2 June, an initial response was received from Syrian authorities. Of the 34 locations to which access was sought, 16 locations were granted full access, 13 were granted partial access, meaning that items such as food were not authorized or that the number of people we were authorized to deliver to was below our estimate of actual people in need, and 5 were not granted any access.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Moreover, the security situation at the berm has deteriorated considerably, as was painfully illustrated on Tuesday when at least six Jordanian soldiers were killed during an attack on a nearby border guard post. This attack took place close to a waiting area for Syrians hoping to gain entry into Jordan. Surely all of this should shake the moral conscience of the world. Surely the international community must question its humanity, when religious, ethnic and confessional communities risk eradication, when internally displaced person settlements are no longer safe from bombardment, when refugees and migrants drown in the Mediterranean by the thousands, and, to quote UNICEF, when "babies have to be taken out of incubators because of attacks on hospitals". This is obscene. This is not a world we should nor can accept.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“The sheer number of such facilities being hit, as well as information relating to some of the incidents, suggests that some hospitals and other medical facilities may have been directly targeted". I am also gravely concerned about the situation at the berm along the Jordanian border, where the number of asylum seekers has increased exponentially in recent months, tripling to a current estimate of over 70,000 people. The population at the berm includes high numbers of extremely vulnerable people. Over half are children. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that the population will top 100,000 by the end of the year.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Moreover, since 1 May, the United Nations and its partners have received reports of many more attacks on medical and other health-care facilities. This includes the destruction on 23 May of a hospital in Tartous, as well as the attacks on 8 June on three medical facilities in Aleppo: the Al-Bayan and the Al-Hakeem hospitals, within a distance of 300 metres, and the Abdulhadi Fares clinic, all in the eastern part of the city. Again, these are facts, all facts, undeniable facts. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Piiras, recently warned that "medical units are being damaged and destroyed in large numbers throughout Syria, revealing what has become a repugnant hallmark of this horrific conflict.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“How much longer will we tolerate the utter disregard for the most basic precepts of humanity, the complete disrespect of international law and, indeed, the Council's resolutions? On 3 May, the Council unanimously adopted resolution 2286 (2016), on the protection of the wounded and the sick, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel in armed conflict. And yet, since then, the United Nations and its partners have received reports of dozens of new attacks. Documentation from Physicians for Human Rights received in late April identified 365 attacks on 259 medical facilities, as well as the deaths of 738 medical personnel. The Syrian Government forces were reportedly responsible for at least of these 289 attacks - more than 76 per cent - resulting in an estimated 667 medical personnel killed.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“This cruel conflict continues to tear families apart and inflict brutal suffering on the innocent. Just last week, at least six children were killed and tens of others injured in heinous attacks near the Sayidda Zeinab shrine, south of Damascus, as well as on a public market in Idlib. Millions more are in the line of fire, facing crushing poverty and alarming physical danger. Children have been forcibly detained; they have been tortured, subjected to sexual violence and in some cases executed. Childhoods have been lost as ISIL and some non-State armed groups have targeted children for recruitment into their forces. How much longer will the children of Syria have to suffer like this?”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“For example, in Daraya, now dubbed "Syria's capital of barrel bombs", dozens of barrel bombs have reportedly been dropped during the last few weeks alone. Much has been said about the use of these weapons, but let me repeat: their use in this manner constitutes indiscriminate attacks. Their sole purpose is to terrorize and punish the civilian population. All attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as the indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardments, must end. They must end now. And before anyone tries to suggest that this is not the truth, these barrel bombs are documented facts, indisputable facts, for which, however long it takes, the decision-makers and perpetrators will be held to account one day.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“In the north-west, in Aleppo governorate, an ISIL offensive on Azaz and the surrounding area led to numerous civilian casualties, threatening up to 200,000 civilians. In addition, since the beginning of the anti-ISIL offensive in Menbij, 45,000 people have been displaced, and 65,000 others are now encircled by the Syrian Democratic Forces. Moreover, airstrikes and shelling increased on the Castello road, the only remaining access route for areas of Aleppo held by non-State armed groups, and the adjacent villages of Anadan, Hritan, Kafr Hamra and Khan Al-Assal, risking again the complete encirclement of the area and the entrapment of more than 300,000 civilians. Imprecise weaponry, notably the unrelenting use of barrel bombs by Government forces, has resulted in hideous loss oflife.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Medical and other health-care facilities are destroyed. Education is disrupted, and livelihoods are devastated. Would each and every one of those present here not try to flee as well? The latest report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, issued on 16 June, notes that in the east, the terrorist organization the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has committed genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidis. The report describes the thousands of Yazidis held captive in Syria, where they are subjected to unimaginable horrors. Yazidi women continue to be sexually enslaved, and Yazidi boys are indoctrinated, trained and used in hostilities. Thousands of Yazidi men and boys are missing.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source
“Month after month, indeed, year after year, we have each spoken about the ending of the carnage and about the importance of justice and the need for accountability in Syria. Syrians have begged for action - Syrians such as Dr. Mazin, who, as I reported to the Council last month (see S/PV.7701), had been helping people, trying to save lives at the Al-Quds hospital, before he himself sustained grievous injuries to both his brain and abdomen; all he said from his hospital bed, after mustering the energy to speak, was, "Please, peace". And yet the world continues to watch Syria disintegrate into bloodshed. In many parts of the country, violence continues unbridled as the parties seemingly fail to grasp that there can be no military solution to the conflict. Civilian neighbourhoods are pummelled.”
2016-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7725 (2016) · source