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

“Ofthese people, we anticipate that 700,000 will require shelter and emergency assistance. Thus far, shelter has been prepared for 60,000 people in camps and emergency sites, and preparation for sites for an additional 25,000 is accelerating. Emergency supplies are being prepositioned close to displacement sites. Mobile clinics and health and protection teams are prepared. Food trucks are on standby. As the winterization of displacement sites becomes a priority and temperatures drop over the coming weeks, needs are expected to rise. In short, as needs rise, so too must the international response.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“The elderly, the disabled and pregnant women may be unable to move to safety without assistance, and, based on past evidence, the so called Islamic State's practices caused the greatest concern for protection issues. Finally, nothing is more important than ensuring that civilians are protected and have access to the assistance to which they are entitled during the operation. As the crisis unfolds, I call on all parties involved to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law. As humanitarians, even though we wish to see the worst case averted, we are obliged to plan for the worst. We anticipate a displacement wave of approximately 200,000 people over the coming weeks, with up to 1 million people displaced during the course of the operation in a worse-case scenario.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“I take this opportunity to briefly update the Council on the humanitarian situation in Iraq, in the context of the military operation to recapture Mosul, which commenced in the early hours of Monday morning. On the third day of operations, reports indicate that military activities remain concentrated in less-populated areas, with no large-scale civilian displacement recorded at this stage. As hostilities intensify and progress towards densely populated areas, I am extremely concerned for the safety of up to 1.5 million people living in the city. We believe that families in Mosul will be at great risk during the operation of getting caught in cross-fire or being directly targeted by snipers, as they forage for food. We are concerned that civilians may be used as human shields or forcibly expelled and become trapped between front lines.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“Such demolitions violate international law and must cease immediately; the Secretary-General has called on the Government of Israel to revoke policies and halt practices that may lead to the forcible transfer of Bedouin and herder communities. In February, I stood before the Council with a clear message: to give this issue the attention it deserves. We need collectively to reverse the core drivers of these humanitarian needs. We must move towards decisive action that will reduce humanitarian needs, secure respect for international law and bring to Palestinians and Israelis alike the hope and reality of a stable, peaceful and prosperous future.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, this year, the number of structures demolished was already 958 as of 13 October, 75 per cent higher than in all of 2015, with most demolished due to lack of permits. Demolition of donor-funded humanitarian assistance has also spiked, at 271, 150 per cent higher than last year, and there have been more demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem - 147 i than in any year since the United Nations began systematically recording such demolitions in 2008. Overall, 1,447 Palestinians have been displaced, including 719 women and 690 children, with another 5,919 affected, including 1,571 women and 1,763 children, owing to the demolition of livelihood structures.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“Turning to the West Bank, the past year has been the most deadly for Israelis and Palestinians since the end of the second intifada. I continue to be alarmed by Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and by the numerous responses to such attacks or alleged attacks by Israeli forces, many of which have raised allegations about excessive use of force. Recent months have also marked an increase in the use of live ammunition by Israeli security forces, in particular against Palestinian stone-throwers during confrontations. Prosecutions in such cases are rare. In addition, the bodies of 18 Palestinians are still being withheld by the Israeli authorities; I call on the Government of Israel to return them without delay as well.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“Low-level hostilities between Israeli security forces and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza persist, and concerns remain that insufficient measures have been taken to minimize civilian casualties; patently that is the case when rockets are fired from Gaza into urban settings within range across the border into southern Israel. Chronic concerns remain over the lack of accountability for alleged violations of international law by all parties. The Israeli authorities have opened 31 criminal investigations, but only one indictment has been issued, for a case of looting, out of more than 500 complaints relating to the conduct of hostilities during the 2014 escalation. No meaningful investigations have been announced by Palestinian authorities, and Hamas still holds two Israeli citizens and two bodies of soldiers. I call for their swift return.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“We need tangible improvements to counter the rising tide of hopelessness sweeping Gaza's youth. It also stands to reason from our collective experiences that left unaddressed, this hopelessness of youth will drive more local insecurity and contribute to even more radicalization and exported insecurity. As stated in the Quartet report, the full lifting of the closures is crucial to lasting progress in Gaza, in line with international law and resolution 1860 (2009). The operating environment for humanitarian action in Gaza has also deteriorated. Access for humanitarian staff in Gaza, for example, has become increasingly problematic. The rate of permits denied to United Nations national personnel based in Gaza rose from 3 per cent in January to 41 per cent in September.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“International support and some relaxation of import restrictions by the Israeli authorities, including through the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, have resulted in notable progress in repairing damage to houses, hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure, as well as allowing the highest import levels to Gaza since 2007. However, some 60,000 people remain displaced and have been reliant upon transitional shelter since 2014. Their living conditions raise a range of concerns, including protection risks and gender-based Violence. A continued lack of funding to rebuild more than one third of completely destroyed houses leaves over 4,000 families without the prospect of a home in the near future. If humanitarian needs in Gaza are to decrease, we need development activity and economic recovery.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“The economic reality in Gaza is such that chronic humanitarian needs persist. Gaza's gross domestic product stands at approximately half that of the West Bank, and its unemployment rate is double, at 42 per cent and nearly 60 per cent for youth, one of the highest in the world. Movement and access restrictions on goods and people, albeit variable, not only literally bind most people to an untenable reality in Gaza, but also impede economic activity. More than 1,500 traders and 160 businesspeople in Gaza have lost travel permits in recent months, reversing the trend of increased permit approvals witnessed post-2014. Without the capacity to develop the local economy, a sustainable solution to the humanitarian needs in Gaza will not be possible. Rebuilding local housing and infrastructure is essential.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“While there has been an increase in the absolute number of exit permit approvals from Gaza since 2012, the acceptance rate for exit permits for medical treatment has reached a seven-year low; of the 2,394 applications made in August, only 60 per cent are approved, compared with some 76 per cent, which was the monthly average in 2015. Humanitarian organizations provide food assistance to some 1 million people in Gaza each year, while donor-funded emergency fuel, distributed by the United Nations, is keeping critical water, sanitation and health facilities going uninterrupted. I welcome Israel's recent decision to sell an additional 10 million cubic metres of water to Gaza, but we must work towards a sustainable, long-term solution. It is critical that this happen quickly.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“This lack of reliable power places lives at risk in medical facilities already struggling with a lack of equipment, medicines and skilled staff, reduces the operation of wastewater facilities and undermines the key to breaking Gaza's aid dependency: revitalizing its economy. In all of this, Gaza's children have suffered the most. A 10-year-old child today has already experienced three rounds of conflict in her short life. Nearly 230,000 children continue to be in need of psychosocial support, and an estimated 250,000 children require mine-risk awareness owing to the prevalence of explosive remnants of war. Israeli children along the Gaza border have been impacted as well and continue to live in fear.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“In Gaza, humanitarian needs stem from nearly 10 years of closures and restrictions imposed by Israel following the military takeover by Hamas, citing security concerns, and exacerbated by successive rounds of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, internal Palestinian political divisions and Egypt's near-complete closure of its border crossing with Gaza. These events have left half of Gaza's households food- insecure - twice the average rate across the occupied Palestinian territories - with only sporadic access to clean water and regular, reliable electricity. Seventy per cent of the Gaza population has running water - most of which is not drinkable - for only a few hours every two to four days, while energy deficits leave households with only six to eight hours of power daily.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“Mr. O'Brien: I would like to start by thanking Special Coordinator Mladenov for his insightful monthly briefings, which incorporate the humaninatiran situation in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. The humanitarian needs continue to be far too high. Nearly every resident in the occupied Palestinian territory is recognized as being affected by the protection crisis. Poverty and unemployment have driven more than a quarter of all households to food insecurity. Half a million school children require humanitarian assistance to access quality education. And an estimated 1 million people are in need of humanitarian, health and nutrition interventions. Overall, nearly half of all Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories - some 2.3 million out of a total population of 4.8 million - are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.”
2016-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7792 (2016) · source
“It is up to the Council to turn the tide, to create the conditions for aid to reach all in need, to end the sieges, to restore political dialogue and to bring an end to the war.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Last week, world leaders came to New York, sat around this table and met in ministerial level meetings, all with no tangible results. Instead, while the world leaders were meeting, violence actually increased - more civilians and more humanitarians were killed. It is time to place blame. It is time that the Council stops tolerating the utter disregard for the most basic provisions of international humanitarian law. I call on the Council to act now, to do right by those who have sacrificed their lives and to take whatever steps are necessary to end the Violence. The alternative simply does not bear considering. The depravity we see will only get worse. If the parties to the conflict will not, then the world's only hope is the collective, united will and measures of the Security Council.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“We are now awaiting the response of the Government to the October inter-agency convoy plan, submitted on 19 September. The United Nations has requested to reach 962,800 people in 29 besieged, hard-to-reach and priority cross-line areas. A response is expected in the next day, and I call on the Syrian authorities to respond positively and on time to the request and to see the request response implemented in a timely manner. We cannot allow another month to go by where we wait three weeks before the first cross-line convoy. As insecurity increases, civilian suffering does as well. Sustained and safe access must be granted, based on the United Nations assessment of need. Syria is bleeding. Its citizens are dying. We all hear their cry for help. As humanitarians, we are doing all we can.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“After waiting over eight hours at the last Syrian checkpoint, it was forced to return to the warehouse. Of course, insecurity has also continued to be a significant factor in limiting deployment. Just two days ago, on 27 September, a convoy to ar-Rastan was cancelled by the United Nations, when the trucks were at the last checkpoint of Syrian armed forces, due to air strikes over the town that the United Nations and its partners were attempting to reach. This is yet another convoy where all sides were informed of the movement, and all sides provided assurances of security, but failed to deliver safe passage. Surely you can imagine the hell for civilians, who woke up that morning hoping to finally receive life-saving aid but finding themselves instead under relentless attack.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Our requests are submitted and trucks are ready to move, but they have been delayed by the same bureaucratic tactics - late responses, lack of facilitation letters, negotiations over the number of beneficiaries. While such problems are being faced with alarming regularity, this month also brought further delaying tactics to deny aid to those in desperate need, such as the slow clearance by Syrian security forces in the warehouses and, in the case of Moadamiya, the damaging of items by security forces. Trucks had to be reloaded in the presence of Russian officers to ensure the cooperation of Syrian security personnel. Just yesterday, a convoy intended for Douma, despite having received all necessary guarantees and approvals, was denied access at the last Government checkpoint.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“That means that no aid reached many of those most in need through inter-agency cross-line convoys for the first three weeks each of the last two months. The delivery of assistance to the four towns, the first after the five months since aid was last admitted on 30 April, occurred only after numerous hurdles and delays caused by the last minute removal of medical items, which required an additional set of negotiations of the parties to reach a final agreement. Beyond the four towns, medical supplies have continued to be removed from humanitarian convoys, with more than 200,000 items having been removed this year alone. And linking humanitarian assistance of any kind to the tit for tat provisions of the Four Towns Agreement remains unconscionable. As I have said many times, the United Nations has been and continues to be ready to deploy.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“We look forward to all the security and other arrangements being put into place so that can happen, until longer-term solutions are found. I am grateful to those who are working to hard to achieve that. While we welcome these deliveries, which provide a lifeline to people largely trapped beyond our reach, the last weeks have been especially frustrating to see pass without access improving, particularly since the reinstatement of the cessation of hostilities should have provided an opportunity to extend our reach. Instead, the delays in cross-line deployments are becoming commonplace. The first inter-agency cross-line convoy in September deployed on 19 September. The first cross- line convoy last month only deployed on 23 August.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“We have now completed 126 air drops since April to Deir ez-Zour, dispatching food, nutrition, health, water and sanitation and hygiene supplies to people in need. That includes two full rounds of food distribution, each reaching a total of 110,000 people in need. A third round began on 12 August. We have now completed 90 airlifts to Qamishly, providing a combination of food, health, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, nutrition, education, shelter and non-food-item assistance, including over 50,000 full food rations. As for the people along the berm at the Syrian- Jordanian border, which I visited earlier this month, we have received positive indications from the Jordanian authorities that humanitarian organizations might be able to resume aid operations to reach those stranded there by early next month.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“While we focus much of the attention on ensuring humanitarian access via cross-line convoys, this is not to take away from other modalities, which do most of the actual aid delivery, but to ensure attention is focused on the locations we cannot otherwise reach. In both hard-to-reach and besieged locations, we have continued to reach communities in need through inter-agency cross-line convoys in September. On 19 September, we reached 84,000 people in Talbiseh; on 22 September, we reached 35,000 people in Moadamiya; on 24 September, we reached 70,000 people in Al-Waer in Horns; and the following day we reached some 60,000 people in the four towns - Madaya, Zabadani, Fo'ah and Kefraya. And we continue to reach people through the air - both by airdrops and air-bridges.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“The Secretary-General has called for a vigorous investigation to ascertain the facts of the incident and for accountability for those responsible. The Secretary- General is currently reviewing options for the most effective format of the investigation. I call on all parties to stand up, demonstrate their desire to protect humanitarian space and support the investigation process, for full, transparent accountability and to banish impunity. While it is true that the United Nations and its partners support millions of people with assistance each month through regular programming and cross- border activities, those who are in the most acute need are often those who cannot be reached through either modality.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“That is as much a matter of practicality as it is of principle. If there are no guarantees that humanitarian convoys will be safe, the ability of humanitarians to deliver assistance will be jeopardized and those in need will continue to suffer. As I have said before, those on the front lines delivering aid are brave, but they are not suicidal. Sufficient security guarantees for the delivery of aid must be in place. Yes, that means engaging with all parties impartially, even to the distaste of some. Those are the humanitarian principles in which I and others in the United Nations and beyond involved in humanitarian action rely to give us our license to operate. For us access is everything. Without it, as we go far and wide across Syria, we cannot make the difference that the world's citizens call on us to make.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Advanced notification is given to all sides, and ongoing updates of the convoy's location and status are provided throughout its movement. United Nations humanitarian aid convoys inform all actors on the ground of the humanitarian delivery being undertaken. Such de-confliction is done to ensure that the delivery is safe from attack. We do not yet have all the details. However, it is not too early to make clear the consequences ofthis shameful attack. If the attackers knew of the humanitarian convoy and intentionally directed an attack against it, they committed a war crime. Regardless of the reason and regardless of the party responsible, those people must know that they will be held to account. Accountability is important for the sake ofjustice, but it is also necessary to end the culture ofimpunity.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“I call on the Council to urgently act to protect humanitarian actors, be they United Nations staff or our non-governmental organization partners, who face violent responses almost daily. I also call on the Council to push against all blockages and delays that are hindering the deployment of assistance, and to ensure the rapid, safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to all those in need. Most important, I call on the Council to end the bloodshed. The humanitarian convoy to Oram Al-Kubra was a meticulously organized movement, as are all deployments of humanitarian aid. When crossing a conflict line to deliver assistance, the United Nations and its partners first receive authorization by the Syrian authorities.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Eighteen humanitarians - 12 volunteers, five drivers and Omar Barakat, head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Oram Al-Kubra - were brutally killed. Another 15 drivers were wounded, many civilians were killed and injured and the warehouse where the supplies were being unloaded and a nearby medical clinic were both severely damaged. The local population has been further traumatized by witnessing what happens to those who try to help them. And of course, they did not receive the desperately needed lifesaving help - a double jeopardy defined. I have expressed my deepest condolences to the families, colleagues and loved ones of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and I pledge to do my utmost to ensure that their deaths were not in vain. I call on all of us to take hold of this moment.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“In 2016, I should not have to brief the Security Council on Violence committed against those who are aligned with no side in the conflict and who are willing to enter the most challenging environments imaginable to help those suffering beyond imagination. Yet last week, while leaders from around the world met to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Syria, we suffered a devastating attack on a humanitarian convoy. In the early evening of 19 September, as 31 trucks delivered lifesaving assistance just kilometers west of Aleppo city in Oram Al-Kubra, humanitarians came under attack in yet another shocking example of the disregard parties have for civilian life and humanitarian space. Over the course of two hours, the area around a clearly marked United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian convoy became a killing zone.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“As the Syrian people struggle for survival and a political solution remains out of reach, the best that communities under attack can immediately hope for is that humanitarian assistance can reach them. The role of humanitarians is not to be part of a political solution, but to provide food, shelter and the tools of survival to those in need, while that solution is sought. Those efforts to protect the vulnerable, to deliver to communities in need and to step in to fill the gap where no alternative exists were dealt a cruel blow last week. After half a decade of conflict, it should not be necessary to explain to any party that the laws of war afford protection to humanitarian aid workers.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“We have also assessed this lack of movement based on the military presence at entry and exit points and specific security concerns, not just about sniper fire and detainment when travelling through humanitarian corridors that were established by the Russian Federation. The status of another 275,000 people besieged in Syria is truly unconscionable. We all must do everything possible to bring this medieval practice to an end for once and for all. That means that the number of people besieged in Syria has increased from 586,200 to 861,200, after deducting those who were required to leave Darayya as of late August. That is in addition to the millions of Syrians in hard-to-reach locations today. Besiegement is not a weapon of war, it is a flagrant, unjustifiable breach of the law f law to which the besieging parties have signed up to.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Despite all our collective efforts, which have been discussed in great detail in the Council, there has been virtually no humanitarian access through cross- border or cross-line actors since early July. It should be noted that this is a result of constraints by both the Syrian authorities and non-State armed groups. Furthermore, despite the assertion of there being corridors available, civilians wishing to travel in and out of eastern Aleppo are unable to do so in any significant numbers. Members would do the same: one just does not do it if they have nowhere to go voluntarily and if the sniper is likely to take the shot anyway. As we have long said, civilians cannot move when there are such levels of insecurity.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Theirs is a daily struggle for survival as they remain trapped and beyond our reach, subjected to collective punishment. This revolting situation in Aleppo must be the SOS, the mayday call, to the international community. That the situation now meets the criteria for besiegement - including militarily encirclement, lack of humanitarian access and lack of freedom of movement for civilians - is clear. East Aleppo is now besieged. Let me assure the Council that this is based not on conjecture, but on the facts on the ground that I have just reported. The area is militarily encircled by Syrian forces. In addition, armed opposition groups continue to conduct military operations from within the city, placing those trapped there at greater and continued danger.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Now is the time to recognize the horror unfolding before our eyes, agree upon our common humanity and restore the cessation of hostilities to protect civilians and save lives. That would be the best of humanitarian action; if we cannot get a cessation of hostilities, we must at the minimum have a weekly 48-hour pause. Anything less would leave the Council today on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of avoidable deaths. That is the responsibility of the parties to the conflict, but it is the united will of each and every member of the Council that will unlock the chance to make it happen. As Council members have heard me say before, there are few words left to describe the horrors for people living under siege.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“We have been ready and we remain ready to deliver assistance to eastern Aleppo through cross-border and cross-line support. Despite the distraction, as it sadly turned out, in the attempt to get a full cessation of hostilities - which crowded out negotiations for a shorter humanitarian pause - since July I have been calling for a minimum 48-hour weekly humanitarian pause must be urgently implemented to allow humanitarian aid to enter, to let medical evacuations take those in critical condition out, and to provide civilians respite from the barrage of bombs and attacks causing untold suffering. Now is not the time for political grandstanding or protection ofone's political or, indeed, military position.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“There are more than 100,000 children trapped in east Aleppo, and it is they who are among the most vulnerable, who suffer first and who suffer the greatest. The images of Alan Kurdi, Omran Daqneesh and now Rawan Alowsh might have captured fleeting global attention and be seared into our consciences, but they are neither isolated nor exceptional cases, but emblematic of the horrific murder and abuse of children by the parties to this conflict. Rescue teams are finding children every day under piles of rubble amid the inferno and choking dust of east Aleppo. Meanwhile, indiscriminate attacks are also being launched by non-State armed groups into western Aleppo, so of course this is not just one-sided, but the overwhelming weight of forces is against the people pinned down in east Aleppo. We must end this nightmare.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“There are also reports of severe shortages of surgical items, blood bags, anaesthetics and other critical medical items. As a result, the priority for assistance is as acute for medical items as it is for food. Because of the state of siege, food remains scarce, with rations sufficient to feed only 40,000 for one month. Despite the presence of limited food stocks, the impact oflimited food access is already being felt. Deaths have been reported from malnutrition, disease and poisoning by those scavenging for food. Fresh water is also now also in short supply, and waterborne illnesses and preventable killer diseases are expected imminently to rise dramatically - which is as unnecessary as it is tragic.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Let me be clear - east Aleppo this minute is not at the edge of the precipice; it is well into its terrible descent into the pitiless and merciless abyss of a humanitarian catastrophe unlike any we have witnessed in Syria, with no access by the United Nations since 7 July, and the health sector in east Aleppo is now reportedly on the very verge of total collapse. Hundreds of critical medical evacuations are urgently required. I have received alarming reports of patients being turned away or treated on the floors of the few remaining health facilities. What little intensive care unit capacity there was has now been completely overwhelmed. Four people - three of them children - who did not have access to ventilators died as a result.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“2) And let it be said that the evidence is being collected and the eyewitnesses accounts recorded.Even if not today, one day there will be no hiding place for the individuals and institutions callously, cynically perpetrating these war crimes. That is as much our United Nations responsibility on behalf of all the world's Member States, as it is the United Nations duty to preserve that evidence to point the finger at any one or more Member States and their leaders and officers come the day. The only remaining deterrent it seems is that there will be real accountability in the court of world opinion and disgust. Goodness knows, nothing else seems to be working to stop this deliberate, gratuitous carnage of lives lost and smashed.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“On 24 September, multiple air strikes struck the Jisr Al-Haj area in eastern Aleppo city, reportedly damaging warehouses belonging to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and killing one of the few remaining doctors in east Aleppo, as well as his wife - a senior midwife. Just yesterday, two of the eight remaining hospitals - including two of the four surgical units left in east Aleppo - were attacked and rendered out of service. I echo the words of the Secretary-General, who briefed the Council yesterday: "[T]hose using ever-more destructive weapons know exactly what they are doing. They know they are committing war crimes." (S/PV. 7779, p.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“I have received reports that there are bodies of babies, children, women and men stuck unrecovered in the rubble of the basements, up to 20 metres underground, where they had taken refuge and where they had been safe until the use of these new and recently introduced weapons claimed their lives. Air strikes are reported to have hit three of the four civil defense centres in east Aleppo, injuring staff and severely limiting their capacity to respond. On 22 September, attacks rendered the Bab Al-Nayrab water-pumping station inoperable, stopping water delivery to most of east Aleppo.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“From air strikes in Deir ez-Zor to airstrikes and ground attacks in Aleppo, Hama, Homns, Idlib and rural Damascus and other governorates, fighting has intensified despite a one-week lull when the cessation of hostilities was reinstated, albeit with violations on all sides. Nowhere has the fighting been more intense in recent days than in east Aleppo. Following the announcement by the Syrian Ministry of Defence of an offensive on 22 September, estimates are that some 320 civilians were killed and 765 injured in the first days. Over 100 children have been killed. These are not simply numbers to be added to a tally; these are individual and family lives that we have collectively failed to save. The alleged use of new bunker-busting bombs has reportedly caused mass destruction in an area that has already been decimated.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“It is now a legitimate question to ask whether there is any level of disaster and death that can be visited upon the Syrian people that might prompt the parties to this conflict, and by extension the international community, to identify a red line that will not be crossed. This is not a distant conflict in which we as a community have only a passing stake; this is a critical test of the capacity and willingness of those in this Chamber to make a decision, take action to manifestly uphold the words of the Charter of the United Nations, to which all nations are bound, and to save the Syrian people from the scourge of war. The past seven days have seen an intensification of attacks across the country.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Mr. O'Brien: Where shall I start? It is with raw grief, dismay, intense sadness, frustration and an unquenchable anger at the excess of sheer and unbridled horror - way beyond even the apex of horror of a fortnight ago 4 that I report today to the Security Council on the ultimate humanitarian shame that is Syria today, and in east Aleppo in particular. The people of Syria - and most immediately, the people of east Aleppo - are being subjected to deprivation, disease and death in increasing numbers and with increasing ferocity. This is not an unforeseen result of forces beyond our control. This is due to the action of parties to the conflict and it is the direct result of the inaction - be it through unwillingness or inability - of the international community, including most notably those members represented in this Chamber.”
2016-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7780 (2016) · source
“Finally, I am not going to pretend - as the humanitarian chief of the United Nations, I am very angry. The callous carnage that is Syria has long since moved from the cynical to the sinful. What is happening in Aleppo today, and throughout Syria over the past five years, is an outrage against every moral fibre in our being as human beings, as fellow human beings, with every Syrian having been caught up in this unending cataclysm. And it is the failure of politics, of all of us, which Council members know as members of the Security Council. So, please, Mr. President, now is the moment - this instant - to put our differences aside and come together as one and stop this humanitarian shame upon us all, once and for all.”
2016-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7757 (2016) · source
“The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Yacoub El Hillo, drove out of Damascus today, ending a three-year appointment in one of the most difficult and dangerous positions that exist in the United Nations. His tireless work, his bravery and his exceptional diplomatic skills saved countless lives. He is not just an exemplary humanitarian, but he has been the bedrock of our humanitarian response in Syria, one that many others have been able to build on. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank him, on behalf the entire United Nations and the wider humanitarian ecosystem, for all he has done. We owe it to the Syrian people he has served and saved to capture the spirit and practice of his brave, professional legacy.”
2016-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7757 (2016) · source
“I urge all Member States, all Member States with influence over the parties, all Council members, all International Syria Support Group (ISSG) members, and in particular the two ISSG co-chairs, the United States and the Russian Federation, to rapidly reach agreement on the security guarantees and operational modalities for a ceasefire to the fighting in Aleppo and elsewhere. Not only would such an agreement ease the suffering of the Syrian people, it could also facilitate the establishment of an environment more conducive to the resumption of the intra-Syrian talks. Before I conclude today, I would like to make a final note.”
2016-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7757 (2016) · source
“It needs to act and ensure the full implementation of all its resolutions. For as long as there is impunity, this unprecedented scale of abuses and violations will simply not decline. In Aleppo we risk seeing a humanitarian catastrophe unparalleled in the over five years of bloodshed and carnage in the Syrian conflict. Once again, I cannot stress strongly enough the need for a 48-hour pause in fighting to be approved by all sides and come into effect so that safe and sustained humanitarian access is opened to all areas of Aleppo. I urge all parties to the conflict to heed the call for a cessation ofviolence in all its forms, first and foremost for the sake of the Syrian people.”
2016-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7757 (2016) · source
“The reports are endless: barrel bombs, hellfire cannons, cluster munitions, chemical weapons, thermite bombs, napalm, suicide bombs, mortars and rockets, snipers, bombs landing on schools, hospitals and civilian neighbourhoods, rape, illegal detention, torture, child recruitment, sieges of entire cities, starving people to death deliberately. And all of that has occurred when someone has the power - with a pen, with the simple stroke ofa pen - to allow food to get to people. It is a chilling thought that these actions and these levels of suffering have been tolerated, with only limited international interference. When hospital attacks have become the new normal, when medieval sieges of entire cities and neighbourhoods have become a lasting reality for hundreds of thousands of people, the Council cannot look the other way.”
2016-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7757 (2016) · source
“This also includes the delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance to besieged locations, in particular into the four towns, which have remained without any United Nations assistance in over 110 days. This is the greatest crisis of our time, and that is saying something in the light of what is happening in Yemen, South Sudan, the Lake Chad Basin, Iraq and Afghanistan, and that is without even mentioning those that are not man-made conflicts - natural disasters such as those in the Philippines, Nepal, Fiji and Ecuador. The Syrian people have faced an onslaught of unspeakable violence.”
2016-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7757 (2016) · source