YouSaid · the spoken record

Pieris

lines on the record: 87
first: 2021-10-21
most recent: 2023-12-07
sittings or episodes: 12
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

“The world is in transition from a “cold peace” structure of international relations towards a new system of survival even at the cost of human values, and one that is repugnant to the principles of multilateralism. We need to respond to such changes effectively if we are to give life to Our Common Agenda (A/75/982), the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, the Summit of the Future, the New Agenda for Peace and a declaration for future generations. It has been said that the world is in need of an encompassing, just and humane order under which the rights of all are preserved and peace and security are safeguarded. It is in our interest and crucial to our survival that we not lose sight of that goal.”
2023-04-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9308Resumption1 (2023) · source
“It was former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who said that the basic building block of peace and security for all peoples is economic and social security, anchored in sustainable development. It is a key to solving all problems, he said. Why? Because it allows us to address all the great issues — poverty, climate, environment and political stability — as parts of the whole. The question has been asked as to whether the Security Council can do more to ensure world peace and security. We have to be sensitive to what is currently happening to the United Nations system, where the political objectives and priorities of many modern States are undergoing large-scale qualitative changes.”
2023-04-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9308Resumption1 (2023) · source
“I believe it is apt here to recall the words of Emperor Haile Selassie, who was pleased to observe that “The Charter of the United Nations expresses the noblest aspirations of man: the abjuration of force in the settlement of disputes between States; the assurance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion; the safeguarding of international peace and security.” (A/PV.1229, para.5) In addition to those initial goals of safeguarding peace, protecting human rights, establishing the framework for international justice and promoting economic and social progress, in the almost eight decades since its creation the United Nations has tackled new challenges, such as the fight against HIV/AIDS, pandemics, big data and climate change.”
2023-04-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9308Resumption1 (2023) · source
“The political, military, economic, ecological, social and cultural environment in which the United Nations operates has changed considerably over the years and continues to evolve. The maintenance of international peace and security is a primary objective of the Security Council, the principal organ of the United Nations for such action. I was pleased to hear the Secretary-General state his steadfast position this morning (see S/PV.9308) on the serious situation in the Sudan and other conflicts that threaten world peace.”
2023-04-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9308Resumption1 (2023) · source
“Just as the world was beginning to heal from the extraordinary challenges posed by the pandemic, new conflicts have confronted us, bringing even more uncertain times. The aggression we are witnessing is not only a humanitarian catastrophe for those directly affected, but it is also seriously affecting the global community, especially the developing world. The founding fathers of this Organization established it with the purpose of maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and taking other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace. They also wished to achieve international cooperation in order to resolve economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems and promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.”
2023-04-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9308Resumption1 (2023) · source
“It has been said that the well-being of humankind and its peace and security are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established, which we believe can be achieved only through effective multilateralism, based on foundational principles such as consultation, inclusion and solidarity. Seventy-eight years ago, the world came together to sign the Charter of the United Nations and save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. Today, as the world faces one of the greatest challenges we have seen to the global peace architecture, the Charter is more significant than ever. In our quest for effective multilateralism and diplomacy for peace, we, the global community, reaffirm our unwavering commitment to multilateralism, respect for the rule of law and global governance.”
2023-04-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9308Resumption1 (2023) · source
“To combat that atrocity and stop it, Member States must ensure that the foundational elements of school safety are prevalent; ensure that schools are possessed of characteristics that are safe and responsive to all contingencies in conflict; and ensure that infrastructure, crisis communication, geography and procedures — the four security factors — are established in schools in conflict areas. We also call upon Member States to help prevent the use of school premises for the launching of military operations. It is time for us to firmly pledge to take every possible step to eliminate the occurrence of sexual violence in armed conflict and in the resolution of disputes between Member States and to establish an institutional mechanism based on dialogue and diplomacy.”
2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016Resumption1 (2022) · source
“It has also been observed that in these uncertain times, parties involved in armed conflict have adopted a new modus operandi. It appears that engaging in the traditional contours of the battlefield is no longer the style of aggression. Instead, attacks on the cradle of our civilization — our educational institutions — have been the launching pads for aggression. Parties to armed conflict have begun to use educational facilities as bases, barracks, detention centres and weapon storage units. That modus operandi lends itself to the use of educational facilities, which increases the risk of child soldiers being recruited. In Sri Lanka, non-State actors recruited 594 child soldiers, who were exploited in multifarious forms, but were mercifully taken into welfare camps, rehabilitated and returned to their parents.”
2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016Resumption1 (2022) · source
“We must train our personnel investigating crimes of sexual violence to develop keen investigation skills. Investigators must maintain the highest level of integrity and probity, without fear or favour. In addition to intensive training, we must focus on community outreach and engage in the education of women, children and vulnerable groups on gender-based violence and remedies. We must bridge the gap in addressing the canvas of sexual offences: we cannot hold only rape and sex trafficking to a higher degree of accountability while allowing the offenders of domestic abuse and mental harassment to enjoy impunity. That creates a hierarchy whereby certain violations can be considered the order of the day or acceptable.”
2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016Resumption1 (2022) · source
“We recall the bold step taken by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2004, when he appointed Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein of Jordan to help form a comprehensive strategy to eliminate future sexual exploitation and abuse within our peacekeeping forces. Another discernible feature of note is the hypermasculine culture that exists and that seems to encourage exploitation and abuse, as the majority of personnel engaged in armed conflict are men. Such behaviour has been dismissed in the past thanks to a “men will be men” attitude. That forms a bond of misplaced camaraderie that helps protect the reputation of the offender but also results in the stigmatization of the complainant — the final result being that instances of sexual abuse are swept under the carpet.”
2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Victims of abuse are often abandoned, leaving children with no one to care for them, and receive little to no societal support. When the avenues for abuse in conflict are so rife and the threat so ever-present, it is pertinent to ask how the international community can make tangible decisions with regard to the issue of accountability. In order to address the issue, we need to make a global and concerted effort to shift conflict-associated sexual violence from a secondary concern to a primary one. All Member States need adequate training and better research and policy programme-sharing, in which intervention techniques addressing sexual violence in peacebuilding efforts are better understood and more accessible.”
2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Sri Lanka appreciates the United Kingdom’s role in supporting the discussion on the women and peace and the security agenda, which has featured prominently in the recent debates. The importance of highlighting the risks that women and girls face during conflict is particularly important in today’s environment, in which women and girls are surely marginalized. The Security Council’s recognition of sexual violence as a tactic of war in resolution 1820 (2008) was a milestone in recognizing how conflict impacts women. The bounds within which sexual violence in a conflict occurs are not constrained to the battlefield. It occurs in refugee camps, at the hands of non-State actors, military personnel, spouses or those designated to protect womenkind. It includes the sexual exploitation of children, pornography and sexual assault, and so on.”
2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016Resumption1 (2022) · source
“I cannot but conclude by recalling what the authors of the article “Women waging war”, published in Foreign Policy Magazine in May-June 2001, very pithily said, “allowing men who plan wars to plan peace they say is an irrational bad habit”. They suggest that while men come to the negotiating table directly from the war room or the battlefield, women generally come from family care and civilian activism. Now I ask, finally, is that not something to think about?”
2022-03-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8989Resumption1 (2022) · source
“First, women are affected by conflict and therefore by the consequences of peace agreements. Secondly, in relation to my first point, women’s inclusion at all stages of peace processes is crucial for inclusive social justice. Thirdly, the presence of women makes a difference with regard to the sorts of issues generally raised in formal peace processes. Again, reiterating my second point, women’s absence from negotiating tables minimizes the possibility of inclusive just politics. Their relative absence from negotiating tables is significant because when they are present or participate in less formal negotiations, they tend to raise different issues and frequently adopt different approaches to conflict resolution.”
2022-03-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8989Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Between 1992 and 2019, women served as only 6 per cent of mediators, 6 per cent of signatories and 13 per cent of negotiators globally. The coronavirus disease outbreak has shed even greater light on the full extent of gender inequality. In that context, empowering women leaders to participate in peacebuilding becomes increasingly crucial. Women who participate in peace processes tend to represent broader and more diverse constituencies, ensuring that a range of views and interests are represented and that peace processes are fully democratized. I am compelled to ask the following question, which I have posed before: Is it not surprising that although women are active in community peacebuilding, they are almost completely absent from political negotiating tables? Their exclusion from peace tables is notable. Why is that?”
2022-03-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8989Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Secondly, it makes the claim that bridging the gender gap would add upwards of $4.0 trillion to the global gross domestic product (GDP). Conflict-affected economies are the most affected, owing to lack of foreign investment, mass emigration and skill loss, all of which underscores the need for GDP growth. Those numbers support the case for women’s participation in businesses and it is those numbers and data advocating for women’s inclusion in businesses, especially in conflict zones, that need to be highlighted. Although important strides have been made since the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), women’s direct participation and representation in formal peace processes continues to be the one area that lags behind in the implementation of the women and peace and security agenda.”
2022-03-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8989Resumption1 (2022) · source
“What we are seeing are siloed business worlds: one world in which businesses increasingly adopt an employment policy that is viewed through a gender lens, thereby committing to corporate social responsibility initiatives of gender equality, and another world in which corporate initiatives like Business for Peace and the United Nations Global Compact — supported by the United Nations and the women and peace and security agenda — aim to drive businesses in conflict zones. Everyone will appreciate that the Global Gender Gap Report published by the World Economic Forum makes the claim that female-founded businesses deliver revenues that are more than twice as high, per dollar invested, than their corresponding male-led businesses.”
2022-03-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8989Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Although significant strides have been made in executing the women and peace and security agenda in its 22 years, there remains a missing link — a tangible concrete connection between public and private enterprises, especially those working in conflict and post-conflict environments — to converge with the aims of the women and peace and security agenda with regard to women’s economic inclusion.”
2022-03-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8989Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Permit me the honour to extend Sri Lanka’s good wishes to the United Arab Emirates on being the President of the Security Council for the month of March and extend my appreciation for its convening of this debate, which aims to enhance the focus on the role that women play in advancing peace and security. When the Security Council adopted resolution 1325 (2000), it sent a clear message to the global community that international peace and security would not be genuinely achieved if women and girls were left out of the peace agenda. The women and peace and security agenda confirmed the role of women’s participation in ending the cycle of armed conflict. Today’s topic is very apt, in that it considers how women’s economic empowerment interplays between the participation and prevention pillars of the women and peace and security agenda.”
2022-03-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8989Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Understanding the root causes and ensuring that we do not underestimate the impact of climate change is imperative to ensure a long-standing global peace. Terrorism and climate change are not siloed threats to humankind, but rather different manifestations of the same threat that builds on human fear and insecurity.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“It can affect national security by disrupting livelihoods, lead to displacement and migration and increase conflict over limited resources, people’s property and the economy and safety of a nation. In certain regions of the world, we have seen where the loss of traditional livelihoods has increased the opportunity cost of exploring membership in armed groups, and we have seen the increase of youth viewing the potential of terrorist and rebel groups as providing an alternative source of income. Increased insurgent activity fuels environmental collapse, agricultural and infrastructure loss, the degradation of natural resources and desertification, creating an environment of internal unrest, migration, statelessness and ending in conflict over scarce resources.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“The report states that migration, competition over natural resources and other coping responses increase the number of domestic issues. Fourthly, it deals with statelessness, whereby there are implications for rights, security and sovereignty of the loss of statehood because of the disappearance of territory. Lastly, it deals with international conflict in the context that there may be implications for international cooperation from the impact of climate change on undemarcated international resources. Climate change has therefore brought the world to face unprecedented problems. It has the potential to affect the lives of individuals who live in coastal regions, or a farmer who is dependent on rain.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“In the late 1980s, climate change was seen as second only to a global nuclear war. In 2009, the General Assembly adopted resolution 63/281, on climate change and its possible security implications. The resolution resulted in a report prepared by the Secretary-General (A/64/350), which identifies five aspects that are considered as having an impact on security. The first is vulnerability. The report states that climate change threatens food security and human health and exposes humans to extreme events. The second is development. The report states that climate change results in reversing the development process, and it exacerbates the vulnerability and undermines the stability of States. The third is coping and security.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“First, there is the principle that the United Nations should not intervene in domestic affairs, but that does not prejudice action taken by the Security Council under Chapter VII. Secondly, the ban on the use of force allows for only two exceptions: self-defence and military action taken to combat threats to, and breeches of, the peace as authorized by the Security Council under Chapter VII. The content of the Charter seems to favour security, especially the collective coercive type found in Chapter VII, unfortunately, over the law. The achievement of peace and security is the raison d’être of the United Nations, and the enforcement of international law is secondary to that. Let me say a quick word with regard to security and climate change. A central question is whether climate change is a security issue.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“It is worth considering Article 1, paragraph 1, in greater detail because it only places security — partly, I would say — within the framework of international law by declaring that the maintenance of peace and security can be achieved through the taking of effective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and by bringing about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustments or settlements of international settlements or disputes or situations. The prospect of United Nations security action unbound by international law, as one academic puts it, runs like a red thread through the Charter.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“In general terms, security is an absence of threats to States, groups and individuals, and it implies methods to achieve a condition of security through measures designed to prevent threats from materializing at all. When one undertakes an international legal analysis, it tends to focus on the principles of the Charter, set out in Article 2, which includes the principles applicable to the United Nations of sovereign equality and non-intervention and the duties of States, primarily the obligation to settle disputes peacefully and the duty to refrain from the threat or use of force. However, Article 1 is important for international law more broadly because it sets the purposes — arguably the values that the United Nations system aims to achieve and uphold.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“In terms of the international legal order, security is not traditionally viewed as a legal principle but is seen, along with peace, as the primary purpose of the United Nations Charter and the Organization constituted by it. The International Court of Justice declared that “[t]he primary place ascribed to international peace and security is natural, since the fulfilment of the other purposes will be dependent upon the attainment of that basic condition”. Without peace nothing is possible. While this is a broad and open-ended definition of peace, security is perhaps more elusive, and it has not been the subject of formal definition or elaboration by the United Nations. According to the academics, the concept of security is politically very savvy. It is weakly conceptualized and a highly contentious concept.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“Whereas peace was traditionally conceived as the absence of war, resolution 46/14, of October 1991, defined peace in a more positive sense to foster human rights, social and economic development, disarmament, protection of the environment and improvement of the quality of life for all as sine qua non for the establishment of peaceful societies. Owing to its inherent intersubjectivity, security as a concept poses a considerable challenge in terms of detecting any definitive normative or legal meaning, but there is no doubt as to the legal effects of security. Security considerations often prevail in drafting and implementing laws.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“The scourge of terrorism will be a persistent threat to global peace and security as long as its feeders and threat multipliers are not addressed, and climate change has established itself as one of the greatest threat multipliers. The interplay between climate change and terrorism is a critical dimension of the climate-security nexus and needs to be evaluated, discussed and met with a unified global response. It is a cyclical and complex relationship wherein natural disasters exacerbate existing structural and social vulnerabilities and add pressure to the already tenuous relationship between resources and civil unrest. Peace and security are often found together in the sense of maintaining international peace and security.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“I wish to congratulate the Republic of the Niger on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for this month and appreciate the convening of today’s high-level meeting. The Security Council has been at the forefront of the united international response to combat terrorism, as we have seen in the benchmarks set by resolutions 1373 (2001) and 2560 (2020), the latter adopted in December 2020. However, we must note that the face of terrorism has become extremely complex. Its roots have gone beyond spreading religious or political ideology. Terrorism has become a governance mechanism and a lucrative economic activity for some. It is this phenomenon and the new modus operandi that we must recognize and take a more proactive stance in curbing.”
2021-12-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8923Resumption1 (2021) · source
“It has been observed that woman’s relative absence from negotiating tables is significant, because, when they are present or participating in less formal negotiations, they tend to induce different issues and frequently women adopt different approaches to conflict resolution. I will conclude by referring to what authors of the article “Women Waging War”, published in Foreign Policy magazine in the May-June 2001 issue, very pithily wrote: “Allowing men who plan wars to plan peace is a bad habit.” They suggest that, while men come to the negotiating table directly from the war room or the battlefield, women generally come from family care and civilian activism. I ask, finally, is that not food for thought?”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“One sees that inhibitive constraints on woman’s involvement in decision-making are enormous in all regions, but are particularly acute in conflict areas. While entire communities suffer disastrous consequences of armed conflict, women and girls are affected specifically because of their subordinate position. A peace settlement is not merely about ending a war, but also about establishing the conditions for a new, just polity. My second point is that woman’s absence from negotiating tables minimizes the possibility of inclusive, just politics arising in post-conflict times.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“I ask the question: is it then surprising that, although women are active in community peacebuilding, they are almost completely absent from political negotiating tables? Their exclusion from peace tables is notable; the examples a matter of a disappointing record. Should not women then, as a must, be present at negotiating tables? The answer simply is “yes” — first, because women are affected by conflict and, therefore, by peace agreements; secondly, and related to the first point, women’s inclusion in all stages of peace processes is crucial for inclusive social justice; and finally, the presence of women makes a difference in the sorts of issues generally brought to formal peace processes.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“The protagonists are not necessarily soldiers, but political ideologues, warlords, drug dealers, State actors, disenfranchised youth and young children. In that process, we must, I believe, examine the rationale of traditional views that are often expressed justifying the participation of women in peacekeeping based on the foundation that women are more empathetic, approachable and peaceful than men; that they are better positioned to relate to women and children and deal with issues such as sexual violence; and that women contribute soft skills to missions. Are those not, I ask, notions discriminatory in themselves? Does such thinking not place the burden on women? If we are to truly make progress, we must, first of all, change our mindset and sincerely treat women and men on equal terms in all walks of life.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“It is our considered view that women who are already involved in informal peace processes need to be included in formal peace processes in order to establish meaningful gender equality and peace, and that many women’s understandings of peacebuilding are far broader and more holistic than those of the United Nations or others traditionally used. The Commission on the Status of Women acknowledges the growth in civil war, armed conflict and terrorism with a concomitant abuse of the human rights of women and girls by State and non-State actors. The changing nature of conflict means that most wars are fought internally, often rooted in unresolved historical bitterness relating to ethnic conflicts or disputes — or diamonds, drugs or minerals.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“The strategy to achieve gender equality is gender mainstreaming, which entails bringing the perceptions, experiences, knowledge and interests of women and men to bear on policy-making planning and decision-making. Sri Lanka has made a positive contribution to global peacekeeping efforts, and the valour and professionalism of Sri Lankan Blue Helmets are widely appreciated. As we seek to invest in women peacekeeping and peacebuilding, it is essential to better understand and address the problems they face in participating in peacekeeping, particularly the cultural and social aspects. We need assistance to continue advocacy to encourage women’s participation in peacekeeping operations, with developing countries provided with resources, training materials and the sharing of best practices for the recruitment and deployment of uniformed women.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source
“May I thank the Republic of Kenya for arranging this initiative. Sri Lanka is deeply concerned that, despite global policy developments and commitments to support women, there remain significant structural barriers and lack of access for them to be fully represented at all levels of decision-making, including in peace processes. We appreciate that the United Nations, as the primary international body vested with the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, is committed to increasing the number of civilian and uniformed women in peacekeeping at all levels and in all positions, including senior leadership positions. The United Nations understands gender equality as a goal to ensure equal rights, the responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys.”
2021-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8886Resumption1 (2021) · source