YouSaid · the spoken record

Power

lines on the record: 1,841
first: 2013-08-06
most recent: 2019-07-09
sittings or episodes: 165
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We have studied the ways that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has been able to exploit gaps and evade measures aimed at impeding its nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programmes, and we have put in place new measures to fill those gaps, one by one. Let me give just a few of many examples of how the resolution adopted today does this. North Korea generates a significant share of the money it uses to fuel its nuclear and ballistic- missile programmes by mining natural resources, often exploiting workers in slave-like conditions and selling those resources abroad. For example, it is estimated that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea brings in approximately $1 billion a year in coal exports - roughly one-third of the revenue it earns from exports - and at least $200 million a year in iron ore exports.”
2016-03-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7638 (2016) · source
“It is also the only United Nations Member State that routinely threatens other countries with nuclear annihilation, including multiple members of the Council on different occasions. Our collective security demands that we stop North Korea from continuing along this destructive and destabilizing course. Yet we have to be honest that while previous multilateral efforts, including the four previous sanctions resolutions adopted by the Council, have undoubtedly made it more difficult for North Korea to advance its weapons programmes, the regime continues to plough ahead, as it has demonstrated over the past two months. That is why the resolution we have just adopted is so much tougher than any prior North Korea resolution and why it goes further than any sanctions regime in two decades.”
2016-03-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7638 (2016) · source
“Of course, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's obsessive pursuit of weapons of mass destruction not only causes profound suffering for the people of North Korea, but also poses an extraordinary and growing threat to peace and security on the peninsula and in the region and the world. With each nuclear test and launch using ballistic-missile technology, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea improves its capability to carry out a nuclear-missile attack not only in the region, but also a continent away. That means having the ability to strike most of the countries represented in the Council. Think about that. North Korea is the only country in the entire world that has conducted a nuclear test in the twenty-first century. In fact, it has conducted not one nuclear test but four - in 2006, 2009, 2013 and now 2016.”
2016-03-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7638 (2016) · source
“The chronic suffering of the people of North Korea is the direct result of the choices made by the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a Government that has consistently prioritized its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes over providing for the most basic needs of its own people. As underscored in resolution 2270 (2016), which we have adopted today, virtually all of the resources of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are channelled into its reckless and relentless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. The North Korean Government would rather grow its nuclear weapons programme than grow its own children. That is the reality that we are facing.”
2016-03-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7638 (2016) · source
“The other is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in which individuals must endure the searing pain of seeing generations of their loved ones starve to death, such as the North Korean defector who joined us in the Council Chamber just a few months ago, whose grandmother, father and two brothers had all died because they could not find enough food. On the surface, it can seem as though those distinct North Korean realities have nothing to do with one another; yet, as we all know, they have everything to do with one another - part of the perverse reality that has no equal in this world.”
2016-03-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7638 (2016) · source
“In looking at North Korea, it can at times feel as though one is seeing two entirely different realities. One is the Democratic People's Republic ofKorea that is expending tremendous resources in pursuing advanced technology to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying out a nuclear strike a continent away. The other is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in which, according to ajoint assessment conducted by the World Food Programme and the North Korean Government, 25 per cent of children under the age of 5 suffer from stunted growth as a result of chronic malnutrition. One is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in which the Government brags about carrying out nuclear tests proscribed by the Security Council, such as the test carried out on 6 January.”
2016-03-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7638 (2016) · source
“Yet it is also true that the failure by any one of our nations to live up to our part of the deal, which includes working to ensure that the commitments made are honoured, pressing on the parties within our respective spheres of influence and making sure that sober, united steps are taken to de-escalate violations when they occur, could also result in the failure of the cessation. If this collapses,we will lose the most tangible opportunity we have had in a very long time to reduce the suffering of the Syrian people and to create space for finding a political solution that will finally bring them peace. So much depends on what we do. Let us not squander this chance.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“Whether this effort at a cessation of hostilities helps to change that reality, the reality on the ground for people like Faisal and so many millions of Syrians who have been through what no human being should ever have to endure, whether that happens depends in significant part on what the nations in this Chamber do when the cessation begins less than an hour from now. It is true that our actions alone will not determine whether or not the cessation of hostilities holds. Even if we all act in good faith, other parties have to power to sabotage the cessation by their actions.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“The men are just a handful of the nearly 4.5 million Syrians who have fled their country since the conflict began. These Syrians were actually waiting to go back into Syria in hopes of retrieving their families and bringing them to safety in Turkey. A journalist asked them if they thought that the deal reached in Munich would actually lead to a pause in the violence, No, they all said, without hesitation. One of the men, a 25-year-old named Faisal, who would not give his full name out of fear that his loved ones still in Syria could be harmed as a result, said of the ISSG statement, "The deals they make there are so isolated and detached from this reality here".”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“The cessation will not itself ensure that a political solution is reached, but it does at least create conditions in which one is possible. Beyond respecting the cessation, the parties can take other meaningful steps to build confidence, starting by releasing detainees, especially women and children, who continue to be subjected to deplorable treatment and inhumane conditions. Let me conclude. All are aware that on 11 February the ISSG issued its statement in Munich, which set out the initial terms of the cessation of hostilities that is supposed to go into effect shortly. Not long after the statement was issued, a group of around a dozen Syrians huddled in the rain outside a checkpoint in the town of Kilis, along Turkey's border with Syria.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“Man-made starvation continues, man-made deaths, because medicine is being stripped from convoys. Regular, sustained and unimpeded access must be granted to all Syrians in need, no matter where they live. A cessation of hostilities will also help foster conditions in which Special Envoy De Mistura could reconvene talks between the parties in Geneva, which is crucial to working towards the political transition that offers the only long-term solution to Syria's conflict. That transition, as we have said all along, must be a transition away from Bashar Al-Assad, who has lost all legitimacy to lead. As President Obama said yesterday, it is clear that after years of his barbaric war against his own people, including torture and barrel bombs and sieges and starvation, many Syrians will never stop fighting until Al-Assad is out of power.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“If we can make this cessation of hostilities hold, which is a very big if, we will take a genuine step towards that political solution we have been talking about for so long. As we all know, if implemented, a cessation of hostilities would not apply to terrorist groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which will continue to fight. Yet even a partial de-escalation would make a real difference in the lives of Syrians, and it would also allow us to expand the reach of humanitarian access, which, despite the modest gains that have been made in recent days and weeks, is extremely limited and extremely inadequate, particularly when it comes to hard-to-reach or besieged areas, where people continue to starve to death and die of treatable illnesses owing to a lack of medicine.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“The International Syria Support Group (ISSG) has set up a task force assigned specific steps to address allegations of non-compliance, including working with parties to de-escalate violence that could quickly spiral out of control. Let us be real. It is going to be extremely challenging, especially at the outset, to make this work. In a world of horrific crises, arguably no crisis has done more to threaten international peace and security or has inflicted as much human suffering as the conflict in Syria. We are all now broken records here in the Council about the fact that this crisis cannot be resolved through force alone and that it will require a political solution. We have heard it; we have said it. But today we have an opportunity.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“Many of the towns being hit by Syrian and Russian bombers are towns such as Daraya, a suburb of Damascus that is being pummelled up to this very day, a town that is not held by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or the Al-Nusra Front. It is hard to seem serious and sincere about ceasing hostilities when you ramp up fighting right up to the minute the cessation of hostilities is to take effect. Secondly, those countries with influence on the parties must use it to press the parties to live up to their commitments. And thirdly, when violations occur, as inevitably they will, a sober, coordinated response is critical.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“For that to happen, first and foremost, the parties to the conflict must abide by the terms endorsed today. To that end, the United States has continued to consult closely with the major Syrian armed opposition groups, which have confirmed their acceptance of the terms of the cessation of hostilities through the High Negotiations Committee or directly with us. The vast majority among them are ready to participate in the cessation provided the Syrian Government, and the Governments and forces supporting it, abide by their commitments under the terms. We are therefore deeply concerned by the continued Syrian and Russian aerial bombardment of towns across Syria, aerial bombing that has caused massive displacement and hundreds of civilian deaths.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“There is some scepticism as to whether this cessation of hostilities, which is scheduled to go into effect in less than an hour, at midnight Damascus time, will be respected from the outset or, just as important, whether it will hold with time. That scepticism is more than reasonable, given previous efforts that the Council and other multilateral institutions have undertaken to try to stop the monstrous violence and immeasurable suffering experienced by the Syrian people. Yet that record does not change the fact that this is our best chance to reduce the violence. Today, as in every previous effort, the only measure that matters is not the words on the page of this resolution, but whether these commitments are actually put into practice and whether these commitments lead to real changes on the ground.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“I thank Special Envoy De Mistura for his briefing and for his dogged efforts - no matter how many obstacles are put in his way - to seek a way out for the people of Syria from this abysmal conflict. We are gathered here at a critical moment. Resolution 2268 (2016), which we have just adopted and in which the Security Council endorses the cessation of hostilities in Syria, offers a genuine opportunity for a pause, at least in part, in the fighting in one of the most brutal conflicts the world has seen in a generation, a conflict that for the past five years the Security Council and the international community have been unable to stop. This resolution endorses a set of practical, concrete steps, along with terms to which the parties to the conflict must commit, to reduce the violence and create space for a long overdue political transition.”
2016-02-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7634 (2016) · source
“Truly addressing the issues facing Darfur will require the Council to speak with one voice and to take meaningful steps to help advance peace.”
2016-02-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7619 (2016) · source
“We cannot make judgements about what should be transparent and what should not be on the basis of whether the information is convenient or inconvenient. Finally, allow me to reiterate that, as penholder of this annual renewal, we take seriously our responsibility to consider the Panel's findings and recommendations, and also the views of all members of the Council. Some of those views could not be reconciled with the facts, including the facts presented in the Panel of Experts' report that is being blocked from publication. We look forward to continuing our discussion with colleagues on how best to increase transparency, reinforce compliance with Security Council resolutions, and respond to the findings of the Panel.”
2016-02-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7619 (2016) · source
“Today, the Council should have built upon the excellent international and regional initiatives under way in this field to tackle this problem in the Sudan context, but because of the Panel's reporting on this issue a Panel's report may never become public, and that is extremely concerning. We urge the Council and those who value the integrity and transparency of the work of the Security Council and its Committees to allow for this report to be published as soon as possible. Some of the same Council members who speak in certain contexts of the need, in theory, for transparency in sanctions regimes - including in a forthcoming meeting ofthe Council - now seek to block publication of information related to a real sanctions regime in practice because they do not like its findings.”
2016-02-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7619 (2016) · source
“Yes, today's resolution is a technical roll-over because the Council could not agree on even modest attempts to address in the resolution this information on worrying developments in the Darfur region. We are particularly concerned that the Council was unable to address the role ofillicit trafficking in natural resources in fuelling conflict. The nexus between gold trafficking and armed groups, as outlined by the Panel of Experts, is very well known. The Council has addressed without controversy the role of gold and natural resources in other conflicts, such as those in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and even terrorism perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.”
2016-02-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7619 (2016) · source
“We have created a Panel of Experts to provide this kind of reporting, and yet when it does a member of the Council blocks the report from being published because its findings are so disturbing. Today's resolution is a technical roll-over, not because the Panel of Experts did not provide findings on how to respond better to the situation. Indeed, the Panel has provided a critical flow of information on the implementation of sanctions in Darfur. Its report provided information that could have better informed our decision-making. For example, the report catalogued numerous violations of the sanctions regime, underscoring the need for greater enforcement by all Member States. It also took note of recurring violations of humanitarian and human rights law.”
2016-02-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7619 (2016) · source
“We welcome resolution 2265 (2016) to extend the mandate of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1591 (2005). Following a brief period of relative calm, the past few weeks have been marked by aerial bombardments and ground offensives carried out by the Government of the Sudan in Jebel Mara. The United Nations has reported tens of thousands of civilians displaced and dire humanitarian conditions, yet, the Security Council has been silent. We have had a sanctions regime in place for 12 years and yet we have not been able to muster consensus on a single designation since 2006. We have had an arms embargo in place for 11 years and year after year we receive report after report of arms flowing illegally into Darfur.”
2016-02-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7619 (2016) · source
“As the Council has emphasized for years, Lebanon should focus on strengthening its institutions, resolving difficult internal disputes and building up the rule of law. It should not become involved in Syria's civil war.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“The Council has stressed repeatedly that the Lebanese people deserve and, indeed, require a fully functioning Government to safeguard Lebanon from the threat of ISIL and other terrorist groups, as well as to address the country's significant economic challenges, including those accruing by virtue of their hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees, giving Lebanon the highest per capita refugee concentration in the entire world. As Lebanese discussions over the presidency continue, we support adherence to the constitutional process to elect a president, rather than any one candidate. It is critical that Lebanon's leaders respect the Government's policy of disassociation from regional conflicts, first enshrined in the June 2012 Baabda Declaration.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“To that end, we welcome Staffan de Mistura's invitation with regard to the talks to begin this coming Friday in Geneva. The initiation of United Nations-facilitated Syrian negotiations to reach a political transition in accordance with the Geneva communique (S/2012/522, annex) is a critical step towards ending the conflict in Syria. We are encouraged that the high negotiations committee assembled a broad representation of the Syrian opposition and has demonstrated a genuine commitment to participating in the political process. Finally, let me turn very briefly to Lebanon.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Credible monitoring organizations have documented the effects of Russian air strikes in Syria, which continue to target opposition groups and have killed many hundreds of people, the vast majority of them in non-ISIL controlled areas and with no connection to ISIL whatsoever. In Deir ez-Zor, not only has ISIL besieged the city, the group has also, reportedly, executed and abducted hundreds of civilians. The Secretary-General's report described one video released by ISIL in December, which showed six civilians being executed after being accused of collaborating with the Syrian regime. The United Nations reported that the executioners appeared to be children under the age of 15. All of that suffering and barbarity underscores the urgency of working towards a political solution.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“However, the mobilization of funds has to be accompanied by a much more aggressive mobilization of political pressure on those who are cruelly blocking aid from reaching desperate civilians and families. We also must not forget that starving people to death is far from the only form of suffering the parties are inflicting on civilians. The Syrian regime continues to drop barrel bombs on civilian areas, reportedly killing at least 12 children in December and maiming many more. The Syrian regime also continues to carry out air strikes, such as the one that hit a crowded market in Jisreen on 4 December, killing approximately 26 civilians. The regime does not act alone, as we know. It has the help of powerful supporters, including Russia.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Fewer than two dozen people in serious need of medical treatment who, according to the United Nations, will die if they do not get out - only a subset of the 400 identified - have been evacuated from Madaya. And, specialized medical and nutrition teams have been denied re-entry, having paid brief visits before. The 4 February conference in London, where the United States delegation will be led by Secretary of State John Kerry, provides an opportunity for the international community to fill the growing gaps in the United Nations funding of humanitarian appeals for Syria. We urge all Member States to put forward robust pledges aligned with the rising needs of the Syrian people.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“And for 80 of the requests, the Al-Assad regime, again a United Nations Member State, did not even bother to respond to the United Nations within three months. This is not an isolated practice applied in one place for a limited period of time. It is part of a deliberate, systematic strategy aimed at killing and displacing civilians. It is true that a handful of convoys carrying food and medical assistance were able to reach Madaya over the last few weeks, and we commend the brave staff of the United Nations and international humanitarian groups and local actors who have pressed relentlessly for the delivery of lifesaving aid. However, it would be a grave mistake to think that starving people in besieged areas will now survive. Much more aid is needed.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Yet, while the suffering in besieged areas has been vehemently condemned around the world, the parties to the conflict continue to block humanitarian aid from reaching those in need. And here I stress particularly the Syrian regime. According to the Secretary-General's report, of the 15 besieged areas, two of them are besieged by armed opposition groups, one by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and 12 ofthe 15 by the Al-Assad regime, which sits here at the United Nations as a Member State. Out of a total of 113 inter-agency convoy requests sent by the United Nations, tha Member State approved and completed only 13. That is 13 approved and completed out of 113. That means that 100 dire requests last year were not completed.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“An anaesthesia technician who works in Madaya's medical clinic, which had to be moved to a basement after the above-ground facility was bombed, told a reporter that he has started to give the most malnourished children syrupy medicines so that they could have some sugar. Maleka Jabir, an 85-year-old woman in the city, told a reporter, "I don't go anywhere. Ijust crumple up and stay in bed", as she was so stricken by hunger and health problems. Parents told aid workers that they were giving their children sleeping pills so that they would be spared being kept awake by hunger pains. Ifany here have not seen the haunting photos ofthose children, you must force yourself to look at them and see the anguish being inflicted on the most vulnerable among us. We have a collective responsibility to hear their pleas.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Those numbers raise the question: with all that we, as the Council, know about the dire situation of the Syrian people, and with all the resolutions we have adopted in this Chamber to address this humanitarian catastrophe, how can it be that the numbers continue to rise? The conditions are particularly abysmal in besieged areas, where, according to the United Nations, nearly 400,000 people are waging a daily struggle to merely survive. The Secretary-General's report describes United Nations access to these areas as "pitiful". Less than 1 per cent of civilians in besieged areas received food aid per month in 2015, and only 3 per cent received health assistance. We have all seen the ghastly consequences ofthese sieges in the reports on the 40,000 people trapped in Madaya.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“On Syria, we continue to be horrified by the immeasurable human suffering caused by the country's brutal conflict. We have spoken repeatedly here and elsewhere about the atrocities and inhumane conditions - all of them man-made - that the Syrian people have been forced to endure, and yet the situation just keeps getting worse. According to the Secretary-General's most recent report, an estimated 13.5 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria, 1.3 million people more than in 2014. Six million of those in need are children, nearly 1 million more than a year ago.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We also encourage the parties to take steps to address the issues underlying these challenges, such as opening Gaza border crossing points, streamlining the civilian workforce, addressing infrastructure needs and promoting broader economic recovery. Preventing the supply of illicit arms to Gaza is crucial, as is supporting a process that results in the Palestinian Authority's effective control of Gaza. We understand the enormous political challenges involved in grappling with those tough issues on both sides, particularly in a climate of increased security threats, terrorism and distrust. But, as we have seen, the passage of time will only make those tough issues harder, not easier, to resolve. We encourage leaders to take steps that will preserve the possibility of two States and further prospects for peace.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“This month, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) launched a $403 million appeal to meet urgent humanitarian needs in the West Bank and Gaza, such as emergency food and medical aid. We all must do our part to make sure that those needs are met. We urge all Member States concerned about the conditions in which Palestinians live to join the United States in contributing to UNRWA's appeal and assisting those in need. As we have repeatedly made clear, we can continue to look to both sides to demonstrate with actions and policies a genuine commitment to a two-State solution. To that end, Quartet envoys travelled to the region last month to meet with the Israeli and Palestinian leadership to explore ways to preserve a two-State solutio. The envoys will meet again early next month in Europe.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“The United States is also following with concern the demolitions and evictions that have been undertaken by Israeli authorities in several locations throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem. On 21 January, 16 people, of whom six were children, were displaced, when Israeli authorities demolished four homes in Jabal Al-Baba, a village that lies within the area known as E-l. Those actions reflect an ongoing trend of demolition, displacement and land confiscation that continues to undermine prospects for a two-State solution. Also alarming are the grave humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, where Gazans face extraordinary challenges in their daily lives.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Some 70 per cent of the West Bank's Area C has already been unilaterally designated as Israeli State land or as being within the boundaries ofIsraeli regional settlement councils. Steps aimed at advancing the Israeli settlement project, including changing the designation of land, issuing building tenders and constructing new settlements, are fundamentally incompatible with the two-State solution and raise legitimate questions about Israel's long-term intentions. That concern notwithstanding, let me make crystal clear, as have Secretary Kerry and other United States Government officials on multiple occasions, that settlement activity can never itself be an excuse for violence.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“It is also incumbent upon the Palestinian Authority to do all that it can to counter incitement to violence and to continue to press for calm. In addition, in dealings with civilians and peaceful protests on both sides, it is critical that every possible effort be made to show restraint, guard against the loss of life and de-escalate tensions. The United States strongly opposes settlement activity, including some steps that Israel has taken this month. We are deeply concerned about reports of a declaration of more than 370 acres in the Jordan Valley, in the West Bank, as State land. We are also deeply concerned about recent steps that appear to have effectively created a new settlement south of Gush Etzion.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We also condemn Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, such as the appalling 2015 attack that killed three members of the Al-Dawabsheh family in Duma - the father, Saad, the mother, Reham, and their 18-month-old boy, Ali Saad - and badly burned their 4-year-old son. There is absolutely no justification for any of those acts of terrorism. We all must condemn them consistently and unequivocally. The United States continues to stress the need for fair judicial processes for all to bring to justice all perpetrators of violence and acts of terrorism. The recent indictments brought by the Israeli Government against the terrorists who perpetrated the Duma attack represent a positive step, but more must be done to ensure that those responsible for such attacks are held accountable.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Those include the attack on 24-year-old Shlomit Kriegman, who was stabbed yesterday outside a supermarket and died earlier this morning. Another woman, 58 years of age, was also stabbed and wounded in the attack. The victims also include Dafna Meir, a mother of six children, who was stabbed to death in her home on 17 January while trying to defend her kids, as we heard earlier. Those and other reprehensible and inexcusable attacks against innocent civilians underscore the critical importance of affirmative steps to stop incitement, restore calm, reduce tensions and bring an end to the Violence on both sides.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“I thank you, Foreign Minister Nin Novoa, for presiding over this meeting and for your wise leadership in your delegation's first presidency of the Security Council. I also thank the Secretary-General for his briefing to the Council today and for his being here, which is testament to the serious challenges facing the region - a reality underscored by his appropriately bleak briefing. My remarks today will focus on three parts of the region: the Israeli-Palestinian issue, Syria and Lebanon. On the Israeli-Palestinian issue, we remain very concerned about the impact that terrorism and the ongoing violence have on Israelis and Palestinians and by the lack of progress made towards a two-State solution. The United States strongly condemns terrorist attacks perpetrated by Palestinians.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“He said at the time, "We are adversaries, on different sides, but today we advance in the same direction, the direction of peace". Today, Colombia has taken another step in that direction of peace. The road ahead will surely have its bumps, and much will rest on implementation. But because of the Colombian Government's commitment - its "unyielding determination", as President Obama put it - to fight for peace, the destination is in sight. With today's vote, the United Nations recognizes Colombia's achievement and offers its collective support as the country completes its journey.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“Communities that suffered in the conflict will need basic security and additional public services. Former combatants will need to be reintegrated into society. Land mines will have to be removed so that communities can return to their lands and more rural economic development can occur. The United States will support critical Government initiatives such as those aimed at expanding the rule of law and economic opportunity in former conflict zones, bolstering civilian law enforcement, supporting the victims of conflict and expanding protections for human rights. In conclusion, back in September, President Santos Calderon travelled to Havana, where he reached an agreement with the FARC to complete a peace deal by March.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“Just as we have supported the Government since it developed the Plan Colombia strategy, nearly 16 years ago, so have we backed its efforts to negotiate a just and lasting peace agreement - one that should be consistent with Colombia's domestic and international legal obligations and make accountability and the rule of law the bedrock of sustainable peace. As Colombia works towards that goal, the United States will remain at its side, ready to assist in the hard work ahead, in the lead-up to the final peace agreement and then in the challenging process of implementation that will follow, where what is put in writing must be translated into practice. Victims and vulnerable individuals will need access to justice, protection and dispute-resolution services.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“The requested United Nations observer mission will serve as the international component of a tripartite mechanism that will monitor and verify the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities and be responsible for monitoring the laying down ofweapons. The mission will be strengthened by the participation of observers from other countries in the region and will complement the important work of United Nations agencies already in Colombia, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. With its vote today, the United States underscores its continued partnership with Colombia.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“Forging a lasting peace agreement will not resolve all of Colombia's challenges, nor will it instantly help heal the deep wounds inflicted over the last five decades. It cannot undo what happened in Villavicencio and so many communities like it. But if the fighting truly ends, then a new and long-overdue chapter can finally begin. With today's resolution 2261 (2016), the Security Council shows that the United Nations stands with the Colombian people as they forge that new future. The resolution represents the answer of the United Nations to the joint call made by the Government of Colombia and the FARC for United Nations engagement in helping to end the conflict.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“The National Centre for Historical Memory has documented the killing of 220,000 citizens, while the Government has registered nearly 6 million displaced persons. Colombians have lost loved ones to bombs and bullets, kidnappings and disappearances. They have seen their streets and villages turned into war zones, and they have spent too many years worrying that today might be the day that war strikes home. It is the prospect of finally ending that violence that brings us here today. After nearly four years of negotiations, the Colombian peace process has yielded agreements on a set of extraordinarily complex issues, including an accord on victims of the conflict, which made the ceremony in Villavicencio possible. Colombia is now on the precipice of a historic achievement.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“I know President Obama looks forward to welcoming President Santos Calderon, the Foreign Minister and their whole team to Washington, D.C., next week. Last month, a small ceremony was held in the central Colombian town of Villavicencio. Presented in small brown coffins, the remains of 29 people who had been killed in the conflict were returned to their relatives. One victim had been abducted and forced to join the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) when he was 11 years old. His father, a 60-year- old farmer, had spent a decade looking for his son. He told a reporter, "it is hard to finally find him under these conditions". That ceremony reflects the toll that this conflict has taken on the Colombian people over the last 50 years.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“I thank you, Foreign Minister Nin Novoa, for convening this important meeting. I also thank Foreign Minister Holguin Cuellar for joining us to mark this very special occasion. It is a pleasure to have her here as a representative of her Government, as a former Ambassador to the United Nations and as someone who has been so personally engaged in this peace process. In an interview published over the weekend in the newspaper El Tiempo, President Obama said, "It is harder to end wars than to start them. It requires commitment, it involves taking risks. President Santos and his team have demonstrated unyielding determination to achieve peace." I know that Foreign Minister Holguin Cuellar and Colombia's formidable Ambassador her, Ms. Maria Emma Mejia Velez, share that determination.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source