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

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“That entails identifying the evolving gaps, determining what is needed to fill them and communicating that information to Governments, organizations and agencies involved in the effort as quickly as possible. That will require UNMEER to hire quality staff and scale up operations faster and get teams out of the headquarters and into the field, where they can better assess what is needed and immediately plug those gaps at the local level. The presidential statement that we as a Council agreed to today (S/PRST/2014/24) reflects that imperative in its request that the Secretary-General "accelerate efforts to scale up UNMEER's presence and activities at the district and prefecture level outside of the capital cities". Secondly, donors must tailor their contributions to the needs of the moment rather than what best suits our capitals.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“In Guinea, people in rural villages only kilometres away from the outbreak began have still never even heard of the virus. We are facing a new outbreak - of course, in Mali. Our response needs to be fluid, nimble and regional. We need to move with the virus, swiftly adapting to flare-ups and plugging gaps when they emerge. As Guinea's Minister for Foreign Affairs so eloquently said when we met in Conakry, "if there is one sick person in Monrovia, then the epidemic is not over in Guinea". I would like to highlight five key ingredients for not just bending this exponential curve, but ultimately ending it. First, the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response must help coordinate and better target the work of multiple United Nations agencies, Member States and organizations to maximize the effectiveness of our collective response.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“As oftwo days ago, not a single new case had been reported in Kenema in all of November, in large part due to the efforts of non-governmental organizations working with local authorities and communities. Were it not for the dramatic increase in the global response, Ebola would have continued to spread exponentially in the region, infecting and killing many thousands more people and placing our collective security at even greater risk. But it would be a huge mistake to think that just because we are seeing signs of progress we are on track to stop this outbreak. It would be reckless to think that just because we hit some of our benchmarks we have contained the virus's deadly spread. Last week, 533 new cases were confirmed in Sierra Leone, the highest weekly tally since the outbreak began in that country.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“Not every victim's body is reported, and some unsafe burials take place under the radar. Even if every district could get samples to a laboratory in 24 hours, that says nothing about how fast the results come back. But, even accepting the limits of the data, there is no question that our collective efforts are saving lives. In the past month, the average number of reported cases per week in Liberia fell by a third, thanks in large part to the robust international effort in support of the Liberian Government's leadership. At the beginning of October, Sierra Leone's Kenema district had the second-highest number of infections in the country, with 429 cases.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“We set out to improve the accuracy, accessibility and efficiency of Ebola testing, knowing that prompt and reliable results are critical to slowing the spread of the virus. In Bong county, Liberia, I visited a United States Navy-run Ebola testing laboratory, which had cut the time Liberians in the area waited for test results from up to five days down to three to five hours. On 4 November, only 33 out of 53 Ebola-affected districts in the affected countries had the ability to transport samples to a laboratory within 24 hours of collecting them, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). By 17 November, all 53 districts had that capability. We know this data is imperfect, and by no means the full story. Underreporting is a huge issue in the affected region.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“The United Nations set a target, to be achieved within 60 days, of 70 per cent of burials being completed in a safe and dignified manner in order to reduce new infections from unsafe burials, and the international community is working towards meeting that goal. As part of my trip to the most affected countries, at the end of October, I visited Sierra Leone's capital, where I saw first-hand how the command and control capacity of recently arrived British troops and civilians in support of their Sierra Leonean counterparts, burial teams and a robust public information campaign went from safely burying 30 per cent of victims within 24 hours of being reported to 98 per cent. That was all in less than a week.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“In an unprecedented resolution (resolution 2177 (2014)), the Council recognized that the outbreak constituted a threat to international peace and security and committed, right alongside the General Assembly, to marshalling the resources to stop it. Two months later, the outbreak continues to grow. When we met in September, more than 2,500 had died; today, more than 5,000 have died. In September, 5,500 people had been infected; today, more than 15,000 have been infected. The fight is not only ongoing, but it is still tilting in Ebola's favour. Yet we are beginning to see the impact of the international community's collective response. The results so far prove what we have said all along: we know how to win this fight.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“He had just recently arrived, but he brought great energy to a really tough assignment, and his unexpected death this week from heart attack is an enormous loss for his family and for the United Nations family. Two months ago, on 18 September, at its first emergency meeting on Ebola, the Council was addressed by a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) worker, Mr. Jackson Niamah, from Liberia's capital, Monrovia. He said people were dying outside the gates of the clinic where he worked because there were no beds to treat them. Jackson said, "I, along with my colleagues, cannot fight Ebola alone. the international community must help us." (S/PV. 7268, p. 6) It was a reckoning. Up to that point, not nearly enough had been done to curb Ebola's deadly spread.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“Thank you, Madam President and Foreign Minister Bishop, for being here to preside over this crucial meeting. I also thank Special Envoy Nabarro and Special Representative Banbury for their briefings. To Mr. Mauget, we express our gratitude for his remarks - but even more for his service, just as we are grateful for the service of all the doctors, nurses, burial team members and others on the front lines of this effort. We also thank the representatives of Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone for being here today and for the valiant efforts of their people and their Governments to stand up to this deadly virus. We stand with them. I would like to take a moment to recognize the passing of Marcel Rudasingwa, the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) Ebola Crisis Manager in Guinea. I met Marcel in Conakry last month.”
2014-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7318 (2014) · source
“The presence of international police cannot become an excuse for local police not to step up, and that is a risk. I would be very grateful if each of the Police Commissioners could speak to that question of balancing the importance of actually providing law and order when civilians are in need of security against the importance of not becoming a crutch for host countries. That is a very challenging issue, and we welcome any insight that can be offered as to what the Council could do to remove obstacles the police have in strengthening host-country law enforcement on the ground.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“What steps can Police Commissioners take, or have already taken, in the field to ensure that police from very different policing cultures, and from different contributing countries, have similar interpretations of what the protection of civilians means? That is of course also an issue on the troop contributors' side, but it bears exposition and explanation on the policing side too. Secondly, and lastly, in understanding the critical role that police can play in building up the capacity of host countries' law-enforcement bodies, one of our collective challenges is balancing the need for providing law and order in certain circumstances where there is a policing vacuum, while at the same time rapidly and intensively training local police so that they can re-assume their responsibilities.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“First, the protection of civilians is central to the mandates of modern peacekeeping operations. It is also a fundamental responsibility of law enforcement. Yet as we have often highlighted in the Council, in practice missions routinely fail to live up to that mandate. For all those here who are active in areas where the issue has arisen - at some point in the life ofa mission - ofhow police in particular can help implement the mandate to protect civilians, I would like to ask what obstacles they have encountered in fulfilling that responsibility. Do the police under their command have clear guidance on what the protection of civilians entails, and how it should be carried out?”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“The United States Government participated in the regional consultation on the Framework in Norway, and we found that session appropriately critical and constructive. That approach - learning in real time from successes and failures in the field, and bringing Member States into the discussion - is the right way to address the increasingly complex challenges that United Nations police face. For the Framework to be effective in the real world, it must be made actionable for police leadership on the ground, and we must keep adapting and improving it, based on the feedback of those who know best. In that spirit, we see our questions today for the Police Commissioners as an initial exchange in what we would like to be a much more regular back-and-forth. In conclusion, I have two questions.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“The Council will benefit tremendously from having more insight into the challenges and problems in the field. We must establish fluid lines of communication that enable missions to swiftly share information from the field. That should not mean only through Security Council meetings such as this one; we should have multiple means of getting regular feedback on what is working and what is not. That will make operations more accountable and more effective, and we will be more helpful in supporting police contingents in their hour of need. Rising demands and responsibilities are also why we must do a better job of tracking performance. To that end, we welcome the development of the Strategic Guidance Framework, particularly the focus on human rights, the protection of civilians and transparency.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“The United Nations gets and deserves a great deal of credit for opening its gates in South Sudan to people fleeing violence, but it is also worth singling out the United Nations police, who are responsible for preventing violence once people are inside those gates. In the Central African Republic's capital of Bangui, five formed police units and 100 individual police officers, together with a pair of military battalions, are fully responsible for public security in the city from 4 pm. to 8 am. every single day. Given the rising demand for and demands on United Nations police, it is remarkable that this is our first ever Security Council meeting dedicated to the issue, and the first time that Council members are being briefed by police contingents. That is indicative of a broader lack of communication from the field to the Council.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“In South Sudan it is the responsibility of just three United Nations formed police units, made up of 350 police from Bangladesh and Nepal, together with 500 United Nations individual police officers, to provide internal security in nine camps that are sheltering approximately 100,000 internally displaced persons. People who support the Government and people who oppose it live in close proximity in those camps - as do people from ethnic groups that have been pitted against one another in South Sudan's brutal civil war - making the job of policing the camps an extremely challenging one.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“This year alone we have provided training for 15 formed police units that have been deployed to five different United Nations peacekeeping missions, and equipment to ensure the swift deployment of United Nations police units from Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Togo. It is why we commend the recent commitments of police personnel by Bangladesh, China, Finland, Mongolia, Nepal and Rwanda, announced at the peacekeeping summit co-chaired by Vice-President Biden in September. Those contributions are critical to filling the current gap between capacity and need. United Nations police are showing they can handle complex duties such as protecting civilians and maintaining law and order.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“Given that, what we ask of United Nations police has evolved too, from passive monitoring of local police performance to taking on many law- enforcement duties and the training of host-country forces. That is logical. If one of the main reasons we need peacekeeping missions in the first place is the fragility or utter lack of public security, it follows that for countries to be able to protect their own people, and for missions to be able to eventually wind down, we have to strengthen host-country law enforcement. Our ability to build more accountable, professional police in host countries is the sine qua non of broader efforts to re-establish - or in some instances to establish for the first time - the rule of law. That is why the United States is investing in strengthening United Nations police forces.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“In April, the Security Council authorized the deployment of 1,800 United Nations police for a single peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic. That is more than all the United Nations police deployed in every peacekeeping mission in 1994, when there were only 1,677 all told. In 2012 there were 56 authorized formed police units; today there are 72, so we are seeing that kind of difference in just a two-year period. The increasing demand for United Nations police reflects our evolving understanding of their role. We recognize that they are central to ensuring the overarching objective of peacekeeping missions, which is not merely to stop conflicts but to build a sustainable peace in their place.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“I thank you, Madam President, for being here and for presiding over today's meeting, the first ever Security Council meeting dedicated to policing, one ofthe most important tools in our collective arsenal to prevent violence and conflict. Your presence here is a testament to Australia's deep and enduring commitment to improving United Nations policing in the context of peacekeeping operations. I had the privilege recently of engaging with Commissioner Hinds, the Australian head of the United Nations police in Liberia. He was extremely impressive in a very difficult operating environment. Of course, every one of the missions represented here presents a difficult operating environment of various kinds. So, I thank those gentlemen for their great leadership. We meet at a time of growing demand for United Nations peacekeeping missions.”
2014-11-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7317 (2014) · source
“What we can do - what we must do - is keep ratcheting up the pressure on Russia until it abides by Minsk and chooses the path of de-escalation. Russia's actions in Ukraine are a threat not only to the countries in Russia's immediate vicinity but also to the international order.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“The Minsk agreement was brokered under the auspices of the international community; as such, there must be consequences when Russia flouts the commitments it has made and continues to destabilize its neighbour. Russia has not earned the good faith we would wish to bestow. Even when Russia claims, as Foreign Minister Lavrov did today, "the inadmissibility of disrupting the implementation of the Minsk ceasefire agreements" actions are all that matter - and actions alongside these words show intentions. The Donetsk airport has come under attacks from artillery and arms fire four times in the past 24 hours, and in the past day Ukrainian positions have been shelled near Debaltseve, Avdiyivka, Hirske and Krasnohorivka.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“With Minsk we have a road map to reach that solution. The problem is, as it has long been throughout this crisis, you cannot reach a political solution if only one side is committed to forging it, and you cannot effectively implement a road map with parties who, like the Russians and the separatists they back, so consistently fail to keep their word. We have seen Russia's playbook in Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Crimea - so the question is not what Russia will try to do in eastern Ukraine, the question is what we, the international community, will seek to do to prevent yet another frozen conflict in Europe manufactured by Russia.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“The Ukrainian people have repeatedly chosen leaders who call for de-escalation over escalation, first in the presidential election and then in parliamentary elections. Ukraine has also put in motion critically important reforms to reduce corruption and grant greater authority to its regions through constitutional reform. It has sought to maintain the ceasefire along the lines established at Minsk. The United States continues to support the Minsk peace process, and we continue to call for its full implementation. We remain prepared to roll back sanctions if the fighting stops, the border is closed, the foreign forces and equipment are withdrawn and hostages are released. We have said all along that there is no military solution to the crisis. The solution, as has been said, by the OSCE here today and United Nations, must be political.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Asked where his authority came from, Daddy told the AP reporter: "We are an independent organization and we don't depend on anyone. I am answerable only to President Putin and Our Lord." In neighbouring Alchevsk village rebel leaders preside over the kangaroo trials of people accused of crimes. Defendants are not given lawyers and their judges are whatever members of the community show up, who vote by a simple show of hands. That is what the separatist democracy looks like. We continue to see similar repressive tendencies in Russian-occupied Crimea, where members of the Tatar minority have been relentlessly persecuted and the free press muzzled. By contrast, Ukraine has made a genuine effort to live up to its agreements at Minsk and continues to show considerable restraint in response to constant provocation and attack.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Foreign Minister Lavrov even tried to argue that the elections were part of the Minsk agreements, which clearly stipulate that the elections be local and conducted "in accordance with the law of Ukraine". Russian and separatist actions in eastern Ukraine currently have nothing to do with improving the humanitarian situation in Donbas, or decentralizing power, as called for in points 3 and 8 of the Minsk protocol. A recent Associated Press (AP) report from the rebel-held town of Perevalsk, part of the territory that recently declared independence from Ukraine, revealed the town was ruled by a local warlord who goes by the name of "batya" - or "daddy". Daddy's power is maintained by a group of armed Cossacks, whom he calls his Great Don Army, and four tanks outside his office fly Russian and rebel flags.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Russia negotiated a peace plan, then systematically undermined it at every step. It talks of peace, but it keeps fuelling war. That is not all. On 2 November, Russian-backed separatists held illegal elections in the parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that they control. The elections contravene Ukraine's laws and its sovereignty. They defied point 9 of the Minsk protocol. But if Russia and the separatists intended the elections to cast a veneer of legitimacy on their actions, they failed. Instead, the world saw the elections for what they are: a shameless attempt to validate territory seized at the barrel of the gun - a gun provided by Russia. In keeping with its efforts to escalate rather than de-escalate at every turn, rather than condemn the separatists" sham election like most of the international community, Russia encouraged it.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Russia has not provided that type of air- defence system to separatists to date, suggesting that Russian forces were protecting the convoy. On 9 November, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reported two convoys of 17 unmarked green trucks moving west through Donetsk towards the ceasefire line. Yesterday, 11 November, OSCE monitors observed the movement of 43 unmarked military vehicles on the eastern outskirts of Donetsk. Five were seen towing l20-millimetre howitzers and five others were towing multiple-launch rocket systems. NATO confirmed it had observed columns of Russian equipment - primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air-defence systems and Russian combat troops - entering Ukraine over the past 48 hours. The list goes on, but the pattern is clear. Where Russia has made commitments, it has failed to meet them.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Those captives include Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko and Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, both of whom were captured by separatists on Ukrainian soil and illegally transported against their will to Russia. At Minsk, Russia committed to remove all illegal military formations, military equipment and militants from Ukraine. Yet, rather than withdrawing its military forces from Ukraine and rather than cutting off its support for separatists, Russia is instead surging more forces and more equipment across the border. The Russian military has maintained a forward presence in eastern Ukraine since the ceasefire took effect. We have information indicating that a Russian air-defence system was operating near one of the separatist convoys in Donetsk.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“At Minsk, all sides agreed to permanent monitoring at the Ukrainian-Russian State border and the creation of a security zone along the border. Yet Russia has done nothing to restore Ukrainian Government control over the international border. Russia has refused to press separatists to allow the OSCE access to the border, and Russia continues to flout Ukrainian air space with its helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. It also continues to send so-called humanitarian convoys - convoys it will not allow Ukrainian customs authorities or international monitors to search. At Minsk, all sides committed to immediately free all hostages and illegally held persons. Yet Russia and the separatists it backs continue to hold approximately 500 captives.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Yet, rather than observe the ceasefire, the separatists have taken advantage of the agreed-upon pause in the fighting to try and expand their territory beyond Minsk lines. Meanwhile, Ukraine has maintained a full ceasefire along the agreed lines, as it defends its forces and population from separatists' push for more. Over the last few days separatist attacks have increased significantly, including on positions around Donetsk airport, the city of Debaltseve and,of course, near Mariupol. At Minsk, all sides committed to permitting the OSCE to monitor and verify the ceasefire. Yet Russian- backed separatists have fired on OSCE monitoring drones and used jamming signals to interfere with its team members' electronics using equipment supplied by Moscow.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Time and again, Russia has made commitments and then failed to live up to them, and subsequently offered explanations to the Council that it knows are untrue. The most recent example involves the joint commitments made by Russia, the separatists it supports and Ukraine on 5 September in Minsk. They include an immediate end to the ceasefire violations, the restoration of Ukrainian control of its side of the international border, OSCE monitoring of the border and a security zone on either side of the border, as well as the withdrawal of foreign forces, mercenaries and equipment from Ukraine and the release of hostages and prisoners. On none of those have Russia or the separatists lived up to their word. At Minsk, all sides committed to an immediate ceasefire.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“I thank you, Mr. President, for convening today's meeting on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. We also thank Assistant Secretary-General Toyberg-Frandzen for his clear and objective briefing. We are grateful to Ambassadors Apakan and Tagliavini for briefing us today and for the brave and critically important role that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is continuing to play on the ground. This is the Security Council's twenty-sixth meeting on the current crisis in Ukraine. If our message and the message of other countries today on the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine sounds familiar, it is for good reason. For while the situation has evolved, the root of the problem remains the same: Russia's flagrant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
2014-11-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7311 (2014) · source
“Together we can and must support those taking the courageous steps to strengthen the Middle East in these immensely troubling times. The cause of peace in the region and the dignity of its people depend on it.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“That is only more difficult to achieve when both sides continue to take actions that may be politically popular with domestic constituencies, but that come at the expense of advancing the cause of peace. We continue to urge all parties to refrain from such actions, including unilateral steps at the United Nations, Israeli settlement activity and provocations at the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif, where we urge all sides to respect the status quo of the holy site. The United States remains fully committed to achieving a negotiated final status agreement allowing two States to live side by side in peace and security. That is the only viable way forward and, if the parties are willing to go down that path and are genuinely dedicated to the hard work of peace, we stand ready to support them.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“The Gaza reconstruction conference raised $5.4 billion and reaffirmed the international community's commitment to rebuilding the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, who have suffered so much during and since the recent crisis. The United States is providing $212 million in assistance to the Palestinian people for relief and reconstruction, atop of the $118 million announced in September. Of course, as has been said, aid and assistance cannot produce peace in the Middle East. Leadership and compromise are needed. For reconstruction not to be required again in the future there must be a real change on the ground. Even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute for real security for Israel or for an independent State for the Palestinians.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“In Iraq, Prime Minister Al Abadi is taking steps to form a more inclusive Government, establishing the country's first complete cabinet since 2010. He is also moving towards decentralizing power and granting greater authority to provinces. Real leadership is also required to advance Israeli- Palestinian peace. The most recent wave of violence, was devastating - both in terms of its enormous human toll and because it was avoidable. Preventing another round of violence requires leaders who are willing to make difficult choices and commit to the hard work of negotiations. We commend Egypt for helping broker a ceasefire agreement.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“In Iraq, newly elected leaders must break from the sectarian style of leadership that defined the tenure of the Al-Maliki Government and build institutions that represent the whole nation, rather than advancing one groups interest at the expense of another's. In Lebanon, the position of president has been vacant for nearly five months during a time when the country faces considerable security, economic and humanitarian challenges. Lebanon's political leaders must come together urgently to select a president. We have seen leaders within those countries willing to choose unity over division and to make great sacrifices for their people. In August, the Lebanese Armed Forces and internal security forces fought bravely to defend the city of Arsal from extremists. They served and died for their country, not for any one religious sect.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“Given the massive suffering that Syria's crisis is causing the threat it poses to our collective security, leaders in the region must be part of the efforts to forge a political solution. But regional leaders also must address problems closer to home, which impact the rights of their people and are a source of the suffering, disenfranchisement and intolerance that feed groups like ISIL. Yet some leaders still choose to put short- term interests ahead of the tough decisions needed to best serve their people. Others take devisive steps when they could instead build consensus. The international community stands ready to help address the regions challenges, but we need partners to exert the political will and courage to seek real solutions.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“But we wholeheartedly agree with the Secretary-General that a political solution is absolutely essential to address the root causes of extremism in Syria and to address the legitimate aspirations and grievances of its people. A political solution is not an enshrinement of the status quo. The majority of Syrians will not accept being ruled by a regime that has used sarin and chlorine to suppress its own people. We commend the efforts of United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who is working urgently to build support for a political solution by engaging multiple stakeholders. The Special Envoy met with a representative of Iran over the weekend and is meeting with a representative of Russia today - countries whose influence will be critical to reaching a long-sought solution.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“Among the countries most severely impacted are Iraq and Lebanon. For example, 180,000 Iraqis fled the city of Heet, in Anbar province, as it fell to ISIL in recent weeks. They are among an estimated 1.8 million Iraqis displaced just this year. Lebanon has taken in 1.2 million Syrian refugees, over a quarter of the country's population, placing immense pressure on its already strained resources. We know what we must do. We must defeat ISIL and other terrorist groups; we must hold accountable all those in the Al-Assad regime responsible for its widespread attrocities and we must mitigate the suffering of the Syrian people.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“That on any day - let alone so many days i the Al-Assad regime is not allowing aid to flow to the Palestinians suffering in Yarmouk shows extreme cruelty. The international community must be more vocal in its condemnation of those unspeakable tactics. And when the Syrian Government hails its leadership, on behalf of the Palestinian people, they should be reminded by all of us of the people living in Yarmouk. There are 3 million Syrians who have fled to neighbouring countries to escape the regime's and extremist groups' violence, up to 80 per cent of them women and children. The threat posed by ISIL is felt across the region, but especially in Iraq and Syria. Foreign fighters and Syrian nationals, who have been recruited and trained to fight in ISIL and other terrorist groups, pose a threat to countries far from the battlefield.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“The 18,000 residents who remain there have been relying on untreated ground water and a single well for drinking water for nearly a month. Just yesterday a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) issued a statement that began "UNWRA was not cleared to distribute humanitarian assistance in Yarmouk today, 20 October". The day before, UNWRA's statement began "UNWRA was not cleared to distribute humanitarian assistance in Yarmouk today, 19 October." UNWRA notes that, since July this year, there has been a steady and significant decline in the quantity of food and other essential items, such as medicine, that the Agency has been able to offer to the Palestinians in Yarmouk.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“The consequences of Al-Assad's actions have been staggering - more than 200,000 Syrians killed and nearly 11 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance. Yet despite the valiant efforts ofinternational humanitarian groups, United Nations agencies and others, the Al-Assad regime is deliberately obstructing the delivery of crucial assistance to millions of people in dire need. The regime declares itself the antidote to the horrors of ISIL, but its chemical and barrel bomb attacks and its use of starvation as a tool of war are every bit as indifferent to the fate of innocents and every bit as grotesque. One community subjected to the Al-Assad regime's merciless attacks has been that of the Palestinians in the refugee camp of Yarmouk, which the regime has sealed since July 2013.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“More than three years ago, Bashar Al-Assad lost the legitimacy to lead when he responded to peaceful protests with brutal violence. Atrocities committed by his regime - atrocities of the kind and scale the world has rarely seen - played a key role in spurring the emergence of ISIL and other terrorist groups, and Al-Assad's indiscriminate attacks on his own people continue to this day. In September, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released its second report, which found "compelling confirmation that a toxic chemical was used as a weapon systematically and repeatedly" in three opposition-held villages in northern Syria. The OPCW concluded with confidence that chlorine was used. Witnesses described the attacks as being carried out by helicopters, which only the Al-Assad regime possesses.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“And Israeli and Palestinian leaders must recognize that there is no alternative to a negotiated peace and invest the political will to build it. I will discuss each of those critical issues today in turn. We have seen how failures in leadership can help foster the conditions in which extremist groups thrive. By failing to make the hard choices necessary to address the grievances of its Sunni population, Iraq's former leaders helped to create conditions that ISIL exploited. The consequences have been horrifying. To cite just one example, earlier this month ISIL announced strict rules on what can be taught in universities in Mosul, one of the cities it now controls. When Iraqi university professors rejected those restrictions and boycotted, ISIL declared that any professor who did not return to work would be executed.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“I, too, would like to thank the Secretary-General for joining us today and for briefing us on his recent trip to the region. We are living in a time of tremendous turmoil in the Middle East, a time that demands brave and decisive leadership by both regional leaders and the international community. Across the region we see the need for hard choices. In Syria, the international community must summon the collective resolve to stop the Al-Assad regime's monstrous atrocities as well as the horrors of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and find a political solution to the conflict. In Lebanon and Iraq, political leaders must strengthen the institutions necessary to honour the aspirations of their people and to defeat violent extremist threats.”
2014-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7281 (2014) · source
“Several of the troop- and police-contributing countries are represented in the Security Council, and others are here in the Chamber. We thank them for all that they have done and will continue to do. We look forward to continuing to work constructively together and with the Haitian people to help them achieve durable peace, security and democracy.”
2014-10-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7277 (2014) · source
“I want to thank members of the Council for their efforts to forge a consensus that reaffirms to the people of Haiti today that the members of the Security Council remain united in their support for Haiti's aspirations to a secure and stable country. We agree with the Chilean Ambassador - and, I assume, with everyone else on the Council - that the situation on the ground should drive our decision-making as a Council. It has up to this point, and it must continue to do so going forward. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) will continue to make an important contribution to Haiti's security. I would like to reiterate the appreciation of the United Nations to the troops, police and other staff who make up MINUSTAH in order to support the Haitian people.”
2014-10-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7277 (2014) · source
“I think this dialogue is essential to improving peacekeeping and enhancing the protection of the people who rely on all of us for capabilities that sometimes their Governments are not able to provide.”
2014-10-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7275 (2014) · source