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

“First and foremost, it is in the interest of civilians threatened by violent conflicts. It is in the interest of the United Nations because regional peacekeepers often lay the foundation for United Nations multidimensional peacekeeping efforts and advance the core principles of the Charter of the United Nations. It is in the interest of countries that send troops whose stability is enhanced by the investment in training and equipment that come with such interventions and arises from their having played a role in preventing deadly conflicts from spreading across borders. Perpetrators who commit atrocities are routinely testing peacekeepers' limits. When the first killings began in Rwanda in the spring in 1994, Romeo Dallaire, the United Nations Force Commander there at the time, appealed for reinforcements.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“The training and assistance programme for our African contingency operations has trained nearly 250,000 peacekeepers from 25 partner countries since 2005. Our support for regional initiatives is a clear affirmation of our broader commitment to making peacekeeping more effective, as well as to our partnerships with countries that contribute troops to critical missions. Next week, President Obama will meet African Heads of State at the United States- Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, to discuss how the United States can deepen its partnership with countries that commit troops both to United Nations and to regional peacekeeping and how we, along with other partners, can help them to address persistent operational challenges. Such regional cooperation is in everyone's interest.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“We recognize the many challenges to making regional and international peacekeeping missions work, namely, the challenges of training and equipping troops, of airlifting them into theatre and ofmaintaining their supply lines once they are there. We are therefore investing greatly in regional missions and in the capabilities of troop-contributing countries. The United States contributed more than $500 million to the African Union Mission in Somalia, and $166 million towards equipment and training for the African contingents deploying to the United Nations mission in Mali, as well as logistical support to its African-led predecessor. We are also providing up to $100 million in similar support to the African-led International Support Mission in the Central African Republic.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“It should draw lessons from the leadership of Rwanda, as well as other countries, such as Ethiopia and Nepal, with regard to the protection of civilians. Rwanda's troops were among the first boots on the ground when conflicts metastasized in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Not only do Rwandans volunteer for complex and dangerous missions but, because of their commitment to protect civilians, the populations in countries where the Rwandans serve trust them. Troops from other countries who serve alongside them draw strength from their fortitude, and aggressors who would attack civilians fear them.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“Warlords and militant take notice of peacekeepers' willingness to stand up or to stand by. The failure to uphold the commitment to protecting civilians in one mission can undermine the legitimacy of all of the others. That is part of why it is so troubling that, according to a March report (A/68/787) of the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), United Nations peacekeeping missions have routinely failed to use force to protect civilians under attack, despite the mandates under which they operate. Of the 507 attacks against civilians that it reviewed from 2010 to 2013, the OIOS found that peacekeeping missions almost never used force to protect civilians under attack. The Secretary-General has launched a comprehensive review of peacekeeping, which needs to tackle that grave challenge head on.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“They committed not to turn a blind eye to atrocities. Not only does the AU have the right to intervene in the face of atrocities, but any member can request an intervention when such horrors occur. The AU Charter gives letter to the growing consensus that neighbours, regions and the entire international community have a profound stake in the security and stability of countries in conflict. In every region of the world, we have seen that conflicts do not respect borders, especially when they are fueled by groups intent on targeting civilians and sowing terror. Ignoring those conflicts can be devastating not only to the countries and regions in which they occur, but to all of us. In order for mandates to protect civilians to be effective, they must be enforced, and enforcement is the key to deterrence.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“As we have seen in the past 18 months alone, the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States have deployed to address the urgent burning crises in Mali and the Central African Republic. When African countries came together in 2002 to form the new African Union, they decided that they never wanted to stand by as atrocities were being committed on the continent. They refused to accept the arguments of those who said that such violence was endemic to Africa, that their newly created Union lacked the capacity or the authority to stop it, and that it was not in their collective interest to intervene. They knew that such atrocities could be stopped and that they had the power and the responsibility to do so, so they enshrined a commitment to non-indifference in the very Charter establishing their new Union.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“I thank the Secretary-General; the European External Action Service Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Popowski; and the Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, Mr. Antonio. I thank you, Ambassador Gasana, for convening and framing today's debate, which could not be more timely. Rwanda knows of what it speaks. Rwandans understand the importance of getting peacekeeping right, having experienced the catastrophic consequences of it going terribly wrong. As we meet, regional organizations are playing a more central role in peacekeeping than ever before, particularly in Africa. They have proven swift and nimble in responding to serious crises. They have been willing to take on robust protection mandates.”
2014-07-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7228 (2014) · source
“They have agreed to take on the daunting task of providing good offices towards bringing an end to the violence and human rights violations that plague Syria and promoting a peaceful solution to that longstanding crisis. They have our full support.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“We are monitoring the situation there, in Aleppo and in other sites closely, and we call on the regime to fully implement resolution 2139 (2014) and to comply with its obligations under resolutions 2139 (2014) and 2165 (2014), as well as its basic obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law. This is a snapshot of two places in the home of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Yet as the cases of Aleppo and Yarmouk demonstrate, these humanitarian problems arise from a political crisis and the barbaric tactics of a regime that has lost the legitimacy to lead. Fixing that crisis will ultimately demand a political solution that Syrians can embrace. To that end, we welcome newly appointed Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“It has taken advantage of people's rituals of faith to maximize suffering. Even by the horrific bar that this regime has set, the malevolence of that pattern is shocking. And Aleppo is not the only place where Al-Assad is using that tactic. In Yarmouk, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was only recently allowed to resume distributing food and other aid to Palestinian refugees after several months of being denied access by the regime. Anyone who has seen photos of the Yarmouk refugees knows that this population's survival hangs by a thread.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“Roughly half a million Syrians remain in the city, which has been encircled and slowly asphyxiated by Al-Assad's forces, which have obstructed the flow of basic humanitarian assistance such as food, water and medicine. In addition, the regime has dropped roughly 15 to 20 barrel bombs a day on the city and a similar number on a suburb surrounding it. As disturbing as the absolute number of bombs dropped is when and where they have been dropped. People in the Aleppo provincial council report that the regime has increasingly concentrated its bombings at the time of day when Muslims are breaking their daily fast - the iftar - and that they have chosen to target the places Where people are most likely to congregate. This is obscene. The Al-Assad regime has taken Islam's holiest month and used it to calibrate its bombing runs.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“As the Council is well aware, the resolution was necessary because of the regime's cynical use of starve-or-surrender tactics and other deliberate strategies to deprive and punish people, particularly those living in contested and opposition-controlled areas. The denial of basic humanitarian aid continues to be one of the deadly weapons in the Al-Assad regime's deadly arsenal. Among the others are chemical and conventional weapons, including air power, tanks, mines and snipers. We have seen the devastation inflicted when the regime unleashes this arsenal on innocent civilians, as it did in Homs. In recent weeks, we have once again watched in horror as the Al-Assad regime has exercised a stranglehold on the people of Aleppo.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“On Syria, last week the Council adopted resolution 2165 (2014) in an effort to address the humanitarian devastation and suffering of the Syrian people. United Nations humanitarian agencies will be delivering humanitarian assistance through four additional border crossings and across conflict lines, without the approval of the Syrian regime. United Nations agencies have to be able to reach people in desperate need of assistance in all parts of the country - including those controlled by the opposition - as the Al-Assad regime denies such basic assistance in order to further its military and political goals. We hope that it will make a difference in the lives of several million Syrians who have been without food, medicine and other forms of assistance for more than a year.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“During both ceasefires, rockets and mortars were launched from Gaza at Israel, and Hamas has so far refused to agree to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that could halt the fighting and ease the suffering of innocent people on both sides. The United Nations supports Egypt's initiative. As grave as the situation is now - and it is indeed grave - it can get worse. Ifthe fighting persists, it will. Humanitarian conditions will continue to deteriorate, more civilians will suffer, and more innocent lives will be lost. The only solution is an immediate ceasefire. This could not be more urgent or more important, given the devastating consequences of the violence for civilian populations. That is why the United States will not rest until a ceasefire is achieved and the underlying issues fueling the conflict are addressed.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“All parties to the conflict must comply with international humanitarian law; that means respecting and protecting civilians and humanitarian and medical facilities. By the most recent tally, 77 United Nations structures have been damaged so far in the fighting. Militants in Gaza have repeatedly used civilian facilities for military purposes. Yesterday, a hospital in Gaza was struck by a tank shell, killing at least four people inside. The humanitarian ceasefires brokered by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross on 18 and 20 July had the potential to provide a reprieve from the violence and enable those in need of food, water and medicine to receive assistance. And yet, given a chance to help alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians, Hamas balked.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“That is why a ceasefire, as soon as possible, is essential, as both Secretary Kerry and Secretary-General Ban have emphasized from Cairo. When we convened on Sunday, the President expressed our shared concern about the growing number of casualties and underscored the need to protect civilians. Yet the violence continues to rise, as does the number of people who suffer from it. Yesterday, Secretary Kerry announced that the United States is providing $47 million to help address the immediate humanitarian emergency in Gaza. Those funds will provide critical humanitarian aid, including shelter, food and medical supplies for Palestinians in Gaza. We encourage all of our partners in the international community to respond to the humanitarian needs of the people in Gaza and the appeal issued by the United Nations.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“In Gaza the toll of the violence has been devastating. More than 600 Palestinian people have been killed, the large majority civilians, including at least 59 women and more than 121 children. More than 3,700 more have been injured. Thousands of homes have been damaged, many totally destroyed, and more than 100,000 people have been displaced. As the destruction mounts, some 35,000 Palestinians who need food have not yet been reached, and 1.2 million people have little or no access to water and sanitation. Behind every number is a real person, perhaps even a child. The suffering is immense. Yet even the most determined efforts to reach those in need have fallen short. The United Nations is near its capacity to take in those without shelter. Relief services are overwhelmed. In short, the situation is unsustainable.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“We also recognize that, as we work towards the short-term goal of a ceasefire, we also have to resolve the underlying issues that led to this conflict and ultimately build long-term peace through a two-State solution. Throughout the hostilities we have consistently recognized Israel's right to defend itself against attacks by rockets overhead or through tunnels below. No country in the world would tolerate a relentless of barrage of attacks on its citizens. Yesterday, in a single day, militants fired 155 rockets into Israel. In the two weeks of fighting more than 2,000 rockets have been launched at Israel. On Sunday, Israel foiled another attempt by armed militants to use tunnels to sneak into the country and launch an attack. Again yesterday, militants from Gaza entered Israel and killed four Israeli soldiers.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“I would like to thank Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his briefing and for his efforts to secure peace and protect civilians in the Middle East. My remarks today will address two areas, Israel and Gaza, and Syria. First, in Gaza, the United States is working intensively to secure an immediate cessation of hostilities based on the return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. That is the message President Obama gave in his public remarks yesterday. It is the purpose of United States Secretary of State Kerry's trip to Cairo, where he met with Egyptian leaders and the Secretary-General, and is conferring regularly with other allies and partners. It is a goal that the President of the Security Council embraced on behalf of all of the Council's members when we met this past Sunday.”
2014-07-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7222 (2014) · source
“Instead of continuing to provide weapons to the separatists, Russia could take back all of the surface-to-air missiles, tanks and other heavy weaponry that it has delivered to them. Those would not only be important steps towards achieving accountability and achieving justice for the victims, they would constitute a long overdue sign that Russia is willing to take steps to end this deadly crisis.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“But let us be clear: this is an extremely complex and time-sensitive crime scene. In that context, a spigot approach, letting in a few investigators here and a few more there, simply will not cut it. Access must be immediate and it must be full, period. A spigot, or a stage-managed, approach is a form of obstruction. Russia can help change that. Russia can unequivocally condemn the separatists' inhumane treatment of the bodies at the site and use its influence to ensure they stop tampering with evidence. Russia can demand that the separatists immediately adopt a ceasefire in the area around the crash site, as Ukraine has done. Russia can press the illegal groups to sit down with President Poroshenko, who has proposed a serious and reasonable peace plan.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“For the past six months, Russia has seized Ukrainian territory and ignored the repeated requests of the international community to de-escalate, all in an effort to preserve influence in Ukraine, a country that has long made clear its desire to maintain constructive ties with Moscow. Russia must recognize that no move on the geopolitical chessboard and no zero-sum game with the West can offset the pain being felt by the passengers' families worldwide, or the pain that Ukrainians are experiencing daily as a result of this needless conflict. As we meet, we are seeing initial signs of the separatists' allowing greater access to crash site. Today, three Dutch investigators accessed the site. The separatists are attempting to hold that up as proof of their openness and good faith.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“Russia's muteness over the dark days between Thursday and today sent a message to the illegal armed groups it supports: "We have your backs". That is the message Russia has sent by providing separatists with heavy weapons, by never publicly calling on them to lay down those weapons and by massing thousands of troops at the Ukrainian border. Today we have taken a step towards combating impunity. The resolution we have adopted provides clear directions to safeguard and uncover the facts, however inconvenient those facts may prove to be. We have adopted a resolution today, but we are not naive. If Russia is not part of the solution, it will continue to be part of the problem.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“It turns out that only this morning, coincidentally the very morning Security Council was meeting to discuss the investigation, did President Putin finally issue a public call to ensure the security of international experts. However - and this is critically important - President Putin still did not direct his call to the separatists, who have threatened those experts and over whom he has enormous influence. President Poroshenko, by contrast, has consistently done everything within his power since the crash to allow capable investigators full and unfettered access to the crime scene. He has been willing to involve the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Netherlands and other international players, and has hailed their independence.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“Since then, Russia has begun to blame Ukraine for the attack itself, although the missile came from separatist territory that Russia knows full well Ukraine has not yet reclaimed. But if Russia genuinely believed that Ukraine was involved in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-l7, surely President Putin would have told the separatists, many of whose leaders are from Russia, to guard the evidence at all costs and to maintain a forensically pure hermetically sealed crime scene. We welcome Russia's support for today's resolution. But no resolution would have been necessary had Russia used its leverage with the separatists on Thursday and gotten them to lay down their arms and leave the site to international experts - or on Friday, or on Saturday, or even yesterday.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“They were families heading out on vacation, students returning home from abroad, researchers trying to eradicate a deadly disease. Those who were killed deserve to be treated with dignity. Their families are crying out, as we have heard, for closure. We condemn the actions of the separatists who control the site. Indeed, almost everyone has condemned that grotesque behaviour. But there is one party from which we have heard too little condemnation, and that is Russia. Russia has been outspoken on other matters. Russian officials have publicly insinuated that Ukraine was behind the crash. On Friday, Russia blamed Ukrainian air traffic controllers for the attack, rather than condemning the criminals who shot down the plane.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“If they were, international experts would have had unimpeded access to the crime scene and all of the wreckage would have been left where it had fallen. That has not happened. Instead, armed thugs have walked around the site with little regard for where they step. We have literally heard the sound of debris, all of it evidence that needs to be carefully preserved, crunching beneath their feet. We have seen separatists moving human remains around and carting away evidence from the site. All around the world this weekend, people of all cultures and faiths had similar reactions to seeing the footage of the separatists damaging the site. "Stop, those are people! Those are peoples' lives!", we all said. The passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-l7 had nothing to do with the conflict in eastern Ukraine.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“Their presence here today, along with representatives of the dozens of other countries struck by this heinous crime, gives even greater urgency to our calls for the dignified return of the victims and to our pursuit of truth and justice. As we reflect on the immeasurable loss suffered by those families around the world, we are not only outraged at the attack itself, we are horrified and enraged by what has happened since - by the clear intention of some to obstruct an investigation into how the passengers and crew died. Even after adopting today's resolution, it is worth asking if there really is consensus that the crime merits an immediate and impartial investigation. Why did we still feel the need to meet today in order to demand one? We came together because not everyone has been supporting a real investigation into the crime.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“Today's resolution 2166 (2014) calls for a full, through and independent investigation into the horrific downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-l7. When 298 civilians are killed, we agree that we must stop at nothing to determine who is responsible and to bring them to justice. As we take that step, we are joined by the Dutch and Australian Ministers whose countries suffered an immense and heart-wrenching loss on Thursday, one that they are still grappling with, together with nine other countries from where the victims came. We extend our deepest condolences to those countries, the families of the victims they represent and all of the people who lost loved ones on that plane.”
2014-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7221 (2014) · source
“The recent surge in violence escalated with the kidnapping and senseless murder of three Israeli boys, which was followed by the kidnapping and senseless murder of a Palestinian boy. When news of the Palestinian boy's killing reached the mother of one of the Israeli victims, she said: "No mother or father should go through what we are going through now." She is right. Too much innocent blood has been shed. The suffering ofinnocent civilians must come to an end.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“We condemn in the strongest terms this immoral, unlawful and dangerous use of schools and hospitals for military purposes, which endangers some of society's most vulnerable members: children and the sick. No family, Palestinian or Israelim should have to live in perpetual fear of being unsafe in their own homes. No children, Israeli or Palestinian, should be kept awake at night by the sounds of rockets and gunfire, or to be prevented from going to school because it's too dangerous to venture outside. No people want to live like that. It is outrageous that they are being forced to do so. The only way to end the situation is an immediate cessation of rocket fire from Gaza and a de-escalation in hostilities. That is what we are calling for today.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“The United Nations, humanitarian organizations and regular Palestinian citizens are all doing tremendous work to assist those in need - from opening their homes to the displaced to delivering emergency rations to those in the hardest- to-reach places. But the situation is grave and getting worse. Until a ceasefire is reached, we call on all parties to ensure the protection of civilians and to respect and protect humanitarian and medical facilities, including those of the United Nations. This week, the United Nations in Gaza discovered 20 rockets that had been put in one of its schools. The United Nations quickly removed the rockets and roundly condemned the action. Such tactics are indefensible.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“It allowed time for some crucial infrastructure repairs to improve access to basic services. And it offered a brief reprieve for some of the people most affected by the conflict. But let us be clear: a humanitarian pause is just that, a pause. It is a brief stop in an otherwise persistent and often overwhelming stream of violence, which has inflicted suffering and terror on civilians. A pause is no substitute for a ceasefire, which is what is needed. Indeed, what was already a very troubling humanitarian situation in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating. There are widespread shortages of water, food, electricity and medicine.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“As President Obama made clear earlier today, we believe there should be a return to the ceasefire that was reached in November 2012. To that end, we are committed to supporting Egypt's ceasefire proposal. That is why Secretary of State Kerry is working with our regional partners to try to bring about a cessation of hostilities, and is prepared to travel to the region following additional consultations. Until that ceasefire is reached, we need to do everything within our power to assist the civilians caught in the middle ofthe violence. We are grateful for the five-hour humanitarian pause negotiated by Special Coordinator Serry yesterday. It provided a critically important window for the United Nations, humanitarian and medical workers and others to reach the wounded, displaced and most vulnerable.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“That is no way for anyone to live - not Palestinians, not Israelis. The four Palestinian boys playing on the beach in Gaza City were like boys everywhere, restless for play. Their deaths are heartbreaking, and the loss their family members and neighbours must feel today must be searing. The Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into their deaths. The devastating consequences of the conflict make it all the more disturbing that Hamas has squandered the serious efforts by Egypt to broker a ceasefire. A cessation of violence would have offered civilians on both sides a chance for peace, but Hamas continued its rocket attacks. As we have repeatedly stated, the United States is committed to finding a diplomatic solution to stop the ongoing violence.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“Israel has the right to defend its citizens and prevent those attacks. President Obama also said today that we are deeply concerned about the potential loss of more innocent lives. It is important that everything possible be done to prevent civilian casualties, as well as to mitigate the suffering of innocent men, women and children. The consequences of the increasing violence are plain for all of us to see, and they are heart-wrenching. We feel profound anguish upon seeing the images of suffering from Gaza, including the deaths and injuries of innocent Palestinian civilians, including young children, and the displacement of thousands of people. Israeli civilians, including the elderly and children alike, are fleeing to shelters with little warnings to escape the barrage of rockets from Gaza.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“I thank Under-Secretary-General Feltman for his briefing. The United States is deeply concerned about the rocket attacks by Hamas and by the dangerous escalation of hostilities in the region. In particular, we are concerned about the devastating impact of the crisis on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians. President Obama spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to reaffirm the United States strong support for Israel's right to defend itself. As President Obama said today, no nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunnelling into its territory. In just the last two weeks, Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza have launched more than 1,500 rockets towards population centres in Israel. Hamas attacks are unacceptable, and would be unacceptable to any State Member of the United Nations.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7220 (2014) · source
“The tragedy only underscores the urgency and the determination with which we insist that Russia immediately take concrete steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, support a sustainable ceasefire and follow the path towards peace that the Ukrainian Government has consistently offered. This war can be ended. Russia can end this war. Russia must end this war.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“The victims came from at least nine different nations; they could just as easily have come from any of ours. We must treat all of them as our own victims. We have a duty to each and every one of those individuals, their families and their countries to determine why that jet fell out of the sky and to hold the perpetrators accountable. We must stop at nothing to bring those responsible to justice. This appalling attack occurred in the context of a crisis that has been fuelled by Russian support for separatists through arms, weapons and training, by the Russian failure to follow through on its commitments and by its failure to adhere to the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“President Poroshenko has also reached out to the regions of eastern Ukraine and is pursuing constitutional reforms that will give local regions more authority to choose their regional leaders and protect locally spoken languages. He has said that he will meet with separatists in any safe location, inside or outside Ukraine. The goal of the United States throughout the crisis in Ukraine has been consistent, namely, to support a stable, peaceful and democratic Ukraine. We will not be satisfied with a temporary halt to violence. Russia must stop destabilizing Ukraine and allow all the people of Ukraine to decide their country's future through a democratic political process. As we sit here, the remains of nearly 300 people - innocent infants, children, women and men - are strewn across a blackened, smouldering landscape in Ukraine.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“He proposed a comprehensive peace plan and declared a unilateral ceasefire, both of which were cynically rejected by the illegal armed groups and their backers in Moscow. President Poroshenko's plan offered amnesty to separatists who voluntarily laid down their arms and who are not guilty of capital crimes. He committed to providing a safe corridor for Russian fighters to return to Russia. He established a job-creation programme for the affected areas, made an offer of broad decentralization and dialogue with eastern regions, including the promise of early local elections, and granted increased local control over language, holidays and customs.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“The sanctions are significant, but they are also targeted and designed to have the maximum impact on the Russian calculus while limiting the impact on the Russian people and any spillover effects on our interests or those of our allies. This week, the European Union also announced expanded sanctions on Russia. The message is unified and clear: if President Putin continues to choose escalation over de-escalation, the international community will continue to impose costs on Russia. But that is not what any of us want. We and our allies remain committed to a diplomatic solution, as are the Ukrainian Government and the Ukrainian people, who have seen their neighbours, friends and family members killed in a needless conflict. President Poroshenko has consistently backed up his words with actions.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“Russia continues to redeploy new forces extremely close to the Ukrainian border. In addition, on Monday, a Ukrainian air force cargo plane was shot down in Ukrainian air space, and on Wednesday a Ukrainian fighter jet was also shot down in Ukrainian air space. In both instances, the Ukrainian Government believes that the planes were fired on from Russian territory. It is because of such continued destabilizing Russian actions that the United States imposed sanctions on the defence, energy and financial sectors of the Russian economy, including financial institutions. The measures include freezing the assets ofRussian defence companies and blocking new financing of some of Russia's most important banks and energy companies.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“Ukrainian forces have discovered large amounts of other Russian- provided military equipment, including accompanying documentation verifying Russian origin, in the areas they have liberated from separatists in recent days. Recruiting efforts for separatist fighters are expanding inside Russia, and separatists have openly said that they were looking for volunteers with experience in operating heavy weapons such as tanks and air defences. Russia has allowed officials from the Donetsk People's Republic to establish a recruiting office in Moscow. Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who has long had a distinguished career in the Ukrainian military, was taken by separatists in mid-June. She is now being held - where? - in a prison in Voronezh, Russia. According to the Ukrainian Government, she was transferred to Russia by separatists.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“Time after time, President Putin has committed to working towards dialogue and peace - in Geneva in April, in Normandy in June and in Berlin earlier this month - and every single time he has broken that commitment. Here is what we know. In the past few weeks, Russia has increased the number of tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launchers in south-west Russia. More advanced air defence systems have also arrived. Moscow recently transferred Soviet- era tanks and artillery to the separatists, and several military vehicles crossed the border. After recapturing several Ukrainian cities last weekend, Ukrainian officials discovered caches of weapons long associated with Russian stockpiles, including MANPADs, mines, grenades, meals ready to eat, vehicles and a pontoon bridge.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“The context for yesterday's horror is clear: separatist forces backed by the Russian Government continue to destabilize Ukraine and undermine the efforts of Ukraine's elected leaders to build a democratic Ukraine that is stable, unified, secure and able to determine its own future. Russia says that it seeks peace in Ukraine, but we have repeatedly provided the Council with evidence of Russia's continued support to the separatists. Time after time, we have called on the Russian Government to de-escalate the situation by stopping the flow of fighters and weapons into Ukraine, pressing separatists to agree to a ceasefire and release all hostages, and support a road map for negotiations.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“All those concerned - Russia, pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine - should agree to support an immediate ceasefire to facilitate access by international investigators. In that regard, we look to the monitoring misson also to reach agreement with separatists and others in the region to make that possible. All evidence must remain undisturbed and any evidence removed from the site by the Russian-backed separatists operating in the area should be promptly returned and handed over. Russia needs to help make that happen. While it make take us some time to firmly establish who shot down a plane filled with innocents, most Council members and most members of the international community have been warning for months about the devastation that would come if Russia did not stop what it started - if it did not reign in what it unleashed.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“In the first instance, the special monitoring mission the of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe should act as a first responder, thereby laying the foundation for efforts by other international organizations and individual nations, including those whose citizens were victims of the tragedy. Yesterday, President Obama assured Ukraine's President Poroshenko that United States experts would offer all possible assistance upon his request. President Poroshenko has invited the independent and credible International Civil Aviation Organization to join an investigation. International investigators must be granted immediate, full and unfettered access to the crash site.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“On 24 June, as the Council was meeting to welcome Ukraine's unilateral ceasefire (see S/PV.7205), we received word that separatists had downed a Ukrainian helicopter, killing all nine aboard. On 14 July, separatists claimed credit for downing a Ukrainian military cargo plane flying at 6,000 metres. And on 16 July they claimed credit for the downing of a Ukrainian fighter jet. If indeed Russian-backed separatists were behind this attack on a civilian airliner, they and their backers would have good reason to cover up evidence of their crime. It is therefore extremely important that an investigation be commenced immediately.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source