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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“I want to say that those who make that argument have a point. Far too often, United Nations peacekeeping operations do not have the equipment, the training, the logistics, the intelligence or the leadership needed to protect themselves, never mind civilians, against groups prepared to bomb and kill civilians as part of their fight. But the solution cannot be only to tell the United Nations to hunker down and wait for someone else to take care of the problem, because the fact is that United Nations peacekeepers are sometimes the only forces present to help civilians in need.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“I want to make the case today that peacekeeping missions must be better prepared to operate where groups target civilians and peacekeepers. That means being prepared to use robust force to carry out their mandates, which includes protecting civilians when authorized by the Security Council to do so. That requires not just better equipment and training for peacekeepers but more systemic reform in how we on the Council and the United Nations manage peacekeeping operations. First of all, I would like to comment on the role of peacekeepers themselves. Some Member States today will say that United Nations peacekeepers simply should not be asked to protect civilians from terrorists or militia. They argue that regional organizations or other coalitions should shoulder that responsibility.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“Just yesterday, as others have noted, a mine reportedly killed a Togolese peacekeeper in and two civilians in Mali. The United States condemns that attack and we extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the Governments of Mali and Togo. Right now, peacekeepers in places like Mali, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Golan operate under the daily threat of asymmetric warfare. The United States recognizes those peacekeepers for deploying to some of the world's least secure States. Their service is Vital to international peace and security, and when the goals of their missions - supporting political processes, strengthening State institutions, protecting civilians - run counter to the goals of non-State armed groups, peacekeeping operations are vulnerable.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“I want to thank Minister Ndiaye and Senegal for highlighting the risks posed by extremists and militia to civilians and to peacekeepers. I think one can tell by the packed Chamber that this conversation is overdue, and we really thank him for leading and putting the issue on the map. Although the Council today will not hear the voices ofpeacekeepers and civilians who are vulnerable to asymmetric threats, surely, if they were here, they would thank him as well. I would also like to thank Deputy Secretary-General Eliasson, Secretary-General Jean of the International Organization of la Francophonie, Under-Secretary- General Fedotov, Assistant Secretary-General Laborde and Mr. Boutellis for their very informative briefings. This is not an academic debate.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“The Special Envoy is offering a way out of the fighting. The plight of children like Abdul Rachman should compel the parties to negotiate and cease hostilities immediately. And we, as members of the Council, should unite in demanding it.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“He is also lactose intolerant, requiring a baby formula that used to be widely available before the conflict, but now his family cannot find the specific formula anywhere. Looking at Abdul Rachman, his mother finally breaks down in the documentary. She says, "I am losing my son, and there is nothing that I can do about it. I have seen children like him on television. They die". At the eleventh hour, an especially determined doctor just barely managed to find a three-month supply of formula to keep Abdul Rachman alive. But let us consider again that there are more than 370,000 kids suffering severe acute malnutrition like Abdul Rachman, with just as many anguished mothers at their bedsides who have seen kids like these on television but never imagined that they would be holding one like them.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“The parties should engage with the Special Envoy immediately to hammer out the details of a final agreement. Of course, moving forward with this road map will require the parties in Yemen to compromise, which is not a strong suit. It is long past time for them to do so. The people of Yemen cannot afford for the parties to continue acting on the illusion that they will achieve a total victory. It will not happen. Let me conclude. Earlier, I mentioned the problem of severe acute malnutrition, joining many voices around this table. A recent BBC documentary entitled Starving Yemen profiled one such case, that of a toddler named Abdul Rachman who was born at the start of the conflict. Abdul Rachman is an 18-month-old infant now but weighs as much as a six-month-old baby.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“When salaries are taken away, a critical sources of income is taken away, and it becomes more likely that infants and children will die of starvation. My third and final point is on the urgent need for a political solution. The Special Envoy has presented both parties with a credible and balanced road map for ending the conflict together with the security plan for Sana'a. The road map addresses the concerns of the Yemeni Government about sequenced withdrawals from the key cities of Sana'a, Taiz and Al-Hudaydah, and it addresses the concerns of the Houthi and the General People's Congress about the transition of executive authority. The road map is a basis for a negotiation. It is not a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. Now is not the time for any of the parties to hedge, stall or add new conditions.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“The cranes at Al-Hudaydah port need to be repaired and the parties should facilitate the United Nations plans to repair them so as to restore capacity at what had long been a vital port and source of influx of many goods. At the same time, one has to stress that no amount of aid can make up for the void left by Yemen's collapsed economy. That is why we are concerned about the consequences of the Yemeni Government's decision to move the central bank. We call on the Government to continue paying salaries nationwide. Those salaries are one of the few sources of income left for many Yemeni families. I was struck by Mr. Hadi's account that often just a small amount of money is what is needed for a mother to be able move from one part of the country to a place where a nutritional supplement is available.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“The United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) has helped facilitate imports of basic food and medicine into Yemen, and, as Mr. O'Brien has noted, it deserves all of our continued support and full cooperation from the parties. But there are some additional steps that should be taken. The parties need to reopen the airport in Sana'a to civilian flights once again, allowing critically injured Yemenis to leave and Yemenis, who are stranded abroad and wish to return, to get back to their homes. When fuel and medicine do enter Yemen, the parties need to allow such goods to reach hospitals in all parts of the country.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“Hundreds of thousands of children - infants and babies in many cases - are on the brink of dying not because of bombs or shells, but just because they cannot get a simple course of nutritional supplements. Millions more are at risk. Let us therefore focus on how we can respond. All Member States should demand here at the United Nations and in our bilateral relationships and conversations that the parties allow complete and unfettered humanitarian access. That means that authorities on the ground need to approve the United Nations plans to distribute aid and let convoys through checkpoints. It also means that roads, bridges and ports that are vital for delivering aid need to be protected from the fighting.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“The civilian death toll underscores again that the parties need to commit to the cessation of hostilities. That brings me to my second point, which is the need for a humanitarian surge of a different order. The statistics that Under-Secretary-General O'Brien and Mr. Hadi have presented show that the problem is getting worse. Let us take only one as an example. The number of 370,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition has increased from that of 320,000 reported last year. Severe acute malnutrition means one thing - unless these kids get an immediate course of medical treatment, they will likely die. Let us consider that for a moment.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“The coalition has accepted responsibility, and we look forward to further reporting on their investigation of the attack, including on concrete measures taken to establish accountability, compensate victims and make certain that such strikes are not repeated. The United States will continue to underscore to the coalition, the need to take all feasible measures to reduce civilian casualties and target precisely, including verifying targets against a no-strike list. We also strongly condemn Houthi-Saleh forces for all the cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia and the shelling of populated areas, especially in Taiz. On 4 October, the United Nations reported that artillery fire in the centre of Taiz killed at least 10 civilians, including 6 children, and injured 17 others.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“Those who believe that if one increases military pressure, it will strengthen one's hand in political negotiations, has 19 months of evidence not shown that it is not the case. Increasing military pressure and initiating new operations, at this point, is only going to prolong the unnecessary suffering. The longer the conflict continues, the more that Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula will use this vacuum to expand its presence and launch new attacks. Air strikes that hit schools, hospitals and other civilian objects have to stop. In many cases, these strikes have damaged key infrastructure that is essential to delivering humanitarian aid in Yemen. The United States strongly condemns the air strike on mourners at a reception hall in Sana'a earlier this month. The strike left 140 mourners dead and more than 600 injured.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“Last Friday, forces loyal to the Houthi and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh reportedly launched a missile from Yemen towards Mecca and Jeddah, one among several recent missile launches. The United States condemns those missile launches in the strongest terms. Those attacks on Saudi territory are an obvious attempt to derail the political process, and they must cease. As we have emphasized, every country has a right to defend itself, and the United States remains fully committed to the security of Saudi Arabia. It is also incumbent upon the Saudi-led coalition and the forces of the Yemeni Government to refrain from taking steps to escalate the violence and to commit to the cessation of hostilities. After 19 months of fighting, it should be clear that there is absolutely no military solution to the conflict.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“There is very little good news in Yemen, but one small piece of good news is that we have seen that the parties can reduce the violence in Yemen when they show the will to do so. For all of the concerns that all of us have about command and control, from April to August this year, the cessation of hostilities led to a significant decrease in air strikes and violence, and therefore in suffering on the ground. I do not think we can overstate the success; the cessation was far from perfect, but it provided some respite for Yemen's civilians and it provided a backdrop to help encourage talks to continue. We need to get back to where we were with the cessation, and it needs to be improved. But since the Kuwait talks ended nearly three months ago, the parties have intensified their attacks.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“They must, at long last, commit to peace, and we need immediate progress on three fronts: an immediate cessation of hostilities, a humanitarian surge - the likes of which we have not seen in Yemen for the life of the conflict - and a prompt return to political talks. First, the United States calls on the parties to recommit immediately to the cessation of hostilities, which means halting all military actions on the ground, in the air and at sea. That includes an end to shelling and an end to air strikes. A sustained cessation of hostilities is necessary to give the Special Envoy the space he needs to engage the parties on the terms of a political solution to the conflict.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“But she went on to say that in this conflict: "We sleep afraid, we wake up afraid and leave our homes afraid." Kholud's younger sister, 14-year-old Asma, wrote: "We are afraid of catastrophe, as it is painful when a person kills others; mothers, fathers and children." And their youngest sister, 12-year-old Haneen, reported: "Every day, the noises get louder and louder next to us." Although these voices are not with us enough, whether here in the Council or in our regional or international media, when we do hear from people on the ground, people like Kholud, Asma and Haneen, they are pretty consistent. They demand, or they plead, for an end to their suffering. We, as members of the Security Council, need to make the same demand, and we need to be united in doing so. The parties must stop escalating their attacks.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“I thank Special Envoy Cheikh Ahmed, Under-Secretary- General O'Brien and World Food Programme Regional Director Hadi for their briefings. I pay special thanks to Mr. Hadi for bearing witness on behalf of Yemenis whose voices, as we all know, are too rarely heard in this conflict. Recently, a father of four children in Sana'a reportedly asked his daughters to post their feelings about this war on Facebook. Fifteen-year-old Kholud wrote: "We, the children of Yemen, want to achieve our hopes: to study and play and achieve our goals." That is something one would expect almost any child of Kholud's age to want.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“Today, we have spoken a lot about both sides of Aleppo, but Under-Secertary-General O'Brien also referenced the shelling in Idlib. I would ask the members of the Council who have not already done so - and it is very hard to make oneself do this - to look at the photographs of what happened in Hass today. Look at the kids carrying their backpacks - frozen - as they attempted to go to school before being hit either by the Russian Federation or the Syrian regime. More than a dozen parachute bombs fell on a school today. It is not history. It is not Srebrenica 20 years ago. It is not Rwanda 22 years ago. It is Grozny, but it is today and in eastern Aleppo. The Ambassador of the Russian Federation said that if we needed to be preached to, we would go to church.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“How would we have reacted if we had been there and subjected to the siege; if Russia and the Syrian regime had refused to allow food in since 7 July; if a leaflet threatening annihilation had been sent; and if we had been told, "Here are your six corridors. Come trust us. We have a humanitarian objective; we want to help you with your medical issues." We threw our weight behind it because we were so desperate, as well, to get these people out and we wanted to support the World Health Organization and the United Nations in their on-the-ground tactical efforts. They do not become "so-called wounded" just because they are terrified of ending up like the people in the Caesar photographs. They are wounded, desperate and terrified of being pulverized by the Russian Federation and the Syrian regime.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“The representative of Russia made an announcement with regard to six humanitarian corridors and urged people, including those who were armed, as well as medical evacuation units, to take those corridors. We worked very hard with the United Nations and others to try to use whatever influence we could to make that happen. Here was our challenge. The families of those who needed medical evacuation or, as was said today, "the so-called wounded" - they are not the so- called wounded; they are the wounded by your bombs, Sir - notwithstanding their grave and potentially fatal injuries, were terrified. They were terrified ofentrusting their fates to the people who had been bombing their neighbourhoods. That is an unfortunate fact, but it is not a crazy one.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“I will read out from the leaflet, which states, "This is your last hope. Save yourselves. If you do not leave these areas immediately, you will be annihilated. We have opened a safe exit passage for you. Make a quick decision. Save yourselves. You know that everyone has given up on you. They have left you alone to face your doom, and help is available from on one." Would the Russian Ambassador state for the record that Russia had nothing to do with these leaflets, which came out of Russian and Syrian planes? I ask those on the Council who support the Syrian regime if this is a leaflet behind which they would also throw their weight? Russia cannot have it both ways, pretending to care about the well-being of the people in eastern Aleppo, while at the same time threatening to annihilate those who remain in their homes.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“Congratulations, Russia, you have stopped using incendiary weapons for a couple of days. Thank you for not using cluster bombs in civilian areas. Thank you for staying the hand of brutality with regard to bunker-buster weapons. No one gets congratulations and credit for not committing war crimes for a day, or a week. That is not how the international system is structured, and nor how it should ever be. If we look for an indicator of Russia's intentions, as we heard from Under-Secretary-General O'Brien, there is the leaflet that Russian and Syrian planes passed out. What is said in the Council sounds so benevolent that one would think Russia is like the Red Cross. And then there is the leaflet, which is what they dropped into the actual theatre where desperate civilians are living.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“Of course, Russia cannot condemn the shelling and systematic aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo, because Russia is carrying out that systematic bombardment of eastern Aleppo, and because Russia has brought to bear in the conflict weapons that even a brutal Syrian regime had never used before - bunker- buster weapons that are designed to hit huddled families, and hospitals that have had to be rebuilt several stories down in basements. They are designed to target people burrowed into the ground. They are not designed for terrorists but to militarily conquer eastern Aleppo by making civilians relent and cry uncle. What is so remarkable and troubling about the presentation we heard today is that what Russia really wants from the United Nations is credit.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“I would like to say - because one of the things that the Under-Secretary-General mentioned was the shelling ofwestern Aleppo out ofeastern Aleppo and that was also one of the things that the Ambassador of the Russian Federation went on at some length about - that we condemn the shelling of civilian areas in western Aleppo. It is outrageous. Is Russia prepared to condemn any aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo? Does Russia believe that all the children who are being killed in eastern Aleppo are themselves members of Al-Qaida? Is that what happens - that you come out of the womb and you are an Al-Qaida member, right from the beginning?”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“Russia decides that it is going to have a pause, decides the pause is over and presents faits accomplis to the United Nations and the international community, even though it is the people of the United Nations who are there, vulnerable, on the ground, trying to make deal happen for the sake of the most vulnerable. I would like to respond with a few comments. I believe that what we just heard with regard to the New Zealand draft resolution (S/2016/846) is that if a draft resolution could be produced that ratifies what the Russian Federation is doing, it would be happy to support it. The representative of New Zealand should bear that in mind.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“I had not intended to speak today. I thought this would be one of the occasions when we would go into closed consultations and talk to one another rather than to the gallery. But I feel compelled, owing to the statement by the Russian representative and the attack on the United Nations, which has been trying in good faith to reach people in desperate need and which I think has not gone far enough in calling out a permanent member of the Security Council. It has been trying around the clock to work with the armed groups, with countries that have attempted to exert influence, and with the Russian Federation, and was never really given notice as to what the Russian Federation's plans were.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“We on the Council must not rest until paper progress becomes tangible progress and check-the-box participation becomes meaningful participation.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“When the negotiators went to Ghana, Leymah and her growing movement went too, surrounding the negotiators in their hall to make sure that they did not come out until peace was reached. As she told a reporter at the time, the protest was "a signal to the world that we the Liberian women in Ghana at this conference are fed up with the war and tired of fighting the killing of our people". Leymah added, "We can do it again if we want to". Let us imagine where we would be if every conflict had groups of women like this. Now let us imagine our world if people like Leymah were not just calling for peace from outside conference centres, but if she and others like her were sitting at the table on the inside. Before a conflict, during a conflict and after a conflict, women must have an effective, meaningful and impactful voice.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“One place for members of the Security Council to start is to make certain that all components of the United Nations system do their utmost to keep women in conflicts safe. That is why the United States will continue to demand that peacekeeping missions carry out their mandates to protect civilians and why the Secretary-General must ensure, as he recommitted to again today and as stipulated in resolution 2272 (2016), that when there is credible evidence of widespread or systematic sexual exploitation and abuse by a peacekeeping unit, that unit is swiftly repatriated. Zero tolerance must come to mean zero tolerance. Let me conclude with Liberia. Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee organized women who were fed up with the violence of Liberia's civil war.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“Their experiences need to be part of the long process of healing and rebuilding from a conflict. Recognizing their dignity means not just inviting them to negotiations but making sure that they are not relegated to waiting in a side room for the men to break from the real negotiations and to deign to come in and receive their petition or hear their views. That may sound simple, but frequently Member States treat violence against women as a tragic by-product of conflict, left to resolve itself once the men stop fighting. Protecting women from attacks and holding accountable those who commit these abuses need to be essential components of brokering peace, whether in our resolutions, in mediation processes or in peace operations. We have seen and we live every day how challenging this is.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“Let us just imagine for a moment what the impact of these choices must be on the women of Unity state in South Sudan - imagine that was our own mother or grandmother going out to shield our daughter. Extremist groups are using medieval tactics elsewhere to subjugate women. We see this with Boko Haram, when the organization kidnapped schoolgirls to be forcibly married to fighters or brainwashed to be suicide bombers. We see this with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, when Yazidi women and girls are sold as sex slaves in markets. So building peace in those conflicts must start by stopping the attacks against women and making sure that women will not be attacked with impunity. That means ending impunity generally, which we are not doing a goodjob of. Those women, however, are not just victims of violence.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“That brings me to my second and final point. In places where sexual violence is used as a weapon of war, the Council needs to address more fundamental needs - the protection of women and accountability for those who commit abuses. Let us consider South Sudan, which has already been mentioned. In South Sudan's Unity state, Government soldiers killed and raped civilians, pillaged homes and destroyed livestock, forcing families to flee into swamps to hide. Anyone who left the swamps risked sexual assault, so when women had to start venturing out to find food, these communities reportedly nominated the oldest women to go first to protect the children and teenagers from being raped. When the first ones grew too weak or had been raped too many times, these communities moved to the next oldest woman.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“Too often, what gets labelled as women's participation is just checking a box - a perfunctory meeting of male negotiators with female members of civil society. This matters not just for the content of a peace agreement itself; when children see peace accords signed by groups of men, the message received is that the men are the ones who matter in affairs of State and who are empowered to end conflicts. We do not want young girls internalizing that message. We members of the Security Council need to demand that women have the ability to influence the course of negotiations, not just because women deserve it - which ofcourse they do - but because when women are effective and meaningful participants, we have a better chance at achieving the mission of the Security Council, which is preserving peace and security.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“When violence broke out after the signing of the 2012 framework agreement, women helped organize protests calling for the parties to get back to the table. Or let us consider the Colombia peace process, where up to one-third of the participants at the table were women. Those female representatives lobbied relentlessly so that those who committed sexual violence in the conflict would not be eligible for pardons. And they advocated for economic support to help women access new development opportunities in rural areas. But these examples are still the exceptions. In Syria, South Sudan and Yemen, men are the ones making decisions, even as we sit here in negotiations. Maybe it is time to heed the famous aphorism that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“Again, this is on the basis of limited data, because of the limited participation, but women's groups are known for lobbying for causes that do go beyond gender, including for human rights, transitional justice and reconciliation to be addressed in peace agreements. Those are causes that are all too often deferred or ignored when women are not there. Here I will turn to the example of the Philippines. In negotiations between the Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a group seeking greater autonomy for the country's south, women were active at every level, from working groups to serving as lead negotiators. After negotiators reached an impasse in 2010, the women participants called for a national dialogue that generated new ideas to get the parties talking again.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“Let me start by describing the benefits of women's participation. As we have heard - and, again, these are the same studies all of us cite - peace processes are more likely to succeed when women are involved. One study of 40 peace processes since 1989 found that, the more women influenced a negotiation, the higher the likelihood that an agreement would be reached. Another study found that the likelihood of a peace agreement lasting more than two years increased by 20 per cent when women were involved. Why is that? In part, it is because women often demand results. When negotiations stall, as they inevitably do, women's groups can help push for talks to resume and press the parties to reach consensus. Women tend to demand more than what is politically expedient or in their narrow self-interest.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“President Obama released our second national action plan in June and, in addition to contributing $31 million to new initiatives launched over the past year, we are also looking through our plan at how to address new challenges. That includes how women can more effectively contribute to strategies on countering violent extremism. Unfortunately, what the statistics miss is the persistent gap between how men and women actually contribute to peace processes. Even ifwomen are present at the table, which is still too rare, men are the ones who almost always decide when and how to make peace. Therefore, today I would like to talk briefly about why we need to do more to promote not mere participation but meaningful and effective participation, with a stress on the word "effective".”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“In 2015, 70 per cent of peace agreements signed had gender-specific provisions, as compared to just 22 per cent of agreements in 2010. That is a big leap in a short period. Over the past year alone, 11 new countries completed national action plans explaining how they are going to empower women to resolve conflict and promote development. As we have heard, that brings the total number to 64 countries. Some progress has been made in representation, if not on the Security Council, as there was at least one woman present in the delegations for 9 of 11 active negotiation processes in 2015, as compared to 4 of 14 in 2011. That is not nothing. The United States continues to support that progress.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“It is sad that we have only a limited roster of very inspiring examples to draw from. I think another true measure of our progress would be if each of us spoke without repeating the same examples of Liberia, Yemen et cetera. You will hear me draw upon the very same examples that my colleagues have drawn upon; we have got to do better. It is incredible that women are fighting out in the world in the way that they are and giving us these great sources of inspiration and learning, but it should not be so exceptional and there should not be so few. Do not get me wrong: of course there has been genuine progress since resolution 1325 (2000) was adopted, 16 long years ago, and some of that progress is apparent on paper.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“I thank Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Under-Secretary- General Mlambo-Ngcuka and Ms. Lopidia for their briefings and reality checks from the real world. I have two impressions from this debate so far. First, the energy in the Chamber is palpable - it is not an energy we often feel here - and it is very fair to say that this agenda would not be before the Security Council if not for the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society and women's groups. This is something I think that States Members of the United Nations need to bear in mind, especially those that are increasingly trying to keep NGOs, civil society groups and others from participating in United Nations meetings. Secondly, after listening to Council speakers, I am struck that we are all drawing from the same handful of examples.”
2016-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7793 (2016) · source
“When Violent attacks against civilians are surging; when norms of civilized behaviour that we have spent more than 70 years trying to build are being trampled; when there is complete impunity for targeting aid convoys, civilian, residential neighbourhoods, children and hospitals - impunity - what chance does Rawan or any of us have? One first responder said of the relentless assault of the last few days: "People do not know what to do or where to go. There is no escape. It feels like the end of the world." The end of the world. It is apocalyptic, what is being done to eastern Aleppo. Surely, for Rawan - who at five years old has lost her entire family ~ the Council can at the very least have the courage to say who is responsible for this and, in a single voice, tell Russia to stop.”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source
“Eventually, tenderly, the first responders remove the rubble from around her and pull that girl - five-year-old Rawan Alowsh - from the wreckage, her body covered in white dust. It feels like a miracle, watching her come out alive. And yet, everyone else in Rawan's immediate family was reportedly killed in that airstrike: her mother, her father and her four siblings, all killed. What chance does Rawan have in this world? What chance does she have with no family, but also with not even a single sign that her attackers have a shred of empathy in them?”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source
“Our citizens are often priority targets all around the world. But when Russia is espousing fiction, we have to call that out. What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism; it is barbarism. Let me conclude. On Friday, footage emerged ofthe aftermath of one of the many recent airstrikes in eastern Aleppo. In the video, first responders dig through the rubble of what was once a building, throwing aside chunks of concrete, and then suddenly one hears on the video the piercing scream of a child - a child literally submerged in concrete and rubble. The first responders then begin to dig more frantically, until the head and blue and white shirt of the little girl emerges - a girl crying out in pain and in terror.”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source
“Russia would have the Council live in upside-down land, where bombing first responders, cutting off humanitarian aid and supporting a murderous regime is billed as counter-terrorism. Let us be clear. There are terrorists in Syria - lots of them -and all of us have an interest in destroying them. They pose a threat to all of our citizens. That is why the United States leads a 67-country coalition that has rolled back 40 per cent of ISIL's territorial holdings in Iraq and Syria, and which each week liberates more desperate civilians. That is why the United States negotiated the recent agreement with Russia, signaling that we were prepared to work with Russia to fight Jabhat Al-Nusra and ISIL in Syria. Nobody has to convince the United States of America of the danger posed by terrorists.”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source
“It is not the time to use the passive voice that is so common here in the Security Council. It is not the time to say that "airstrikes took place" or that "civilians were killed". It is time to say who is carrying out those airstrikes and who is killing civilians. Russia holds a permanent seat on the Security Council. That is a privilege and it is a responsibility. Yet in Syria and in Aleppo, Russia is abusing this historic privilege. And while members of the Council - certainly including the United States - have a deep interest in having constructive ties with the Russian Federation, history will not look kindly on those Council members who stay silent in the face of this carnage.”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source
“What members can be sure that Russia will not do today, or any day, is accept any responsibility for its actions. What members can be sure that Russia will not do is tell the truth. I urge my fellow members of the Security Council to look at the remarks that they have brought today and to ask themselves, "Does what I am about to read reflect the gruesome facts on the ground? Does it speak candidly to who is unleashing this appalling violence? Would I feel comfortable reading these remarks to a Chamber packed with the residents of eastern Aleppo being besieged by Al-Assad's forces and by Russia?" If not, I urge them to speak directly to Syria's grim reality and the people who must live with it day in and day out. This is not the day or the time to blame all sides or to draw false equivalencies.”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source
“The next day, after Russia and the regime began to rain its bombs down on civilians in eastern Aleppo, Minister Lavrov told the press that plans for a cessation ofhostilities must be saved. This is Russia's approach to saving the cessation of hostilities? As the United Nations has said repeatedly, including today, these airstrikes on residential neighborhoods may well be war crimes. Russia today will no doubt again accuse the United States of causing all of this chaos. They might point to the single airstrike in which the counter-Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant coalition appears to have struck a Syrian military position - a strike that we immediately acknowledged and committed to investigating in full. Russia will likely try to divert from its own actions by invoking United States actions elsewhere in the past.”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source
“That is why, even now, we will continue to look for any way possible to restore the cessation of hostilities. But it is common sense: a one-sided cessation of hostilities cannot hold. You cannot carry out a massive military offensive and say you are for peace. That might work on Russia Today, but it does not work when the world has reams of evidence proving exactly what Russia is doing. Last Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sat in this Chamber and declared that, when it comes to Syria, "Russia has consistently advocated an exclusively peaceful solution." (S/PV. 7774, p. 6) Yet given when the offensive began, it is not unreasonable to think that Russian and Syrian forces were literally loading the incendiary munitions and barrel bombs onto their aircraft as Minister Lavrov spoke here of making peace.”
2016-09-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7777 (2016) · source