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1998-06-06

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2000-10-24

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un-security-council

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1. “Finally, I wish to commend particularly the important work of UNICEF in assisting the child victims of armed conflict. My delegation encourages the closest possible cooperation between UNICEF and the Special Representative in working towards their mutual goals. For example, Security Council resolution 1260 (1999), adopted just last Friday, calls for the Special Representative and UNICEF, along with the Government of Sierra Leone, to give particular attention to the long- term rehabilitation of child combatants in Sierra Leone, as well as their disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. New Zealand has contributed on several occasions to UNICEF's focused and practical work in Sierra Leone and elsewhere.”

   1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source

2. “Current negotiations on an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child concerning children in armed conflict are particularly important in raising the legal standards of protection for children in this regard. We must redouble our efforts to bridge differences and reach consensus on the optional protocol. Otherwise, we risk losing an important opportunity to improve the legal protection for children. Once concluded, the optional protocol would be a powerful tool for all those, including Mr. Otunnu, who are working to protect the rights of children affected by armed conflict. It would send a clear message to those involved in recruiting child soldiers, and those targeting children in times of conflict, that their actions are unacceptable to the international community.”

   1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source

3. “The statement of the President of the Security Council in June 1998 regarding the question of children and armed conflict rightly condemned the targeting, recruitment and deployment of children in violation of international law. The President called upon all parties concerned to put an end to such activities. Today we welcome recognition by the Council through the draft resolution currently before it that attention to the special needs of children affected by conflict is an essential aspect of efforts to build lasting peace. The Council should have regard to children's needs whenever it considers measures to assist communities and nations in the transition from conflict to peace. It is for the Member States of the United Nations to set the standards which will shelter children from the anguish and suffering of wars, large and small.”

   1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source

4. “The United Nations has a central role in the protection of children. This role is expressed in a broad range of treaties, including Protocol I and Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions and of course the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Shielding children from the effects of armed conflict, both as victims and as participants, is an inseparable part of the United Nations responsibility to the world's children. The United Nations must also be active in ensuring that international standards of protection are adhered to. In this respect, New Zealand welcomes the fact that the use of children in armed conflict is a war crime over which the International Criminal Court will have jurisdiction.”

   1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source

5. “Mr. President, may I say at the outset that it is a particular honour to be able to address the Security Council at a meeting over which you, personally, are presiding. May I also congratulate you on your initiative in calling this debate. This is another valuable opportunity for the wider membership of the United Nations to contribute constructively to the important work of the Security Council. It will also serve to keep the issue of children in armed conflict at the forefront of all delegations' minds. May I begin by making reference to the fine work being done by the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Olara Otunnu. Mr. Otunnu is very effectively raising awareness of the issues concerning children in armed conflict and securing commitments for children's better protection. We applaud his contribution.”

   1999-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4037Resumption1 (1999) · source

6. “The matters it is called to deal with include some of the longest-running and bloodiest conflicts since the Second World War. Some of them, for example Angola, are orphans, as Ambassador Amorim recently put it, in that their former international sponsors have no further use for them. The toll on civilians is horrific. The Council must strive to identify solutions, however, and, critically important, it must remain the ultimate and essential source of authority for collective security action. We look forward to a positive outcome from this important initiative on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.”

   1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

7. “Language barriers, the heat and the sheer ruggedness of the terrain have proved challenging. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about the conduct of this operation on an island where so many lives have been taken is that our forces took the conscious decision to deploy without any arms. This was to show that they meant no harm and posed no threat to anyone. Indeed, there were already enough guns on the island. So far the peace process remains on track. New Zealand has welcomed the establishment of the United Nations Political Office on Bougainville and is encouraged by the positive role United Nations officials are playing in support of the process. Finally, the Security Council has perhaps the most difficult job in the world.”

   1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

8. “If I may offer an example of an innovative approach from my own region in which the United Nations now also has an important role, I would like to talk very briefly about Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. During a little- reported conflict which lasted nine years from 1989, it is estimated that as many as 10,000 people, the vast majority civilians, may have died. Following a series of peace talks in New Zealand, a truce-monitoring group, and subsequently a peace-monitoring group, including personnel from my own country, Vanuatu, Fiji and Australia, were deployed. Stationed throughout the island, members of the truce- monitoring group and the peace-monitoring group have literally had to trek through miles of mountainous jungle to spread the message of peace and monitor the process. Their job has not been easy.”

   1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

9. “Sommaruga, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, asked at the beginning of his statement to the Council on 12 February, does the Council's interest in humanitarian affairs not perhaps mask a certain feeling of impotence at the magnitude of the task that confronts us? I believe we need a reassertion of leadership from the Council, including a willingness to attempt innovative solutions. This includes at the conflict prevention stage where, for example, the United Nations can take pride in the successful and critically important United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.”

   1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

10. “The transfer of authority from UNPROFOR to the Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia on 20 December 1995 in my view marks a watershed in the Council's approach during this decade to its responsibilities. I still recall reports of the handover occasion when, at the appointed hour, troops designated to stay on with IFOR put on their national headgear, some of them stamping their blue berets into the ground. Such was the frustration ordinary soldiers had felt at the ambiguities implicit in the UNPROFOR operation. Since that time it seems the Council has become increasingly unsure of itself in the face of the humanitarian disasters before it. As Mr.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

11. “These areas were held for more than two years, sheltering thousands of civilians, albeit in dire conditions and with continuing problems regarding their demilitarization. Disaster finally struck at Srebrenica in July 1995 when the UNPROFOR positions were overrun. The appalling extent of the atrocities committed is still being revealed as new mass graves are exhumed. Was the original decision to establish the safe areas a mistake, even morally questionable, given the false sense of security they may have engendered? I do not believe so. There were many other contributing factors, particularly the failure to provide the necessary numbers of troops to sustain the deterrence role, which I will not detail here.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

12. “In the first half of the 1990s and in the new spirit of cooperation following the end of the cold war, the Council showed it was ready to attempt solutions to humanitarian problems in high-risk environments. Failure was a constant prospect, and the two operations to which I have referred are in the conventional wisdom these days indeed counted as failures. I believe nevertheless there is much to be learned from them that could be highly relevant today. For example, let us look at the safe areas in Bosnia, which were established as an emergency and temporary measure in May 1993 after the Council sent a fact-finding mission of its own members into the field. UNPROFOR was subsequently given the task of deterring attacks upon these areas, and the use of NATO air power to support UNPROFOR was also authorized by the Council.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

13. “I would like now to turn to the practical steps we believe the Security Council should take towards the protection of civilians in carrying out its mandate to maintain or restore international peace and security. Two of the largest peacekeeping operations ever undertaken by the United Nations in fact had a strong humanitarian purpose. In Somalia, for instance, the United Nations peacekeeping operations began with efforts to facilitate humanitarian aid to people trapped by civil war and famine. In Bosnia the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) assisted in the provision of humanitarian aid in the midst of a vicious war and sought to impose constraints on the belligerents, including through the establishment of such measures as safe areas for civilians.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

14. “The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is often dangerous and thankless, but always vital, and I take this opportunity to put on record my Government's gratitude for the tremendous job it does. It is appropriate that we address these issues in a year which represents the centenary of the Hague Peace Conference and the fiftieth anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. The meetings in The Hague and St. Petersburg, as well as the twenty-seventh International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in November, will provide further opportunities for the international community to develop ideas and find practical solutions to these problems.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

15. “Overall, we welcome the growing acceptance of the fact that the protection of individuals transcends the domestic affairs of States. National sovereignty is not an absolute in this context. With one or two exceptions the basic legal framework is sound. The international community now needs to turn its attention to the effective implementation of the law. A first step is to achieve greater adherence, for example, to the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions. We need also to generate greater understanding of the role of customary international law in this area. Finally, and of fundamental importance, the dissemination of international humanitarian law needs our fullest support, so that the knowledge of the basic rules governing armed conflict and human rights spreads to all those who bear arms.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

16. “The adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court is an essential step forward in promoting the protection of civilians. It holds the promise of an end to impunity. The establishment of the Court will send the strongest message to perpetrators of attacks on civilians that they will be held accountable. What we have heard in the briefings given to the Council and in today's debate so far only adds urgency to the need for early ratification and the widest possible participation by the international community. Obviously, we must together bring the work being done in the Preparatory Commission, as we speak, to an early and positive conclusion, so that the Court may become a reality as soon as possible.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

17. “There are also new standards, such as the code of conduct on displaced persons elaborated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which need to be implemented and incorporated into the body of international humanitarian law. A recent positive development has been the entry into force of the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. Its true effectiveness will, of course, depend on its wide acceptance, and we urge those Member States that have not yet signed the Convention to do so. We are also interested in suggestions made on several occasions during the two briefings of the Council on the need to broaden the scope and application of that Convention, in particular to cover humanitarian workers, by means of a protocol. We would welcome further discussion on this point.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

18. “No one disputes the appalling statistics we have heard. Instead, I want to go straight to how New Zealand thinks the United Nations should address the issue. We see two key aspects to the issue: the legal framework and the functioning of the Security Council. The distinction between combatants and those taking no active part in the conflict is one of the oldest and most fundamental principles of international law. I agree with the observation made by the Permanent Representative of Slovenia, at the briefing on 12 February, to the effect that our basic premise should be that current humanitarian law comprises all the necessary principles and basic rules. We have the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, especially the Fourth, and the two Protocols of 1977. The Convention on the Rights of the Child also bears on the problem.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

19. “May I begin by saying how grateful my delegation is to have this opportunity to take part in an open debate of the Security Council on this most important matter. I would also like to congratulate you, Sir, as the representative of Canada, on your country's leading role at the present time in focusing the attention of the international community on the need for an adequate response. In addition, I would like to express my thanks to the heads of the various agencies who have briefed the Council in open meetings over recent weeks. The facts they have laid before us emphasize the urgency of the task before the Council. I will not repeat what the experts and others have said previously about the scale of the problem of protecting civilians in the conflicts at present raging in Africa and Europe in particular.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

20. “New Zealand supported the request for this meeting because we consider that recent nuclear testing and the developing crisis in South Asia represent the most serious challenge to international stability since the end of the cold war. We therefore welcome the adoption today by the Security Council unanimously of resolution 1172 (1998) and warmly congratulate its sponsors: Japan, Sweden, Costa Rica and Slovenia. We urge the Council to continue to act decisively and effectively to defuse this dangerous situation and to uphold nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.”

    1998-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3890 (1998) · source

21. “Continued calls for a global ban on nuclear weapons lack credibility coming from a country which has displayed its nuclear ambitions. What is now needed from India and Pakistan are tangible acts of commitment, not words. If India and Pakistan want to repair the damage they have caused to their international standing, they must forthwith renounce their nuclear-weapons programmes, and adhere unconditionally to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as engage in multilateral negotiations on a fissile-material cut-off treaty. Until that time, India and Pakistan must understand that their behaviour is unacceptable to the international community. For example, their actions inevitably raise questions about their qualifications for membership of the Security Council.”

    1998-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3890 (1998) · source

22. “It is unbelievable that, as President Clinton has said, "we are about to start the twenty-first century by having the Indian subcontinent repeat the worst mistakes of the twentieth century, when we know it is not necessary to peace, to security, to prosperity, to national greatness or personal fulfilment". We are gravely concerned that India's and Pakistan's actions are leading to a nuclear arms race in South Asia, which would constitute a major threat to international peace and security. And we deplore both countries' disregard of international norms against nuclear testing and nuclear proliferation. We are particularly disappointed that India and Pakistan have acted contrary to their stated commitments to nuclear disarmament.”

    1998-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3890 (1998) · source

23. “The International Court of Justice has confirmed, in a unanimous decision, the obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects and under strict and effective international control. That obligation applies just as much to India and Pakistan as it does to other States. India's and Pakistan's actions in testing nuclear devices, planning for weaponization and deployment of nuclear weapons and claiming an entitlement to nuclear- weapon status are inconsistent with that obligation. At a time when countries like New Zealand want to accelerate the pace of nuclear disarmament, those two countries are looking backwards to an era of nuclear arms build-up, confrontation and deterrence.”

    1998-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3890 (1998) · source

24. “Mr. President, at the outset I would like to express my delegation's appreciation for your successful endeavour to hold this open meeting of the Security Council. In addition, as to the procedure being followed, I would like to associate my delegation with the remarks of the Permanent Representative of Canada made earlier today. My Government has expressed its condemnation of the nuclear tests carried out by India and Pakistan. This is consistent with New Zealand's long-standing opposition to nuclear testing by any country, anywhere. We do not believe that nuclear testing is ever justified in any circumstances. In the same way, my country considers that nuclear weapons have no legitimate place in our world. We have called for urgent progress towards a nuclear-weapons-free future, and we repeat that call now.”

    1998-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3890 (1998) · source