YouSaid · the spoken record

Prasad

lines on the record: 93
first: 2018-08-29
most recent: 2022-05-19
sittings or episodes: 12
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

“At the same time, the number of successfully reintegrated children has increased as a result of sustained actions on the ground by UNICEF and other agencies. This is heart-warming. The scale of the challenges, however, calls for a step change. Fiji welcomes the efforts of the United Nations to strengthen measures to prevent, protect and assist children in armed conflicts. Armed conflicts are transforming before our eyes; they are becoming more protracted and more complex, with the growing prominence of non- State actors. Non-state actors operate across national borders, but they are also increasingly economically strong and independent. They monopolize trade and transit routes on land and by sea and they capture drug production and supply routes, as well as minerals, fish and other commodities.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“First, let me thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to address the Council on the impact of armed conflict on children. I congratulate Poland on bringing forward this open debate so early in its presidency. The report of the Secretary-General (S/2019/509) highlights the world's continuing collective failure to protect children in armed conflicts. The Secretary- General's report highlights grave violations of all international conventions relating to the protection of children in armed conflict. The Secretary-General notes over 20,000 grave violations and over 12,000 deaths and incidences of the maiming of children in 2019 alone. Some 140 million children live in high- intensity conflict zones today.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“With the support of these and other traditional partners, including all of the permanent five members of the Council - and your own country of Indonesia, Mr. President - we expect to go a lot further. We are preparing our forces to be able to speedily respond to climate-induced disasters, both in regions affected by conflict and regions that are not. We hope to be able to contribute these skills within United Nations peace operations. Fiji remains steadfast in our commitment to United Nations efforts to persistently improve performance and capacity-building.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“We are proud that Fijian peacekeepers bring extraordinarily strong soft skills into complex peace operations. Fiji's experience over 40 years of peacekeeping from deployments around the world has taught us important lessons, which we are systematically integrating into our preparations for new missions. We are doing so because we recognize that when peacekeepers strike a positive rapport with communities, it contributes hugely to improving dialogue and prospects for reconciliation. Fiji's peacekeeping capacity-building action plan is firmlycommittedtoimprovingallareas ofpeacekeeping. For a small developing country, partnerships are the way forward in its United Nations peacekeeping role. Fiji's partnership with Australia and New Zealand may serve as a model for other small countries seeking to engage in United Nations peacekeeping.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“They may fuel the outbreak of new cycles of conflict in a context of intense competition for resources. Peace operations need to understand these climate-related drivers of conflict far better. They may be small performance improvements in our peace operations, but they will have far-reaching implications for stability and peacebuilding in the long term. Fiji has embarked on an ambitious peacekeeping capacity-building action plan to enhance its peace operation preparation for United Nations missions. It is doing so with the strong support of our regional partners, particularly Australia and New Zealand. Our ambition is to make Fiji's peacekeepers fit for these more complex United Nations peacekeeping roles. As a significant troop-contributing country, we have an obligation to do far more to perform to the highest standards expected of us.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“When the United Nations does peacekeeping well, we save lives, we promote sustainable development, we increase prospects for peace and we demonstrate progress across the Sustainable Development Goals. The world has become more dangerous for United Nations peacekeepers, as they must combat asymmetric threats from non-State actors. To be fit for purpose, peacekeepers will need to be highly trained in broader ways to respond to new and complex mandates. This will require capacity-building to focus on these skills, including new and specialized ones. One of these new skills in a new area relates to climate change. Water stress, extreme weather events and food insecurity associated with climate change are all drivers of conflict. They may exacerbate competition and conflicts.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“In environments affected by years of conflict, it takes time for markets to kick in; it takes time for institutions that protect civilians to kick in; and it takes time for politics to kick in. A high-performing peace operation needs to be able to reduce the time it takes for all of these to kick in. A good peacekeeping mission, at its core, is about broadening spaces in and between communities. This process involves peacekeepers interacting with the men, women and children who need their protection. But it also involves peacekeepers knowing what the stress points are; understanding hidden drivers of conflict; being able to identify victims and support them; and being able to identify and respond to systemic sexual Violence.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“This support must be consistent and predictable and the capacity- building ofpeace operations must be ofa high technical and operational quality. This can be achieved only if capacity-building and training needs are properly supported financially from the outset. In 2017, the Secretary-General unveiled reforms to integrate the United Nations peace and security pillar to support peacebuilding and make United Nations peacekeeping more effective. That was a timely decision. Peace operations must include, at their heart, peacebuilding and conflict resolution. At best, the mission of United Nations peacekeeping is to create spaces to make politics to work to enable leaders - both men and women representing their conflict-affected communities - to take measured risks to ensure peace.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“This has become only more important as conflicts have become more complex and varied, both at the regional and the international levels. United Nations peacekeeping has evolved over the last 70 years, from mostly observer and peacekeeping missions into stabilization, justice support, transitional support, confidence restoration and multidimensional and enforcement tasks. These reflect the growing complexities of peace operations and mission mandates in increasingly complex conflicts. The United Nations and its peacekeepers are being asked to do more and more. This is indeed the right thing; of all the work that the United Nations does, peacekeeping is perhaps the most important. This work needs to be well supported, as do capacity-building and training.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“Let me start by congratulating you, Mr. President, on convening this open discussion and allowing us to contribute to the important topic of training and capacity-building in United Nations peacekeeping. Last year, the United Nations celebrated 70 years of peacekeeping. Over these 70 years, the United Nations has established more than 50 peacekeeping missions. More than 15,000 peacekeepers from Fiji have participated in United Nations missions, ranging from Timor-Leste to South Sudan. Fiji has also paid a heavy price, having lost 60 of our own men and women across these missions. Peacekeeping casualties remind us of the importance of training and capacity-building. United Nations peacekeepers need to be able to fulfil their mandates effectively, while minimizing casualties.”
2019-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8521 (2019) · source
“Evidence and documentation are so vital to that. Systematic sexual violence often continues well into the post-conflict phase. Nothing makes the case for women to be at the peace table more powerfully than that. Women need to in peace processes, at the peace table and in all phases of peacebuilding. This morning all the briefers told us about the urgent need for a resolute international response. Resolution 2467 (2019), just adopted by the Council, is a great step forward. The United Nations system as a whole can and must go much further. We must be on the right side of history.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“If peace operations are mandated to explicitly prevent sexual violence, they should be resourced to be successful. Expecting peace operations to do more and more with less and less is wrong and morally indefensible. If peace operations are to be strong enough to prevent systemic sexual Violence, peacekeepers should possess the skills and the resources. Those include specialized medical support for victims of sexual violence in conflict, access to safe areas and especially support across the United Nations system. Missions must be able to record and document sexual violence. Resourcing peace operations sufficiently will make them fit for purpose in responding to conflicts where sexual violence is increasingly becoming a weapon of war. The Security Council needs to bring systematic sexual violence into its sanctions regime.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“Rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity. As the Secretary-General informed us this morning, in spite of a strong normative framework the facts on the ground have not changed much. By sharing their experiences with us, Ms. Nadia Murad and Dr. Denis Mukwege inspire us to act. Their ask is simple. The United Nations needs to respond to what Ms. Amal Clooney said in her briefing to the Council this morning. We are facing an epidemic of sexual violence in conflict. Justice is the antidote. United Nations peace operations need to have the strongest possible emphasis on the protection ofcivilians in their mandate. The prevention of sexual violence must be given absolute priority within enhanced peace operations mandates. That must be explicit. It cannot be an optional extra.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“Women thus have little recourse to governance institutions; they suffer violence without being able to access their own national or local institutions. Major conflicts around the world share an important character - the growing brutality of systemic sexual violence. The most recent experience of Yazidi women, which Ms. Nadia Murad personified this morning, is a testimony to that. In recognizing the bravery of Ms. Nadia Murad and the determination and perseverance of Dr. Denis Mukwege, the Nobel Committee has helped to draw international attention to this growing tragedy. The Security Council needs to do its part. The United Nations system as a whole needs to play its part. It was more than 10 years ago that the Council adopted resolution 1820 (2008), recognizing sexual violence as a weapon and tactic of war.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“Our approach is not only about getting more women into peacekeeping; it is about ensuring that all peacekeepers have the soft skills to recognize signs of sexual violence in conflict early, that they are able to record evidence and work across the United Nations system to support victims. The focus must always be on support for the victims first. Fiji has learned a lot from our experiences across peace operations in Timor-Leste, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur in the Sudan, South Sudan and other regions. Those experiences have drawn our attention to the pressing need for peacekeepers to prepare far better in order to respond to conflict-related sexual violence. During conflict, law and order is the first to suffer.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“Fiji, a long-serving contributor to United Nations peacekeeping, is upscaling its peacekeeping contingents. We are significantly increasing the number of women peacekeepers because we know that women peacekeepers bring with them empathy. Women peacekeepers are far better at understanding patterns of sexual violence in conflict. Women peacekeepers are better at identifying signs of systematic sexual violence early. Women in medical support units help overcome deep barriers that victims of sexual violence face in accessing medical help, trauma counselling and in seeking other support. Peace operations are an important part of the international response. Fiji is making progress in improving its preparedness for peace operations, with the support of Australia, New Zealand and other partners.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“The Secretary-General briefed the Security Council that in spite of a more robust normative framework, there has been an onset of an epidemic of targeted sexual violence in conflicts. Rape, sexual Violence and slavery have become systematic weapons of war across so many of the world's conflicts. The perpetrators of these crimes, largely against women, go mostly unpunished. All of those victims remind us of how far we need to travel. I draw the Security Council's attention to the special role that peace operations can play in addressing what the Special Representative this morning called history's greatest silence - an epidemic of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Special skills and resources are required by peace operations if they are to combat and prevent sexual violence in conflict.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“I thank the Security Council for this opportunity to address members of the Council. I thank you, Mr. President, for convening an open discussion on sexual violence in conflict during your joint presidency. Fiji congratulates the Security Council on its adoption of resolution 2467 (2019) against sexual violence earlier today. Since 2000, there have been several resolutions on combating sexual violence in conflict. Those resolutions highlight that women are subjected to the most inhumane and systematic torture, rape and abuse during conflicts, which often continue well after peace settlements have been secured. Some of those, as told forcefully this morning by the brave Nobel Laureate Ms. Nadia Murad, have occurred within the broader context of genocide as well - they are all war crimes regardless.”
2019-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8514 (2019) · source
“Fiji looks forward to working closely with our partners - Australia, New Zealand, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Indonesia - on training and developing our women peacekeepers. We are strengthening genderperspectives and mainstreaming gender across predeployment and deployment and across our operations. Fiji is launching a new regional partnership with Australia and New Zealand to reinforce that effort. We are committed to the United Nations quest to improve the participation of women across peace operations. That is our quest as well.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“The United Nations gender report published in January notes that Fiji has achieved the following standards: 21 per cent of our staff officers in United Nations peace operations are women; approximately 10 per cent of our military contingents are women; and 51 per cent of our individual police officers are women. A lot more needs to be done - we are the first to admit it. The Police Commissioner heading the United Nations Mission in South Sudan is a Fijian woman. We are incredibly proud ofCommissioner Unaisi Vuniwaqa. She serves as a great role model for us. Today we stand in solidarity with Superintendent Vilisi Waqavesi, based in Darfur, as difficult political circumstances unfold in the Sudan. As a small country, we understand our limits.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“Through our many peacekeeping efforts, we know that women peacekeepers at checkpoints are far better at diffusing tensions; and that women peacekeepers are far better in understanding the hidden dimensions of conflict, such as the seizure of humanitarian food assistance. Women in medical support units help overcome high barriers to health care access, and women peacekeepers are far better at identifying signs of systemic sexual violence. Fiji is deeply committed to increasing the participation of women in its peacekeeping. Learning from our many experiences across many peace operations, Fiji is committed to accelerating the recruitment of women in its army and navy.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“We have learned a lot from those experiences, including that a good peace operation, at its core, is about broadening spaces for politics to kick in. Thousands of United Nations peacekeepers interact with and protect local communities every day. The way in which they interact matters. Peacekeeping is about the soft skills that missions bring to deliver their mandates under extraordinary circumstances. They include the ability to understand cultures and values and the ability to see how women and children become extraordinarily deprived in conflicts early on. Fiji pays significant attention to strengthening those softs skills in its training and preparation. We know that when peacekeepers strike a positive rapport with communities, they enhance prospects for reconciliation.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“Therefore, by making United Nations peacekeeping more diverse, it is far more likely that peace operations will include women, and thereby enhance prospects for enduring peace. The Fijian Government seeks to empower women to reach their full potential across all sectors of society. The new Fiji Parliament has double the number of women, who now represent 20 per cent. A lot more work is required, of course. Fiji has chosen to serve the world through peacekeeping. Its peacekeepers have played important roles in Kosovo, Namibia, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Timor-Leste, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, the Sudan, Solomon Islands in a non-United Nations arrangement, Papua New Guinea and South Sudan, among other countries. We have lost 59 peacekeepers during those engagements.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“In all conflicts, long before guns and violence are unleashed, food, water and health services become weaponized. Women peacekeepers are intuitively better at recognizing the slow weaponization of food, water and essential services. It is therefore essential that women be fully involved in peace processes and be part of political settlements. When they are involved, peace settlements are enduring. When they are not, peace settlements are more likely to collapse. Women bring empathy, practical understanding and deep insights to such processes. Women will always strengthen peace processes. Failure is not an option; they know that failure will result in immediate consequences for themselves and their children.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“Those resolutions are powerfully reinforced by the Secretary-General's personal drive and commitment to gender equality across the United Nations system. In peace and during times of conflict, women play a critical role in keeping communities together. When development and political institutions fail their communities, women bear the overwhelming pain of failure; seeking out livelihoods for from ever-dwindling resources, fighting to maintain access to services such as health care and pitching in when services collapse, at great cost to themselves. Fiji welcomes the Secretary-General's determination to bring peacebuilding, peacekeeping and development closer together. We need only to look at lessons learned from recent conflicts to understand why that is so fundamental.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“I thank the Security Council for this opportunity to address the members of the Council. I congratulate you, Mr. President, during this joint German and French presidency, on bringing forward the subject of women's contribution to peace and security for open discussion in a more open setting. Women bear the tragedies of conflicts disproportionately. Their suffering has multiple dimensions, from food and water deprivation to sexual violence to outright killings. We confront today this same tragedy across many other countries and across several United Nations peace operations. Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 2242 (2015), on women and peace and security, all stress the centrality of participation by women in peacebuilding and in helping to achieve security.”
2019-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8508 (2019) · source
“Innovation and creativity are needed. Fiji is working with all of the permanent members of the Security Council to strengthen its peacekeeping capabilities, preparedness and skills. I take this opportunity to thank the United Kingdom, Russia, China, the United States and France for their considerable support to Fiji. We are very grateful. Fiji is also thankful to Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia and our other partners for assisting us in strengthening our peacekeeping capabilities. We welcome this opportunity to restate our support to strengthening peacekeeping missions. F Prime Minister has given his personal assurance to the Secretary-General that Fiji will commit to improving its peacekeeping capabilities. We are making sustained and solid progress in that regard. The meeting rose at 1.50 pm.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“We have witnessed countries slide back into conflict. Good peacekeeping must morph into development in the shortest time possible. However, if it is done too soon, the chance for a fresh conflict will increase. The Secretary-General has asked that peacekeeping missions not create silos. When United Nations institutions inadvertently create development, humanitarian and peacekeeping silos, it is more likely that we will fail across the board. The Resident Coordinator and United Nations development system reforms must complement, reinforce and strengthen peacekeeping reforms. The United Nations also needs to become more ambitious in determining how international development assistance for fragile and conflict-affected countries can better help finance well integrated peacekeeping and development missions.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“Without doubt, the United Nations must have access to global cutting-edge knowledge, data, and analytics on peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict prevention. Its importance cannot be overstated. The United Nations is on the right track. We cannot under-emphasize the tools with which our peacekeepers work in difficult circumstances. They protect United Nations and international staff involved in development and humanitarian work. They keep armed groups away from the communities they protect. They protect themselves. They protect humanitarian missions and allow food, medicine and warmth to reach communities, families, women and girls. They are aware that, when humanitarian support is compromised or hijacked and when the human rights of those who they protect are violated, the chances for peace are gradually destroyed.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“For the United Nations to improve its coherence, the reform of the United Nations development system needs to complement peacekeeping reforms and assist in providing access to resources, capacity and opportunities for communities involved in conflict. When peacekeeping works well, it creates spaces for women to contribute to peacebuilding; boys and girls to be educated safely; markets to work and for political action to be taken. Time and money are important, as is the high-quality design ofpeacekeeping interventions. Ifmissions are over-designed, agility and flexibility will be undermined. If missions are under- designed, they will fail. Getting that art right requires capabilities and resources within the Secretariat. The Secretary-General's efforts need to be fully supported.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“Applying excessive pressure to shorten the duration of missions may in fact achieve the opposite effect. We must be realistic about time frames. Fiji supports the Secretary-General's efforts to reform and strengthen the security and peacebuilding architecture. We heard from Under-Secretary-General Lacroix earlier today that such efforts have gained significant momentum, which we welcome. In his 2018 briefing, the Secretary-General asked for a revitalization of United Nations peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The Security Council paid considerable attention last week to the role of mediation. They are not different phases of a conflict cycle; they are interrelated and overlap with development, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“Crucially, peacekeeping is about soft skills - the ability to understand cultures and values, see how women and children become exceptionally disadvantaged in conflict and read signs of individual and group stress. Fiji pays significant attention to strengthening the soft skills of its peacekeepers. We recognize that, when communities have a positive rapport with peacekeepers, it contributes immensely to improving dialogue and reconciliation. That openness may help institutions and politics work better and sooner. A good peacekeeping mission can help reduce the timelines for institutions, markets and politics by years and decades. However, it is unreasonable to expect communities to work through their politics and resolve deeply embedded conflicts within the span of a few years.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“At best, the goal ofUnited Nations peacekeeping is to create spaces for politics to work - where leaders, men and women representing communities involved in conflict, can take measured risks. It takes time for markets and institutions that protect civilians to kick in. A good peacekeeping mission at its core is about broadening such spaces in and among communities. It involves hundreds or thousands of peacekeepers interacting with men, women and children who need their protection. As a small but significant troop-contributing country, we have an obligation to do much more to lift performance and discharge duties and obligations to the highest standards expected by the Council. Such standards are our standards. When performance falls short, missions will fail to broaden spaces or create the opportunities for peace that are so critical.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“When we do peacekeeping poorly, too many lives are lost, human development regresses, communities are worse off and politics and development fail their communities. When peacekeepers fall short of the high standards expected of them, they fail both the people and communities that they have been mandated to protect. They weaken the chances of success of missions. Fiji is making consistent efforts to improve performance and standards. We will continue to do that. In peacekeeping, it is also necessary to be measured in our expectations. The United Nations is dealing with conflicts in some of the poorest regions of the world. It takes time for institutions, resources, capacity and politics to kick in to achieve sustainable human development outcomes, even in the best of our countries, and secure peace.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“In a more integrated world, the United Nations, together with its Security Council, remains the uniquely placed Organization to resolve conflicts and build and sustain peace. Fiji welcomes and supports the reforms that the Secretary-General has initiated. Of all the existing multilateral international institutions, without a doubt, it is the United Nations that possesses the centralized capability to design peacekeeping interventions and secure political support, mandates and financial commitment to sustain peacekeeping efforts, long enough for politics and development to take over. When the United Nations does peacekeeping well, we save lives, promote development and demonstrate progress across the relevant Sustainable Development Goals.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“Several members have asked why peacekeeping missions take so long; what we can do better and differently in order to reduce the duration and cost of such missions; and what we can do in the area of peacekeeping so that missions can deliver speedier and more enduring results. These are absolutely the right questions to ask. Conflicts have become more complex. No two conflicts are the same. Conflicts are increasing in number, and where they emerge, they internationationalize very quickly. Conflicts internationalize must faster than trade does. The lightening pace of the internationalization of conflicts serves to underscore the importance and centrality of the United Nations to the resolution of conflicts. We are reminded of that every day.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“Throughout those 40 years, we have consistently contributed to this most noble ideal and mission of the United Nations. It is through United Nations peacekeeping that Fiji has chosen to serve the world community, and we are proud of our service. We have contributed more than 30,000 troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions and have participated in such missions in the Middle East, the Pacific region and Africa. We have lost 60 of our soldiers in peacekeeping missions. We take our international obligations most seriously and have a solemn pact to support global peacekeeping efforts. Our peacekeeping efforts cost us around $10 million annually - a large contribution for a small State. We have not shied away from this obligation for a single day or night over the 40 years of our engagement.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“First of all, let me thank the Council for this opportunity to address the members of the Security Council. This is the first time in our 40-year history of United Nations peacekeeping that we have been given an opportunity to address the members of the Council. My sincere appreciation goes to the United States presidency for opening these discussions to troop-contributing countries. I take this opportunity also to thank Under- Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Ms. Sarah Blakemore of Keeping Children Safe for their insightful briefings this morning. This year the United Nations celebrated its seventieth year of peacekeeping. Fiji, which has been an independent country for 48 years, is commemorating its fortieth year of United Nations peacekeeping.”
2018-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8349 (2018) · source
“The third, and most important, is to reposition the United Nations to play a proactive, preventive role in conflict resolution, while supporting communities in mediating climate and ocean stress-induced conflicts and therefore stopping them from spilling over into open intra- and inter-State conflicts. Business as usual cannot be an option. Reframing the Organization's mediation perspectives, strengthening United Nations capabilities and skills and building an institutional architecture to support mediation capabilities for these newer types of conflict is overdue. Fiji is overstressed in responding to the adverse development impacts of climate change, managing our recovery from persistent cyclones flooding and drought. In spite of that, we stand ready to support the Secretary-General's efforts in this area.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“Secondly, they have the potential to spill over into inter-State conflicts. And, thirdly, the cost of managing them can potentially wipe away the progress that small island States on the front lines of climate change are making in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. There are three "asks" today. The first is to acknowledge that climate and ocean stress have already become conflict drivers. The scond is that the United Nations development system reforms need to position the Organization in a way that enables it to bring about systematic understanding of those conflict drivers and the conflicts themselves in the United Nations.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“As marine resources become scarce, conflicts among coastal communities and between coastal communities and non-coastal communities, the private sector and Governments are intensifying and becoming more prevalent. Some of those have the potential to spill over into inter-State conflicts. Climate change and rising sea levels are inducing serious water stress across many islands. Many countries across the Pacific now find themselves in the midst of a serious drought. Competition for water, managing water distribution and managing recovery from drought also fuel conflict. Women and children are especially impacted by conflicts that arise from water stress. I have highlighted those three interlinking drivers of conflict for a special reason. First, with current trends, those are likely to turn into full-blown intercommunity conflicts.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“As crops fail, coastal lands become less fertile, excessive and frequent rains wash away livelihoods, the competition for land and resources become more intense and families and communities are forced to relocate. That trend and the intensifying competition for resources associated with it is fuelling conflict across many countries. In turn, those conflicts are becoming more intense and, as they do so, they are becoming more complex. There is a similar dynamic arising with regard to oceans, which are facing great distress. Warming waters, acidification and the illegal extraction of marine resources are creating severe pressures on coastal communities.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source
“I thank the United Kingdom for organizing today's debate of crucial importance to the United Nations in responding to more complex, multifaceted and multi-layered conflicts across the world. I also thank The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ms. Qadeem for their thoughtful and incisive comments this morning. The United Nations needs to become better at understanding, interpreting and responding to the new drivers of conflict and insecurity. I shall draw the attention of the Security Council to three of those drivers. Fiji and many small island States find themselves on the front lines of climate change. The impacts of climate change are well understood; less well understood are its consequences for conflict.”
2018-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8334 (2018) · source