YouSaid · the spoken record

Pressman

lines on the record: 643
first: 2014-10-24
most recent: 2016-10-19
sittings or episodes: 73
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

“While we recognize that the Peacebuilding Commission has had some successes over the past year in meeting some of those challenges, it is also critical that we understand the challenges facing it and its work, including those outlined in the recently released report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. As documented in that report, the Peacebuilding Commission has not met expectations that its focus would include, importantly, prevention. By comparison with those provided once a conflict is under way, prevention efforts often lack the necessary attention and resources. Moreover, in contrast to mediation and peacekeeping, the prevention of armed conflict is approached in an ad hoc manner, without cohesion among the actors - diplomatic, political, development or economic.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“Working with the Government of Liberia, the Peacebuilding Commission has ensured the greater involvement of civil society, including women's groups, in the national reconciliation process, in addition to promoting an increased allocation of funds for gender issues from the Peacebuilding Fund. As a result of the Commission's engagement, Liberia is one of the countries where the allocation of the fund for gender-related issues is higher than the 15 per cent target set by the Secretary-General in his report on women's participation in peacebuilding (S/2010/466).”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“The Commission has played a welcome role in encouraging Senegal's engagement in Guinea-Bissau, as well as in promoting a dialogue in the dispute between the two countries over the Casamance region. The Commission has also engaged the members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in their planning for long-term stability in Guinea-Bissau, recognizing the essential role of the ECOWAS security mission in Guinea-Bissau in helping to provide stability on the ground. That is critical work, and it should continue. The Commission must ensure that women are integrated into every step ofpost-conflict peacebuilding. They must be empowered to make and invest in choices about the future of their societies.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“We urge all partners to consider making additional contributions to support elections in the Central African Republic, advance demobilization, disarmament and reintegration efforts and address other urgent priorities essential to that country's stabilization. The Commission continues to play an important leadership and convening role as the Central African Republic advances towards stability, and it must work to ensure that we remain focused on the tasks at hand. We appreciate the Peacebuilding Commission's special emphasis on engaging regional actors in fragile settings, particularly the neighbours of those countries on the Commission's agenda.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“The Peacebuilding Commission has played an important role in refocusing the international community on the immense challenges that remain in the Central African Republic. We are optimistic that the Bangui Forum helped advance that country on its path towards peace. Yet as the Commission has highlighted, the Central African Republic's road ahead will remain difficult, and it requires sustained and significant support from international partners. We echo the Commission's call to all stakeholders in the Central African Republic to help promote an environment conducive to holding elections, and we echo its concerns about the $21 million gap in the funding for the election's budget.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“In the aftermath of the tragic outbreak of Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea - all countries on the Commission's agenda - the PBC played a critical supportive role in bringing together all the relevant actors to fight the disease, working in concert with the efforts of the Security Council, the relevant United Nations agencies, the United Nations Secretariat and international partners. Weak national capacity in the aftermath of conflict can have devastating consequences, as the outbreak of the Ebola Virus demonstrated, and the Peacebuilding Commission must apply itself urgently to bringing together the technical and financial resources required to build post-conflict countries' capacity to meet the needs of their people.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“In places like Burundi and the Central African Republic we are keenly aware of how important it is that the international community sustain and increase our joint efforts. The PBC has an important role in complementing the work of the Security Council in post-conflict countries on the Commission's agenda - engaging international financial institutions, raising the profile of needs that are not being met and bringing to the attention of Member States issues that could put peace at risk. It is an art, not a science, and each case has unique challenges and unique solutions. There is no single prescription for how to ensure that peace is sustained, but there are key factors that should be of concern to the Peacebuilding Commission.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“The Commission has played a critical role in assisting Guinea-Bissau, helping focus donor engagement and building domestic capacity in the security and health sectors. In Liberia, the Commission's engagement, specifically in the justice and rule oflaw sectors, has helped build capacity ahead of a planned drawdown of the United Nations Mission in Liberia. It is also clear that gaps still exist between our collective aspirations for helping fragile States to solidify peace and the realities in practice and on the ground. The purpose for which the peacebuilding architecture was created in 2005 - preventing relapse into violent conflict - remains easy to talk about but hard to do. And it is a challenge for all of us.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“I would like to thank Ambassadors Patriota and Skoog for their briefings earlier. I also thank Ambassador Patriota for his work as the outgoing Chair of the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), especially during the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the three countries on the PBC's agenda. I congratulate Ambassador Skoog, who is doing important work as the 2015 Chair of the Organizational Committee, and the chairs of the country-specific configurations. We are grateful for their efforts to rally support from the international community to assist many of the world's most fragile States in recovering from conflict. It is clear from the report of the Peacebuilding Commission (S/2015/174) that we have made some progress in preventing conflict and building conditions for lasting peace in some places.”
2015-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7472 (2015) · source
“As the Secretary-General's report shows, too many States and armed groups are not living up to their minimum obligations under international law. That is why we have convened here today, and that is why we call on all of our colleagues to commit ourselves once again to documenting violations and abuses against children, to take seriously the need for rigorous standards and methodology in monitoring and reporting across all trigger events - now including abductions - and to do all we can to help children who have been through such horrendous experiences in armed conflict to recover. Children who have been touched by armed conflict deserve to live meaningful lives that are free from violence and the painful effects of their experiences. They deserve to experience life beyond war, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they will.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“The imperative to avoid harming civilians, including children, has become even more explicit in recent tactical directives from our commanders to their forces, directives that go beyond what is required under international law and often result in forces having to assume additional operational and other risks in order to minimize the possibility of harming children. It is the right thing to do, and other militaries should follow that example. When those engaged in or supporting peacekeeping efforts are accused of abusing the very children whom they are sent to protect, there must be zero tolerance. There is no room in United Nations peacekeeping or in any regional or national missions for those who prey on the vulnerable.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“We urge other Governments to adopt similar legislation to help end the practice of the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers by holding accountable Governments that violate those basic principles. Under that United States law, foreign Governments that unlawfully recruit or use child soldiers, or that support armed groups that do so, are subject to restrictions on certain United States security assistance and the commercial licensing of military equipment, as they should be. We also lead by example when engaged in military operations. United States forces receive training in civilian protection throughout their careers; it is woven throughout military doctrine.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“Suffering physically and psychologically and lacking opportunity, these children are not only in pain, they are caught in a terrible bind. That is why initiatives like the one launched by the United States last March, a public-private partnership that has created spaces to provide support, has deployed mobile clinics and outreach workers in Iraq and has supported Yezidi women and girls who escaped captivity, are so important. Of course, the best way to give children the bright future that we want them to have is to protect them from harm in the first place. That is why tools like the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2008 in the United States are critical.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“After Boko Haram militants attacked and burned down the village of a l6-year-old girl in Nigeria last year, they made her watch as her captors brutally killed her neighbours. Her captors beat her when she tried to escape. When she finally managed to escape in June, she was met with rejection and suspicion by her neighbours who had survived the massacre. They stigmatized her and other girls escaping from Boko Haram, taunting them and calling them "Boko Haram wives", leaving the escaped girls isolated and alone. And that young girl, pregnant with the child of her captor, continues to struggle - like so many liberated children - through psychological and physical trauma. On top of all of that, for those who have escaped or have been released or rescued, many have missed whatever educational and other opportunities that may have existed.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“First and foremost, it is obviously the responsibility of States and armed groups to stop taking children from their homes to engage in hostilities. We have made some progress in places such as the Central African Republic, where armed groups recently agreed to stop recruiting child soldiers and committed to releasing the 6,000 to 10,000 child soldiers currently in their ranks. But promising to release children is just the beginning - in fact, releasing those children from armed forces and armed groups is itself also just the beginning. The work of reintegrating them - meaningfully, compassionately, respectfully - is critical and all too often overlooked. It is a long path to recovery, and our collective attention span to the challenge needs to be expanded.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“Multiple United Nations agencies and this year's report on children and armed conflict (S/2015/409) have explicitly stated that the casualty numbers in Syria cannot be verified and are almost certainly underreported. Comparing those underreported numbers to documented deaths meets no standard of credibility and seems like a blatant attempt to vilify rather than illuminate. We welcome the adoption of resolution 2225 (2015) and the addition of abductions as a trigger for being listed in the Secretary-General's annex. Mass abductions, especially of young women and children, are becoming part of the extremists' playbook for terrorizing communities, and the United States supports fully the attention that this violation will now receive. Today I want to highlight what we can do better to help children victimized by armed conflict.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“The Secretary-General's annual report should contribute to our common cause to protect children by using standards that are applied uniformly when documenting the actions of all parties in conflict, so that it is perceived as credible, objective and non-political. But if that report is politicized, if it becomes more of a political tool to advance political agendas rather than a clear application of facts to objective standards, it will be seriously compromised. Let us be clear. The idea that the Government of Israel would be listed on the same page as ISIL, Boko Haram or Syria, as some have suggested in this debate, is factually and fundamentally wrong. The comparisons of casualty numbers that we have heard from some today are totally misleading.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“The United States will work with other Member States in the Council and through other forums to respond to the call to action that those barbaric crimes demand to protect the children of South Sudan and to ensure that the perpetrators of those acts are held accountable. The Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict should be a valuable and trusted resource for advancing accountability against the world's most serious abusers of children. This year alone we have seen the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) publicly execute and stone children. We have seen kids manipulated to literally explode themselves in the service of Boko Haram terrorists, and the continued unlawful recruitment and use of children in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“Let me say first that we share the outrage of Special Representative Zerrougui at recent reports of children being unlawfully targeted and killed and sexually assaulted in Unity state, South Sudan, apparently by Government forces or Government-backed militias. According to UNICEF, as many as 129 children from Unity state were killed during only three weeks last month. Survivors reported that boys were castrated and left to bleed to death, girls raped and children tied together, their throats slit. Those heinous crimes must not go unanswered, and it is for each ofus to make clear to the perpetrators that their actions against their fellows citizens will have a cost.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“I would like to begin by thanking Foreign Minister Aman for presiding over this meeting and for Malaysia's leadership of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General, Special Representative of the Secretary-General Zerrougui and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Brandt for their briefings and their important work on this issue, as well as, in particular, our guest briefer, Eunice Apio, for her powerful words today and for the tremendous work that she and Facilitation for Peace and Development are doing to help women and children recover from armed conflict.”
2015-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7466 (2015) · source
“The ICTY and ICTR have ensured justice for the victims of some of the worst mass murderers and criminals in the history of the world. They have made immeasurable contributions to ensuring accountability, advancing peace and reconciliation and promoting truth and justice. Their work and legacy should serve as a reminder of what is possible when the world is committed to responding to crimes that shock the conscience, and they should serve as a cold rebuke to those who continue to commit such crimes under the mistaken belief that somehow we will just give up on accountability and move on from the push for justice. At the very least, the ICTY and ICTR are a reminder that we will not do so, and a reminder that we will fulfil our commitment to the victims of these atrocities and their survivors because we cannot and will not forget.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“We remain deeply committed to apprehending those nine fugitives, who include three leaders believed to have carried out key roles in the Rwandan genocide: Felicien Kabuga, alleged to have financed atrocities; Augustin Bizimana, the Minister of Defence, alleged to have ordered his subordinates to carry out horrific crimes; Protais Mpiranya, the Commander of the Presidential Guard, alleged to have carried out targeted assassinations from the moment the genocide began. These men have not escaped our continued attention and our steadfast determination to see each of them face justice. If we forget them, we fail their victims and the survivors, and we will not and cannot fail them. Justice and accountability for the victims and survivors of mass atrocities and accountability for the perpetrators remain a critical requirement of any real peace.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“The United States offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to their arrest and, following those arrests, paid significant rewards in a number of cases. To achieve the same success for the ICTR and ensure that the nine remaining ICTR fugitives, who are mass murderers, are brought to justice, we have been working closely with the same organizations: the United Nations, national authorities, international law enforcement and, most importantly, the ICTR and the Residual Mechanism. As with the ICTY fugitives, the United States continues to offer up to $5 million in rewards for information leading to the arrest of the nine ICTR fugitives, whether they will be prosecuted in the Residual Mechanism or in Rwandan courts. We call for full international cooperation in tracking and arresting these men.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“This included the conditioning ofbilateral economic assistance on a State's compliance with its obligations under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations to enforce arrest warrants issued by judges of the ICTY. Most significant in terms of its impact, as implemented by the European Union (EU), with the steadfast support of EU member States, was the requirement of full and complete cooperation with the ICTY before a country could be considered for accession to the EU. United Nations peacekeeping missions and multinational NATO forces worked with the Tribunals, international law enforcement and national authorities to assist in apprehending fugitives. INTERPOL shared information, and training programmes strengthened the capacity for national police authorities to locate and arrest war crimes fugitives.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“Last year, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda completed all of its trials of first instance as the world marked two decades since the Rwandan genocide. We recognize and appreciate the ICTR's continuing efforts to finish appeals in a timely manner. We also continue to commend the ongoing efforts of the Presidents and Prosecutors to efficiently transfer the remaining functions to the Residual Mechanism, while at the same time preserving the fairness and impartiality of the judicial process. The effort to ensure that those accused by the ICTY - all 161 out of 161 - were brought tojustice was unprecedented in the history of international justice. It required the international community to use the full range of resources and tools at our disposal: legal, financial and political.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“It is hoped that the victims and survivors of Srebrenica will have an outcome that can help bring closure to that most disturbing and painful chapter in the history of the former Yugoslavia. We also await judgement in the trial of Vojislav Seselj for crimes against humanity and violations ofthe laws and customs of war. The United States once again condemns his incendiary public rhetoric - rhetoric that challenges regional reconciliation and threatens to open tragic wounds of the past, since his provisional release by the Court on humanitarian grounds last November. We continue to urge all Governments and leaders of the region to cooperate with the Court's orders, to continue working towards reconciliation and to avoid inflammatory statements.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“As always, the United States supports the ongoing efforts of the ICTY to complete its remaining trials and appeals expeditiously, efficiently and thoroughly, while pressing international justice forward and ensuring that the accused are given a fair trial. We note that appeals judgements have been rendered in the Popovic' and Tolomir cases, and we await judgement this year in the trial of Radovan Karadzic'. Together with Ratko Mladic', Karadzie stands accused of crimes that include responsibly for the Srebrenica massacre, the twentieth anniversary of which falls on 11 July. Srebrenica, of course, was the single worst crime committed in Europe since the Second World War.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“The seeds of international criminal justice were planted 70 years ago with the drafting of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal. The Nuremberg Charter provided for a fair judicial process for leaders of the Nazi regime who would face trial in Nuremberg. The Charter and the ensuing trials ensured that those accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity would face justice before the world. Indeed, while the world faces the continued horrors of mass atrocities in Syria, South Sudan, the Sudan, the Central African Republic and elsewhere, the ICTY, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals stand as examples and important reminders that where there is will, perpetrators of mass atrocities can indeed be brought to justice.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“I thank Presidents Meron and Joensen and Prosecutors Brammertz and J allow for their reports and, as always, for their steadfast dedication to advancing global justice. At this time, I would like to express particular gratitude and thanks to President Meron in his last briefing before the Council as President of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). We greatly appreciate his dedicated service as President of both the ICTY and the Residual Mechanism. He has tirelessly dedicated much of his professional life to international justice and contributed immensely to the jurisprudence of international criminal law. International justice has been well served and continues to be well served by his leadership.”
2015-06-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7455 (2015) · source
“We were pleased to see the national police directors of Kosovo and Serbia meet for the first time during the reporting period. Such exchanges are important, and we hope that they will continue. We also note the Government of Kosovo's measured and constructive response to the events in Macedonia. In closing, I would like to stress that while the United States believes the situation in Kosovo remains an important issue, the burden on the Security Council of these meetings must be reduced. Of the seven topics covered by the Security Council under the debate format, UNMIK has accounted for fully 25 per cent of all meetings in just the past 12 months. Only the situation in Afghanistan receives the same level of attention in this format.”
2015-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7448 (2015) · source
“Both Kosovo and Serbia's membership in the anti-Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant coalition and their participation in the regional countering violent extremism summit last week are appreciated. We ask that Serbia and other non-recognizers acknowledge the importance of Kosovo's membership in INTERPOL as a means of facilitating important law enforcement cooperation on counter-terrorism and organized crime, and not block Kosovo's membership application. The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) should support Kosovo's INTERPOL membership by turning its international police cooperation competency over to the Government of Kosovo. The United States commends Kosovo for cooperating with its neighbours on law enforcement issues.”
2015-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7448 (2015) · source
“The United States is pleased to support the EU-led investigative effort through seconding a new Chief Prosecutor, David Schwendiman, who arrived in Brussels to assume the role in the past week. We were also pleased to observe Kosovo and Serbia's continued commitment to fighting terrorism. We welcome Kosovo's new foreign terrorist fighter legislation, enacted in March, and its formation of a national countering violent extremism working group, the goal of which is to develop a nationwide plan on countering violent extremism. We congratulate Serbia on hosting a successful counter-terrorism conference in April and particularly commend Serbia's inclusive approach with regard to Kosovo's participation.”
2015-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7448 (2015) · source
“The United States takes all allegations of war crimes very seriously, so let me clearly say that Kosovo must respond appropriately to allegations of serious crimes committed between 1998 and 2000. Kosovo must uphold its commitments undertaken in its 2014 exchange of letters with the EU High Representative by promptly adopting the necessary legal measures to set up a robust specialist court that can adjudicate those cases, following the past summer's findings by the EU Special Investigative Task Force that there is sufficient evidence to indict a handful of individuals for serious crimes committed during that period. We urge the Government of Kosovo to grasp the momentum of the recent months and to unite and pass enabling constitutional amendments and the necessary statutes as soon as possible.”
2015-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7448 (2015) · source
“During the reporting period, we were also heartened to hear of continued progress on the Kosovo- Serbia dialogue, in particular the agreement already being implemented to integrate Kosovo's judiciary, as well as an agreement to integrate Serbian civilian protection core personnel into Kosovo institutions. We also note the progress made by northern municipalities in approving budgets and rationalizing payrolls. We look forward to further engagement through the EU-facilitated dialogue process in the near future, and urge both Kosovo and Serbia to continue making progress on the telecoms, energy and insurance issues, as well as on the formation of an association of Serb-majority municipalities and a resolution of the Mitrovica bridge issue.”
2015-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7448 (2015) · source
“I thank Special Representative Zarif for his briefing. We welcome Deputy Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers Thaci and Dacie back to the Security Council. We would also like to extend our thanks to the men and women of the Kosovo Force and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, who continue to play an indispensable role in Kosovo. I would like to begin by congratulating Kosovo on the European Commission's recent approval of a stabilization and association agreement proposal with Kosovo. We are happy to see Kosovo taking that important step on the path to European Union (EU) membership.”
2015-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7448 (2015) · source
“We are disappointed that a few Council members would be willing to throw out a resolution that they almost entirely agree with and that they know will make a positive contribution in their own countries in order to cling to one specific term for political purposes, a term that is ill-defined and which no delegation in our negotiations had been able to identify any specific entity that they would wish covered that is not already covered by the language in the text. A good measure of the global support that the resolution enjoys can be found in the fact that 56 Member States that co-sponsored it. In that context, we are pleased that the resolution was adopted. The United States supports it and looks forward to cooperating with all Member States to implement it.”
2015-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7447 (2015) · source
“It also emphasizes that "the illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons can aid terrorism and illegal armed groups and facilitate increasing levels of transnational organized crime" (ibid., eighteenth preambular para.) Furthermore, in the resolution, the Council reaffirms "its decision that States shall eliminate the supply of weapons, including small arms and light weapons, to terrorists" (ibid., para. 19). Despite the clear language and several significant compromises, a few Council members demanded that certain terms be used that have absolutely no precedent in the Council's prior resolutions on small arms and light weapons.”
2015-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7447 (2015) · source
“Yet despite all of the new, positive and helpful provisions in the text, it is troubling that some Council members were unable to support it and risked derailing it for an ulterior political objective. The resolution recognizes "the importance of preventing the illicit transfers and sales of weapons and ammunition, including small arms and light weapons, to armed groups and criminal networks that target civilians and civilian objects" (resolution 2220 (2015), para. 20).”
2015-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7447 (2015) · source
“It will improve how disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes take into account the effects of small arms and light weapons and it broadens the focus of the United Nations in making recommendations to address the impact of these weapons, specifically on children in armed conflict. The resolution encourages the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team to provide recommendations for actions to enhance the response to threats from terrorist access to small arms and light weapons. It encourages the United Nations Counter- Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate to provide plans to facilitate assistance and strengthen Member States' capacities to respond to the illicit trafficking in and the misuse of these weapons, and it makes clear the importance of the Arms Trade Treaty, among other key international instruments.”
2015-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7447 (2015) · source
“We adopt resolution 2220 (2015) today, almost two years after the Security Council adopted the first-ever Security Council resolution on small arms and light weapons (resolution 2117 (2013). It is a pioneering text, and we should all support it. The new elements of the resolution will help mitigate the misuse of these weapons and ultimately advance international peace and security. It will not change the world, but it will help shape our collective approach to the issue, and over time this will make a difference. The resolution will improve the work of the United Nations to protect refugees, internally displaced persons, and women, children and vulnerable groups from the misuse of small arms and light weapons. It will enhance the international community's monitoring of and compliance with arms embargoes in relation to these weapons.”
2015-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7447 (2015) · source
“The misery wreaked by the illicit movement of small arms demands our focus. Children, whom the High Commissioner powerfully observed with their small muscles can vanquish a life, are too often instrumentalized and victimized by our failure to effectively address the illicit movement and unlawful proliferation of small arms. The United States is deeply committed to continuing our work together to address that challenge and advance our collective goal of forging a more peaceful and secure world.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“Small arms and light weapons are often manufactured legally and appropriately, traded and retained for legitimate and lawful purposes. That must be respected and protected. But when legal controls break down and, through weaknesses of governance, corruption or other illicit lawless activity, deadly weapons fall into the wrong hands, the victims are too often too many vulnerable innocents. This debate has helpfully laid out the grave problems that small arms and light weapons pose to international peace and security. But it has also offered practical and effective solutions, and in that vein, we support Lithuania's draft resolution on the issue and urge our colleagues to do so as well. The threat posed by cynical profiteers who trade in an illicit economy of corruption merit our attention.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“Currently, bogus end-use certifications and intentional diversions of legal arms transfers are used to channel arms to Governments and others in violation of national and international laws. Establishing high standards for end-use certification, more robust post- export verification by arms-exporting countries and appropriate regulation of commercial arms brokers would all contribute greatly to addressing the illicit movement of small arms and light weapons. We must also redouble our commitment to strong disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) measures in post-conflict situations. Effective DDR, including the expeditious destruction of war surpluses, can ensure that the tools of today's wars do not fuel conflict somewhere else tomorrow. Nations have the right to defend themselves and their citizens.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“We also continue to cooperate with law enforcement authorities around the world in tracing illicitly trafficked small arms and light weapons. The United States has also worked with the Organization of American States and the Nairobi- based Regional Centre on Small Arms to assist Member States in marking their State-held stockpiles. That leads me to a point about the imperative of controlling and regulating illicit weapons supply routes. More robust enforcement of Security Council embargoes and sanctions regimes by all Member States is essential if the prohibitions already in place are to be successful. Related to that, improvements in export and import controls would mitigate the risk of illegal transfers.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“Just three months ago, the Security Council deplored the routine conveyance of weapons and ammunition into Darfur, but little has changed. Despite the presence of a large peacekeeping operation, guns continue to flow and terror reigns supreme. The Secretary-General is right to highlight in his report the need to address stockpile security and management on an urgent basis. The United States has been among the leading donors in helping Member States to secure their stockpiles of conventional arms and ammunition and to destroy those weapons no longer required for national defence. We have supported programmes that have destroyed approximately 1.6 million excess or poorly secured weapons and over 90,000 tons of munitions worldwide.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“Large caches of weapons available in Darfur, Libya and South Sudan have exacerbated conflicts in those countries and in others throughout Africa and the Middle East. Illicit weapons have a way of travelling and where they go, they wreak havoc. Weapons from Libya alone have been used in Egypt, Gaza, the Niger, Somalia and Syria. When South Sudan became independent in 2011, it was estimated that there were 3.2 million small arms in circulation, which is one gun for every fourth person. We have seen their deadly toll, including widespread and systematic killings of civilians and targeting of individuals based on ethnicity, often in their homes, churches and hospitals. In Darfur, terror is wrought by a Government that continues to complement indiscriminate bombings with ground attacks conducted by its well-armed rapid-support force.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“Black markets alone are estimated to account for another $200 million. Estimates suggest there are over 600 million small arms and light weapons in circulation worldwide. Readily available and easy to use, small arms and light weapons have been the primary or sole tools of violence in almost every recent conflict dealt with by the United Nations and, too often, they are being used by children who are too young, too vulnerable, exploited and in danger. Stockpiles of arms and ammunitions are widely available. Such weapons are so small, so cheap, so convenient and easy to use and transfer around the world. It is all too common to see a teenage boy walking around with a gun almost as heavy as he is. We do not need to look far to see the impact of and immense misery caused by this deadly phenomenon.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“My Government very much welcomes this meeting and the greater attention being paid to the danger posed by the illicit trafficking in and stockpiling and use of small arms and light weapons. I would like to thank Lithuania for its leadership on this issue and also to thank the Secretary-General for his report (S/2015/289). We also appreciate the briefings today by Mr. Diakite and by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Today, I would like to touch on three essential issues. The scope of the small-arms and light-weapons problem and the violence that results, the importance of stockpile security and management, and what we need to do to disrupt supply routes. A conservative estimate of the official global trade in small arms and light weapons is approximately $1 billion annually.”
2015-05-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7442 (2015) · source
“All of us have a responsibility to remember the horrors and atrocities, but we have an obligation to do more than remember. We have an obligation to vigorously and steadfastly oppose policies of hate and discrimination. We continue to call for all ofBosnia and Herzegovina's citizens and its leaders to work together to pursue a common Vision for a secure and prosperous future - or, in Mr. Inzko's words, a better tomorrow.”
2015-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7440 (2015) · source
“Efforts by the Republika Srpska to control online activities through the threat of prosecution is a dangerous and worrisome attempt to curb the freedom of speech. That kind of censorship stunts democratic growth and runs contrary to the values required for European integration. The Republika Srpska's lack of compliance with its obligations to provide the High Representative with timely access to officials, institutions and documents is also of concern. In that regard, we reiterate call for all authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to cooperate with the High Representative's request for information and documents. As the twentieth anniversary of Srebrenica approaches, on 11 July, we are reminded that, while the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is over, much remains to be done.”
2015-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7440 (2015) · source