YouSaid · the spoken record

Russell

lines on the record: 55
first: 2022-03-07
most recent: 2023-11-22
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“Only a negotiated political solution — one that prioritizes the rights and well-being of this and future generations of Israeli and Palestinian children — can ensure that. I urge the parties to heed this call, starting with a humanitarian ceasefire as the first step on the path to lasting peace. And I urge the members of the Security Council to do everything in their power to end this catastrophe for children.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We also call on the parties to ensure the voluntary movement and safe passage for all civilians seeking emergency shelter and a safe place to stay, to reopen, repair and augment the capacity of all water lines into the Gaza Strip and to ensure that the water is safe and not contaminated. The true cost of this latest war in Palestine and Israel will be measured in children’s lives — those lost to the violence and those forever changed by it. Without an end to the fighting and full humanitarian access, the cost will continue to grow exponentially. The destruction of Gaza and killing of civilians will not bring peace or safety to the region. The people of this region deserve peace.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We ask them to go beyond what the law requires — to protect children and the civilian infrastructure they rely on, and to immediately and unconditionally release all civilian hostages held in the Gaza Strip, especially children. We call on the parties to abide by resolution 2712 (2023) and to provide safe and unrestricted humanitarian access to and within the Gaza Strip, including in the north. Parties must allow the immediate entry of life-sustaining supplies, including fuel, that are needed for trucking, water desalination, water pumping and flour production. We must be permitted to bring in essential water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, tarpaulins, tents and poles.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We are concerned that further military escalation in the south of Gaza would exponentially worsen the humanitarian situation there, causing additional displacement and squeezing the civilian population into an even smaller area. Attacks on the south must be avoided. UNICEF is strongly opposed to the establishment of so-called “safe zones”. No place is safe in the Gaza Strip. And the proposed zones do not have the infrastructure or protection measures in place to meet the needs of such large numbers of civilians. We also reiterate our call on the parties to immediately and fully respect international humanitarian and human rights law, including the principles of necessity, distinction, precaution and proportionality.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“And when the war ends, the contamination by explosive remnants of war will be unprecedented, with potentially tens of thousands of remnants scattered across Gaza and beyond — a lethal threat to children that could last for decades. Inside Gaza, the war has also caused the largest-ever loss of life for United Nations personnel, with more than 100 UNRWA staff killed. And in recent days, a World Health Organization colleague was killed along with her 6-month-old baby, her husband and her two brothers. For children to survive and for humanitarian workers to stay and effectively deliver, humanitarian pauses are simply not enough. UNICEF is calling for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire to immediately put a stop to this carnage.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“This past weekend, strikes on two schools, including the Al-Fakhoura school of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was sheltering displaced people, reportedly killed at least 24 people. UNICEF condemns all attacks on schools. Across the State of Palestine and Israel, parties to the conflict are blatantly committing grave violations against children — including killing, maiming, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals and the denial of humanitarian access. But in Gaza, the effects of the violence perpetrated on children have been catastrophic, indiscriminate and disproportionate.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“Last week UNICEF was part of an inter-agency mission that relocated 31 babies from Al Shifa Hospital to the Emirati hospital, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Twenty-eight of those babies are now receiving care in Egypt. Hospitals should never be attacked or used by combatants, and with thousands of displaced people sheltering in Gaza’s health facilities, I cannot emphasize that point enough. We are also seeing devastating attacks on schools, with close to 90 per cent of all school buildings sustaining damage. Nearly 80 per cent of the remaining school facilities are being used as shelters for internally displaced people. But even these spaces, where children and families have sought safety after fleeing their homes, have come under attack.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“Those conditions are leading to outbreaks of disease that could be life-threatening for vulnerable groups such as newborns, children and women, especially those who are malnourished. We are seeing cases of diarrhoeal and respiratory infections in children under the age of five, and we anticipate that the situation could worsen as the colder weather starts to set in. The public-health risks in Gaza are compounded by the virtual shutdown of the health-care system. More than two thirds of hospitals are no longer functioning because of the lack of fuel and water, or because they sustained catastrophic damage in attacks. Moreover, the World Health Organization estimates that at least 16 health workers have been killed and 38 injured while on duty. Hospital patients are being injured and killed or are dying from a lack of medicine and care.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“One million children — or really all the children inside the territory — are now food- insecure, facing what could soon become a catastrophic nutrition crisis. We project that over the next few months, child wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition in children, could increase by nearly 30 per cent in Gaza. Meanwhile, water production capacity has plummeted to just 5 per cent of its normal output, with families and children relying on three litres or less of water per person per day for drinking, cooking and hygiene. At the same time, water pumping, desalination and wastewater treatment have all ceased to function because of the lack of fuel, and sanitation services have collapsed.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“Even before this latest escalation, more than 540,000 children in Gaza — half of its entire child population — were identified as needing mental health and psychosocial support. Today more than 1.7 million people in Gaza, half of whom are children, are displaced. We are particularly concerned about reports of increasing numbers of displaced children who have been separated from their families along evacuation corridors to the south, or who are otherwise arriving unaccompanied at hospitals for medical care. Those children are especially vulnerable, and they urgently need to be identified, provided with temporary care and given access to family tracing and reunification services. In addition to bombs, rockets and gunfire, Gaza’s children are at extreme risk owing to catastrophic living conditions.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“In other words, today the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. We are also receiving reports that more than 1,200 children remain under the rubble of bombed-out buildings or are otherwise unaccounted for. It is notable that the number of deaths in the present crisis has far surpassed the total number of deaths during previous escalations. For comparison, in 17 years of monitoring and reporting of grave violations between 2005 and 2022, a total of 1,653 children were verified as having been killed. Children who manage to survive the war are likely to see their lives irrevocably altered through repeated exposure to traumatic events. The violence and upheaval around them can induce toxic stress that interferes with their physical and cognitive development.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“In the hospital’s neonatal ward, I saw tiny babies clinging to life in incubators, as doctors worried about how they could keep the machines running without fuel. During my time in Khan Yunis, I also spoke with a UNICEF staff member who, despite losing 17 members of her own extended family, is working heroically to provide children and families in Gaza with access to safe water and sanitation. As a mother of four, she is one of countless parents in Gaza in constant fear for her family. Given the terrible toll this war has exacted on Gaza’s children, their fears are well founded. More than 5,300 Palestinian children have reportedly been killed in just 46 days. That amounts to more than 115 a day, every day, for weeks and weeks. Based on those figures, children account for 40 per cent of the deaths in Gaza. That is unprecedented.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“UNICEF and its partners are providing mental health and protection support, water and sanitation services and remedial education for 280,000 children in the West Bank. Turning to Gaza, I just returned from a visit to the south of the territory, where I was able to meet with children and their families and with UNICEF staff on the ground. I am haunted by what I saw and heard. When I visited the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, it was teeming with people. In addition to the patients and medical staff, the hospital is sheltering thousands of internally displaced people. They are sleeping on blankets along corridors and in the hospital’s common areas. While I was there, I spoke with a 16-year-old girl lying in a hospital bed. She was badly injured when her neighborhoud was bombed, and the doctors have told her she will never walk again.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“Last week UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director travelled to Israel, where he met with families of the child hostages. They shared their anguish and deepening fear over the safety of their children. I had planned to travel to Israel and the West Bank last week as well, but as many Council members will have heard, I was advised by doctors to postpone my visit after sustaining injuries in a car crash en route to Rafah. Our Deputy Executive Director visited the West Bank to assess the deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions there. Over the past six weeks 56 Palestinian children have been killed, while scores have been displaced from their homes. We estimate that 450,000 children in the West Bank need humanitarian assistance.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“We are positioned to quickly scale up the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid in Gaza, but of course more resources are needed to meet the ever-growing needs. However, that is far from enough. The war must be brought to an end and the killing and maiming of children must stop immediately. Before briefing the Council in more detail on the situation in Gaza, I would like to draw the attention of members to the plight of children in Israel and the West Bank. Since 7 October, 35 Israeli children have reportedly been killed, while more than 30 are being held hostage in Gaza. As the Secretary-General has said, the agreement to release hostages is welcome, but much more needs to be done. UNICEF will call on the parties to safely release all abducted children.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“Ms. Russell: I thank Ambassadors Nusseibeh, Zhang Jun and Frazier for bringing us together to speak about the worsening situation of children in the State of Palestine and Israel. I would also like to thank the Security Council for its adoption of resolution 2712 (2023), a text that acknowledges the disproportionate impact that this war is having on children by demanding that the parties to the conflict afford children the special protection that they are entitled to under international law. Critically, the resolution calls for extended humanitarian pauses and corridors in Gaza, which I hope will be urgently implemented so that humanitarian partners can reach the civilians in need, especially children. UNICEF also welcomes the limited ceasefire agreement.”
2023-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9484 (2023) · source
“On behalf of all the children caught up in this nightmare, we call on the world to do better. Whether they are young people attending a music festival or children going about their daily lives in Gaza, they all deserve peace. Children do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. They need all of us to put their safety and security at the forefront of our efforts and to imagine a future in which children are healthy, safe and educated. No child deserves any less.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“All parties must stop violence and prevent any grave violations committed against children. We must have humanitarian access through all crossing points into the Gaza Strip, through safe and efficient supply routes. And the parties must ensure the safe and unimpeded movement of humanitarian supplies and personnel throughout the Gaza Strip for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, including, but not limited to, food, water, medicines, fuel and electricity. Finally, measures to prevent electricity, food, water and fuel from entering Gaza from Israel must be immediately reversed so that civilians have access to the services they need to survive. UNICEF was created almost 77 years ago out of the ashes of the Second World War. Since then, our commitment to our mission has never wavered — we advocate for the rights of every child.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“I implore the Security Council to immediately adopt a resolution that reminds parties of their obligations under international law, calls for a ceasefire, demands that parties allow safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, demands the immediate and safe release of all abducted children and urges the parties to afford children the special protection to which they are entitled. The Council should prioritize what is now a worsening displacement crisis, with more than 1.4 million people in Gaza, the majority of whom are children, now displaced. As the Secretary-General has said, the order for 1.1 million Palestinian civilians to leave northern Gaza should be rescinded. Demands for hospital evacuations should also cease, given their protected status under international humanitarian law.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“And of course, we are grieving with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East for their staff members who have been killed. Two days ago, we lost contact with our colleagues in Gaza when telecommunications were disrupted. That left them at even greater risk and made their work to help children even harder to accomplish. UNICEF and our partners are committed to staying on the ground to deliver for children. But make no mistake, the situation grows worse by the hour, and without an urgent end to the hostilities, I am deeply afraid for the fate of the region’s children. But we — and Council members — have the power to help lift children out of that spiral of violence.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“As if that was not enough, children in both Israel and the State of Palestine are experiencing terrible trauma, the consequences of which could last a lifetime. Studies have shown that violence and upheaval can induce toxic stress in children that interferes with their physical and cognitive development and causes mental health problems in both the short and long term. We are doing our best to reach all children in need, but the delivery of humanitarian aid — especially into Gaza — is now extremely challenging. That is due to both the current siege conditions imposed on Gaza and the highly dangerous circumstances under which our staff are operating. Some of our staff have lost close family members, including spouses and children.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“At least 221 schools and more than 177,000 housing units have been damaged or destroyed. Meanwhile, what little clean water remains in Gaza is quickly running out, leaving more than 2 million people in dire need. We estimate that 55 per cent of the water-supply infrastructure requires repair or rehabilitation. Only one desalination plant is operating, at just 5 per cent capacity, while all six of Gaza’s wastewater treatment plants are now non-operational owing to a lack of fuel or power. The lack of clean water and sanitation is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe. Unless access to clean water is urgently restored, more civilians, including children, will fall ill or die from dehydration or waterborne diseases.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“That means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day — a number that should shake each of us to our core. Of course, the violence being perpetrated against children extends beyond the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at least 37 children have reportedly been killed. And, of course, more than 30 Israeli children have reportedly been killed, while at least 20 remain hostage in the Gaza Strip, their fates unknown. Civilian infrastructure has also come under fierce attack. According to the World Health Organization in Gaza, 34 attacks have been reported against health- care facilities, including 21 hospitals. Twelve of Gaza’s 35 hospitals — which are also being used as shelters for displaced people — can no longer function.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“Ms. Russell: I would like to thank Ambassador Nusseibeh and Ambassador França Danese for convening this meeting, and the members of the Security Council for giving me this opportunity to speak to them about the humanitarian situation in the State of Palestine and Israel. At UNICEF, we firmly believe that the true cost of this latest escalation will be measured in children’s lives — those lost to the violence and those forever changed by it. After little more than three weeks, the devastating tally is quickly adding up, with rampant grave violations being committed against children. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including more than 3,400 children, with more than 6,300 children injured.”
2023-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9462 (2023) · source
“I continue to be struck by the resilience, dignity and courage of the people of Haiti, despite the dire situation on the ground. They remain dedicated to a vision of a peaceful and prosperous country. Working together with them, I am confident that we can help turn that vision into reality.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“Police-contributing countries must take all necessary steps to conduct investigations of allegations as quickly as possible, and to hold the perpetrators of sexual exploitation and abuse accountable. In addition, the Mission must ensure that children who are associated or alleged to be associated with armed groups are regarded as victims of violations of international law. That includes those who are accused of committing crimes. Finally, the Support Mission must strive to facilitate humanitarian action, while remaining apart from humanitarian operations. It must avoid impeding access to people in need, in accordance with humanitarian principles. Adequate coordination with humanitarian actors through civilian and military platforms will be fundamental.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“And the Mission must use only the least harmful means necessary, ensuring that they are proportionate to legitimate law-enforcement objectives. It must also ensure that special care and attention are given to the protection of vulnerable groups, including children, women, people living with disabilities and those who are internally displaced. The Mission must work with the Government to identify threats to those groups and ensure that they are protected from abuses and other human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence and grave violations against children. Preventing sexual exploitation and abuse will require thorough predeployment and on-the-ground training.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“That will help us provide life-saving aid while also implementing solutions for longer-term development and building resilience. I hope all of us here today will urge the international financial institutions and development partners to keep Haitian social sectors and services in operation, at least until their capacity is rebuilt. Of course, progress in Haiti is contingent on significant improvements to the security situation. The Multinational Security Support Mission to Haiti, recently approved through the Council’s resolution 2699 (2023), will play a critical role in that effort. The safety of civilians is paramount, and the Support Mission must prioritize their protection in all of its operations. That includes avoiding the use of force in and around populated areas.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“Despite the risk and operational complexity, our organizations are still reaching the most vulnerable children and families with life-saving services, and there are some positive outcomes. Last week, for example, UNICEF and our partners were able to secure the safe release of almost 60 children being held by armed groups occupying a school in Port-au-Prince. We are delivering for the people of Haiti, and we are committed to staying on the ground to meet humanitarian needs. But quite frankly, we need more support. To date this year, we have received barely one quarter of the $720 million needed to fund the humanitarian response plan. The international community should prioritize increased flexible humanitarian funding.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“Since last year, we have seen an unprecedented 30 per cent increase in the number of children suffering from severe wasting to more than 115,000 nationwide. Almost one quarter of Haiti’s children are chronically malnourished, which can have devastating consequences for their physical and cognitive development. The malnutrition crisis coincides with the ongoing cholera outbreak, in which nearly half of the suspected cases are children under the age of 14. Severely malnourished children are five times more likely to die from cholera without urgent treatment. Yet the national health system does not have the capacity to adequately respond to the health and nutrition needs of vulnerable children and families. The violence is also compromising the work of humanitarian actors on the ground.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“In some areas, such horrific abuses and crimes are now commonplace. Abductions for ransom have skyrocketed, while students, teachers and health workers are subjected to threats daily. As a result, the skilled workers who are desperately needed to deliver essential services flee their communities and, if they can, flee the country altogether. Tens of thousands of people are now internally displaced because of the extreme violence. Armed groups have also strangled major transport routes from Port-au-Prince to the rest of the country, where most of the population resides, destroying livelihoods and restricting access to essential services. That life-threatening mix of conditions has caused an intensifying food, security and nutrition crisis, especially for children.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“Children are being injured or killed in the crossfire, some even on their way to school. Others are being forcibly recruited or they are joining armed groups out of sheer desperation. Communities are being terrorized, and women and girls are being targeted with extreme levels of gender- based and sexual violence. During my recent visit, I met an 11-year-old girl at the Gheskio Center, which provides care for survivors of sexual violence in the heart of Port-au- Prince. Late last year, five men from an armed group abducted her, three of whom took turns raping her. In June, when she shared her story with me, she was eight months pregnant. Several women at the Center spoke of armed men breaking in and raping them — in one case, in front of her children — and then setting their homes on fire.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“But half of those in need of assistance are not getting it, in large part because of insecurity and insufficient humanitarian funding. Basic services are on the verge of collapse, and in some communities life is more dangerous than it has ever been. Years of political turmoil and devastating economic conditions have led to the proliferation of armed groups. An estimated 2 million people, including 1.6 million women and children, live in areas under their effective control, and they are expanding their operations outside the capital, perpetrating extreme levels of violence in both Port- au-Prince and neighbouring Artibonite. When I visited Haiti in June, I saw at first-hand how horrific violence and fear are tearing apart the very fabric that binds families and communities together.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“Ms. Russell: I thank Ambassador França Danese for convening this briefing during Brazil’s Security Council presidency and for inviting me to update the Council on the dire humanitarian and child rights crisis in Haiti. I would like to especially thank Special Representative of the Secretary-General Salvador, with whom I spent some time in Haiti and saw the incredibly challenging circumstances that she is dealing with in such an impressive way. I speak today both as UNICEF Executive Director and the designated Principal Advocate on Haiti for the Inter-Agency Standing Committee for the humanitarian situation in that country. As we just heard, the crisis in Haiti is growing more complicated by the day. Half the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, including almost 3 million children.”
2023-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9449 (2023) · source
“Graça Machel famously said that protecting children from the impact of armed conflict is everyone’s responsibility and must be everyone’s concern. I thank the members of the Security Council for making that responsibility their own, and I thank you once again for inviting me to speak today, Mr. President.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“That includes stopping the detention of children who have been forced to serve armed groups and ending the denial of their right to citizenship, no matter which groups they have been associated with. Finally, we are counting on them to support United Nations efforts to implement the children and armed conflict agenda on the ground, both through the allocation of resources and a commitment to working with us to protect, strengthen and stand behind that agenda. Every child has a right to be protected in times of war and times of peace. Fulfilling that right is not an option but a sacred obligation, reflecting our most deeply human duty to safeguard the next generation and build a more sustainable future for everyone. Ms.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“Yes, of course, they must insist on compliance with international humanitarian law, but we also request that they go beyond the requirements of the law. They have the power to issue military orders with zero-tolerance policies on grave violations against children. We would ask them to please use that power. They should endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration to protect children and schools from attack and misuse by parties to conflict, and the Paris Principles to demobilize and reintegrate children who have been used by armed forces and groups. We call on them to use their influence to push States and non-State armed groups to prevent and end grave violations against children and to protect children who have survived grave violations from stigma and revictimization.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“The data reflected in the Secretary-General’s report this year are as strong as ever before. The United Nations stands behind that data. I would like to take a moment to commend the work of the United Nations teams that collect and verify that information. We are committed to doing that work in accordance with humanitarian principles — humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. We need Member States to grant us the space to do so. We remain as committed to this vital agenda as when it was launched. To our collective shame, more than 25 years later, the agenda is still necessary. Member States have enormous power to drive progress to protect children. Respectfully but urgently, we call on them to do more.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“The report paints a grim picture, but the purpose of the report is not only to point the finger but also to point the way forward. Eight situations of concern have been removed completely from the report over the years because they have succeeded in ending grave violations against children. In 2021 alone, at least 12,214 children were released from armed forces and armed groups, thereby bringing the total number of children who are documented to have been released since 2000 to more than 186,000 girls and boys. New action plans have been signed in Mali and Yemen, and 21 action plans are currently under implementation. That is progress. Crucially, United Nations monitoring and reporting activities on grave violations have grown stronger and more robust.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“When the armed men came to her village, she and her sister faced an impossible choice — serve the group or die. In truth, it was no choice at all. She and her sister were abducted, raped and abused. Her sister died one week after they were abducted. By the time I met her, she had already given birth to a child shortly after she had escaped. Those are only two children. There are many more. This year we have three new situations added to the report. There are three more conflicts in which children are being forced to bear the brunt of wars waged by adults. UNICEF calls on all parties to those most recent conflicts to take action to protect children now. The United Nations is here to support any party to conflict that is willing to take measures to better protect children.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“They were abducted from their families, ripped from their schools and forced to take up arms and risk their lives. Those are only the violations against children that the United Nations has been able to verify; there are many others we could not reach and whose stories may never be known to us. The world has failed them. As Special Representative of the Secretary-General Gamba de Potgieter has said, there is no word strong enough to describe the horrific experiences those children have suffered. I recently met a young boy at a camp for displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He had fled there to escape brutal violence in his home village. That young child had seen his best friend beheaded in front of him. I have never seen such a sad, haunted child. On the same visit, I met a young girl.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“Ms. Russell: I thank you, Mr. President, for inviting me to join today’s critical open debate on children and armed conflict. I am truly honoured to be here and to follow my friend Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, who has done such an extraordinary job. The Secretary-General’s report (S/2022/493) leaves little to the imagination. Around the world, as conflicts proliferate, grave violations against children continue. Children and childhood are under attack. I would like to pause and take a moment to reflect on just how appalling the information in the Secretary-General’s report really is. The report presents verified evidence of more than 23,000 violations against 19,165 children in 2021. Some of those children were killed. Some were grievously injured. Some were raped. Some suffered multiple violations.”
2022-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9096 (2022) · source
“In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that UNICEF is a humanitarian actor abiding by humanitarian principles. Over the past eight years, UNICEF has worked on both sides of the line of contact in eastern Ukraine. We are committed to providing humanitarian assistance and protection to all children in need across Ukraine and in neighbouring countries, but the brutality must come to an end. Children in Ukraine need help and protection. They need supplies and other critical support. They need access to basic social services, such as health and education. They need hope for the future. But, above all, children in Ukraine need peace. It is the only sustainable solution. I thank you, Madam President, for this opportunity to speak to the Security Council today.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“UNICEF respectfully asks the Council to send a strong message to all parties of their obligation to ensure the safety of humanitarian personnel and equipment and to permit and facilitate our work. That also means ensuring that sanctions and other restrictive measures do not impede humanitarian action. Finally, we have renewed our call for an immediate suspension of ongoing military actions in Ukraine. We need a ceasefire and adequate guarantees to enable safe and rapid humanitarian access to all people in need across Ukraine. That will allow critical humanitarian assistance and protection to reach those in need and will allow families in those most affected areas to venture out to get food and water, seek medical care and leave their homes to find safety.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“UNICEF calls upon the members of the Council to remind all parties of their legal and moral obligation to protect children and spare them from attack. We remain extremely concerned about attacks on the civilian infrastructure necessary to help children weather the conflict, including schools, hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, and critical energy infrastructure. We call on all parties to refrain from fighting near or targeting those protected areas and from cyberattacks that can disrupt critical services for children and families. We appeal to all parties to avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, including cluster munitions, which pose the gravest risk of harm to children. We urge all parties to protect civilians from further harm related to contamination from landmines and explosive remnants of war.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“With the spread of the conflict, we should all be extremely concerned about the risk posed to children by landmines and explosive remnants of war. Even prior to the recent escalation, eastern Ukraine was one of the most mine-contaminated stretches of land in the world. That brutal reality is rapidly extending to other parts of the country. We will continue doing everything we can for children in Ukraine. We are committed to stay and deliver, but we need the Council’s support. What is happening to children in Ukraine is a moral outrage. Images of a mother and her two children and a friend lying dead on the street, hit by a mortar as they tried to flee to safety, must shock the conscience of the world. We must act to protect children from such brutality.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“Inside Ukraine, UNICEF is also deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the nearly 100,000 children, half of whom have disabilities, who live in institutions and boarding schools. We have received reports of institutions that are understandably seeking to move children to safety in neighbouring countries and beyond. Many of those children have living relatives or legal guardians. All of those children have the right to be protected. While we recognize that humanitarian evacuations may become necessary to save lives, special measures must be taken to contact relatives and obtain consent to move those children to safety and to reunify them with their families once the threat has passed.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“Staff at those hubs are also able to identify unaccompanied and separated children. Children without parental care are at a heightened risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. When those children are moved across borders, the risks are multiplied. The risk of trafficking also soars in emergencies. UNICEF and UNHCR have urged all hosting countries to take measures to identify and register unaccompanied and separated children fleeing Ukraine after allowing them access to the country. Temporary foster care and other community-based care, provided through a Government system, can help protect children who have been displaced without their families, but we want to stress that adoption should never occur during or immediately after emergencies. Every effort should be made to reunify children with their families.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“UNICEF and our partners need flexible resources and safe, uninterrupted access to rapidly scale up our efforts to meet children’s urgent needs wherever they are, whether still in Ukraine or on the move. In collaboration with UNHCR, we have deployed teams to Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia and have built on our ongoing presence in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Belarus to support the urgent needs of children. We have begun operating “Blue Dot” safe spaces in hosting countries at border crossings, where children are first registered. The hubs provide a one-stop safe space for children and their families. They offer a range of services, including places for children to play, psychosocial support, basic legal counselling, recreational kits and hygiene products. I visited one of them last week.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source
“I also want to spotlight our local partners and other local humanitarian actors, who continue to operate under extremely difficult security conditions, especially those working in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblast regions, which have been hit hard over the past several weeks. I am very glad to tell the Council that on Sunday, UNICEF delivered 40 tons of life-saving medical items for children and mothers to 22 hospitals in five of the most affected regions. That equipment, including midwifery and obstetrics kits, resuscitation and surgical kits, oxygen concentrators for shelters and hospitals and first-aid kits for front-line workers, was enough to meet the needs of 20,000 children and their mothers. In coordination with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF is assessing further needs and preparing other shipments.”
2022-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8988 (2022) · source