YouSaid · the spoken record

Saad

lines on the record
13
first
2023-07-26
most recent
2023-07-26
sittings or episodes
1
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un-security-council

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  1. “Both parties are urged to respect and uphold fundamental human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and the right to manifest and practice one’s religion freely and safely. We also emphasize the importance of respecting freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association without discrimination.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  2. “To conclude, I want to reiterate that when people are attacked because of their religion or belief, we are all diminished. Targeting religious actors and faith communities across Ukraine is short-sighted, miscalculated and counterproductive. The role of religious leaders in maintaining solidarity across ecumenical lines is crucial to preserving the social fabric of a unified Ukraine and will be a key factor in peacebuilding, if and when the war comes to an end. The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations emphasizes the importance of respecting religious and cultural diversity, advancing intercultural and interreligious dialogue and promoting mutual respect and understanding among individuals, societies and nations.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  3. “In territories occupied by the Russian Federation, there is grave concern about reports by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission during the period from 1 August 2022 to 31 January 2023, documenting actions perpetrated by the Russian armed forces against religious communities, including enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture or other ill treatment and unlawful deportations, carried out against clergy and members of Ukrainian Greek Catholic and evangelical Christian communities. Moreover, the Russian occupation authorities raided, ransacked and closed three places of worship belonging to the Baptist community in Melitopol, reportedly on the grounds of the community’s purported links with foreign intelligence services, with little or no evidence of such links.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  4. “Many local councils also sought to terminate municipal property rental agreements with the Church. We are therefore concerned about the possibility that the cumulative impact of Government actions targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church could be discriminatory. Another worrisome sign is the surge in hate speech and several incidents of violence against Ukrainian Orthodox Church members in April. According to the report, public officials, bloggers and opinion leaders used discriminatory and inflammatory rhetoric and openly incited violence against clergy and supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Government and law-enforcement authorities did not address the incidents of hate speech during the reporting period effectively.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  5. “In particular, authorities searched places of worship and other facilities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, issued notices of suspicions about clergymen and placed several of them, including one of the Church’s main hierarchs, under house arrest, based on little or no evidence. In addition, a rental agreement of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the State-owned Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra with the Ministry of Culture was terminated early. However, following advocacy by the United Nations, authorities refrained from taking actions that risked violence and did not forcibly evict the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Lavra on 29 March, the stated deadline for leaving the premises. Besides that, several city and regional councils banned the activities of the Church during April.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  6. “Restrictions on freedom of religion and the safety of members of religious communities across Ukraine, both in territory controlled by the Government and territory controlled by the occupying Russian Federation, are matters of grave concern. According to the updated report for the period between 1 February and 30 April of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the number of incidents of violence against members and supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church increased in the reporting period.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  7. “A number of multilateral instruments recognize that discrimination against persons on a basis of religion or belief constitutes an affront to human dignity and undermines the fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enunciated in detail in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is therefore the obligation of Member States to prohibit discrimination and violence on a basis of religion or belief and to implement measures to guarantee equal and effective protection under the law. In that context, the politicization of religion in the context of the war in Ukraine fuels intercommunal tensions, stokes fear and triggers violence.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  8. “The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations promotes the universality of religious sites emanating from our conviction that places of worship and sacred religious sites are representative of the history, identity and traditions of people in every country and community and must be fully respected and protected. An attack on places of worship strikes the very core of communities’ sense of identity and belonging. Therefore, religious sites should be places of worship, not places of war. Under the Charter of the United Nations, Member States pledge their commitment to promoting and encouraging universal respect for and observance of all human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction, including freedom of religion or belief.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  9. “The Plan of Action is rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and grounded in the core understanding that religious sites are powerful symbols of our collective consciousness. The Plan advocates the sanctity of religious sites and the safety of worshippers and stresses the right of all believers to access their holy sites and to practice their religious rituals and traditions freely, peacefully and safely, without fear or intimidation. The Russian Federation was among a core group of Member States and other relevant stakeholders that informed the Plan of Action in its consultative phase.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  10. “The Director-General of UNESCO strongly condemned the attack and considered it an escalation in violence against the cultural heritage of Ukraine. The High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations condemned the attack on the Cathedral and deplored the fact that the ongoing war in Ukraine has led to the destruction or pillaging of places of worship and religious heritage sites, which has further fuelled hatred, stoked mistrust and exacerbated the hostilities. That brings me to the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites in unity and solidarity for safe worship, developed by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and launched by the Secretary-General in 2019.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  11. “At the same time, it was heartening to see that, hours later, parishioners and volunteers donning hard hats, with shovels and brooms, began removing rubble and tried to salvage any artefacts they could. The Cathedral in Odesa is not the only religious site that has been damaged in the war. According to a preliminary assessment undertaken by UNESCO, 116 religious sites have been damaged since 24 February 2022. The United Nations condemned the attack. The Secretary-General strongly condemned the Russian missile attack on Odesa and noted that the attack on an area protected under the World Heritage Convention is in violation of the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  12. “The ongoing and relentless war in Ukraine is a case in point. In addressing the situation holistically, we should right-size the religious dimension in that particular crisis, which we have at hand as the result of the Russian Federation’s armed attack on Ukraine. The division among Ukraine’s Orthodox bodies is not new. It has existed for decades, but has been exacerbated within Ukraine and reverberated worldwide, as Orthodox churches have struggled with how and whether to take sides. Last Sunday, we woke up here to the heartbreaking images of a severely damaged historic cathedral, the largest Orthodox church in Odesa. A Russian missile hit the Transfiguration Cathedral and other historic buildings that lie in the historic heritage centre of Odesa.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source

  13. “Ms. Saad: I would like to thank the members of the Security Council for the opportunity to brief the Council on this issue on behalf of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. I will focus my briefing on the freedom of religion and belief dimension and the protection of religious sites within the context of the war in Ukraine. In the case of wars and intercommunal conflicts, saving lives and protecting human welfare is, understandably, often, if not always, a priority, while protecting places of worship, safeguarding religious sites and preserving cultural heritage sites take a second, distant place. History reminds us that war, religion and politics are intertwined in many ways. Therefore, it is important to factor in, and understand the complexity of, the role that religion plays in some of those conflicts.”

    2023-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9385 (2023) · source