YouSaid · the spoken record

Spoerri

lines on the record: 65
first: 2011-11-09
most recent: 2018-08-08
sittings or episodes: 6
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

“The ICRC was and remains committed to the mechanism and shall spare no effort in the search and recovery of human remains in order to provide answers to the families of missing persons, ensuring their right to know the fate of their missing loved ones.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“Based on those new recommendations, field work and excavation missions will continue on 27 August 2018 in Samawah, which is considered a promising site. The important recommendations of the report, including the correct utilization of satellite imagery, are guiding the optimal implementation of those missions. Despite the fact that no positive exhumation occurred in recent years, there is a newly rejuvenated positive energy and commitment to the revitalization of the Tripartite Commission from all parties. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Technical Subcommittee and Tripartite Commission members, along with UNAMI, for taking upon themselves the task of elucidating the fate of those missing persons and for their cooperation and commitment to the tripartite mechanism and its humanitarian mission.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“The mechanism suffered from the loss of archive material, as well as the lack of the centralization of information, with data dispersed among the various members. Additionally, the lack of availability of the appropriate equipment and machinery proved to be a major challenge for the mechanism. In response to those major challenges, the ICRC undertook an extensive analysis of all available information, involved various experts and forensic specialists, took stock of the situation in detail and proposed recommendations for future work. In 2017, the ICRC finalized a draft of those findings in its report entitled "The Review Project", which outlines a set of recommendations to move forward, streamlines the search and recovery processes and emphasizes forensic best practices.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“It should be noted that those cases do not constitute the entirety of missing persons cases, but those documented by the mechanism. Despite continued search efforts, it has been 14 years since human remains belonging to a Kuwaiti missing person have been recovered, and seven years since remains of an Iraqi have been found. The tremendous efforts, and the commitment of all the members, did not yield tangible results. Hundreds of families are still desperately awaiting answers. The tripartite mechanism experienced several challenges. The most notable being the elapse of time since the cessation of the conflict. The passage of time made finding and contacting, or re-contacting, witnesses difficult. Changes in the topology of the landscape affected the ability to recognize and locate burial sites.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“Since 2003, the remains of 373 persons have been recovered: 275 persons in Iraq - in Amarah, Karbala, Ramadi and Samawah - and 98 in Kuwait. Those efforts were supported by additional information that the United States and the United Kingdom made available in 2010. Excavation missions also took place in Al-Habbaniyah, Muhammad Sakran, Najaf, other sites in Ramadi and, finally, Khamisiyah, in Nasiriyah, in Iraq, but, unfortunately, no human remains were found. A total of 1,080 cases of missing persons remain open today within the framework of the mechanism, including 371 reported missing by Kuwait and 700 cases by Iraq. In addition to that, 336 other documented cases of Iraqi missing persons, known as out-of-tripartite cases, remain unresolved.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“In accordance with its mandate and with resolution 686 (1991), the ICRC made arrangements for the general repatriation of more than 70,000 Iraqis from Saudi Arabia to Iraq. It was also arranged for the repatriation of4,()00 Kuwaiti and allied forces POWs and over 1,300 civilian internees and detained civilians of Kuwaiti nationality, or civilians of third countries, from Iraq to Kuwait. After the successful completion of that phase, the focus shifted to determining the whereabouts and fate of military and civilian persons still missing. The aim was to resolve individual cases through an exchange of information among the Tripartite Commission members. However, it was only in 2003 that the search for burial sites, in an attempt to locate, recover and repatriate the remains of those still missing, began in Iraq, and followed suit in Kuwait.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“Tripartite Commission meetings continue to be held twice a year, while the Technical Subcommittee meetings are held five times a year. It has been 27 years since the end of the Gulf war, 27 years since the first session of the Tripartite Commission and 24 years since the setting up of the Technical Subcommittee. To date, 46 Tripartite Commission sessions and 104 Technical Sub-committee sessions have been held with one aim - to trace persons still unaccounted for as a result of the conflict and to provide answers to their families. Shortly after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the parties to the conflict met and agreed to repatriate prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian internees captured or arrested during the Gulf War.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“The tripartite mechanism was born as a result of the international armed conflict of the Gulf War, which began with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops on 2 August 1990. Shortly after the conflict, Iraq, Kuwait and members of the coalition - Saudi Arabia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States - met in Riyadh, under the auspices ofthe ICRC, and signed an agreement establishing the Tripartite Commission on missing persons in April 1991. The Tripartite Commission, which is composed of members ofthe coalition, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq as an observer and the ICRC as Chair ofthe Commission, set up the Technical Subcommittee, in December 1994, in order to expedite the search process.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“Mr. Spoerri: I thank you, Madam President, for giving the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) the opportunity to address the Security Council today on a topic that is at the heart ofthe ICRC's mission and mandate and at the centre of all aspects of our daily work in armed conflicts around the world. My briefing will focus exclusively on the topic of missing persons from the 1991 Gulf War and the work of the so-called tripartite mechanism, which is chaired by the ICRC. Under international humanitarian law, parties to the conflict must both prevent people from going missing and clarify the fate of those who do. In armed conflicts people go missing for a variety of reasons, and their families are left waiting. The plight of missing persons and the agony of their families often continue long after conflicts end.”
2018-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8324 (2018) · source
“We therefore urge the Council to work actively with States to ensure respect for international humanitarian law with the intention of reducing suffering and poverty in armed conflicts, de-escalating the levels of violence and shortening the duration of armed conflict. The ICRC thanks the Council very much for giving us this opportunity to take part in this important debate and to share our experience with it today. We recognize the Council's determination to address conflict prevention across all three pillars of the United Nations work. We hope that our observations will help to inform the Council's deliberations.”
2015-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7561 (2015) · source
“Many States and many non-State armed groups are directly involved as belligerents in several oftoday's armed conflicts. In our experience, the active engagement of so many parties to a conflict tends to create a momentum towards the mutation and continuity of that conflict rather than its resolution and termination. Finally, we feel bound to observe that poverty and suffering are much reduced in armed conflicts in which international humanitarian law is widely respected. It is evident to us that when international humanitarian law is not respected, the prospects of the people affected by conflict are significantly worsened and the opportunities for peace are greatly reduced by spirals of revenge and retaliation. These set in motion new grievances and increase the intractability of many armed conflicts today.”
2015-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7561 (2015) · source
“To better meet these sustained humanitarian needs, we need closer links between humanitarian and development planning and financing. Thirdly, several features of contemporary armed conflict are in danger of making conflicts increasingly intractable and protracted. We notice that conflict spreads whenever it is not effectively addressed, and does not stop at State borders. In many of our operations today, we are managing a regional response to armed conflicts that spread and damage people's lives across whole regions, as, for example, is the case today in the Middle East and the Lake Chad Basin. We also notice that the fragmentation and mutation of armed conflict contribute to the protractedness of armed conflict and the increase of poverty and suffering.”
2015-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7561 (2015) · source
“In the absence of conflict prevention and development institutions, our humanitarian operations are frequently required to support basic services and critical development infrastructure in health care, water, sewerage, electricity, heating, veterinary care, agricultural inputs and food. In the absence of development investment, millions of conflict-affected people depend on these fragile services for their survival. In many armed conflicts, particularly in urban settings, the ICRC is supporting long-term services and sophisticated infrastructure with short-term humanitarian budgets. In many places, that means that we are engaged in what may be described as "development holds" to prevent even further degradation of infrastructure and services, often for years at a time.”
2015-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7561 (2015) · source
“First, the humanitarian consequences of prolonged armed conflict are driving many millions of people deeper and deeper into poverty. The humanitarian consequences of armed conflict cause enormous development reversals as infrastructure and basic services are destroyed, people are forcibly displaced and whole communities are impoverished by conflict. In protracted conflicts in particular, we observe the entrenchment of poverty for millions of people, which will be extremely hard to reverse and is in stark contrast to the ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Secondly, the ICRC and other humanitarian organizations are increasingly engaged in development tasks in today's armed conflicts.”
2015-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7561 (2015) · source
“Mr. Spoerri: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) very much welcomes this debate and the Security Council's concern for conflict prevention. It may seem unusual for the ICRC to speak in a debate on conflict prevention and peaceful societies. The ICRC does not engage in the politics of conflict prevention, development and peace. We do, however, engage in the suffering and deprivations of armed conflict on a daily basis, and it is from that suffering that we are speaking to the Council today. The ICRC's mandate and mission mean that it sees first-hand the devastation that armed conflict brings to people's individual lives and to the fabric and institutions of the societies in which they live. It is from this experience that we want to address the Council with four general observations.”
2015-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7561 (2015) · source
“However, the main onus remains on States, and I end with the ICRC's plea for them to show the requisite political will to turn legal provisions into a meaningful reality and to show good faith in protecting the victims of armed conflicts - conflicts that, in View of some of the challenges I have mentioned today, are likely to become ever-more complex and intractable in the years to come.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“As requested, Switzerland and the ICRC will formulate concrete proposals and options, in particular on the form and content of a periodic reporting system on national compliance; the form, content and possible outcome of thematic discussions on issues pertaining to international humanitarian law; the modalities of fact- finding, including possible ways to make use of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission; and on the features and tasks of a meeting of States.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Achieving the effective protection of civilians through improved compliance with international humanitarian law requires a concerted effort by a range of stakeholders, the ICRC being just one of them. As I mentioned in February, the joint Swiss-ICRC initiative to strengthen compliance with international humanitarian law - which emerged from the thirty- first International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent - continues to gain momentum. Most recently, in June, more than 70 States participated in constructive discussions held at a meeting held in Geneva to affirm strong general support for a regular dialogue among States on international humanitarian law and to look at possible functions of a compliance system.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Provided that norm is implemented in a consistent, objective and non-discriminatory manner, it will go a long way towards achieving the Treaty's explicit humanitarian purpose of reducing human suffering and saving civilian lives. In practice, that entails carrying out a rigorous risk assessment prior to authorizing arms transfers, and refraining from transferring weapons to parties to armed conflicts that have a track-record of serious Violations of international humanitarian law. A look at a number of current armed conflicts, however, reveals an evident gap between the transfer requirements expressed in the Arms Trade Treaty and the transfer practice of some States.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“On a more positive note, I would like to return to another point I raised during the most recent protection-of-civilians debate in February (see S/PV.6917). The ICRC has consistently highlighted the unacceptable human cost of the widespread availability of conventional arms, and called for the adoption of a strong Arms Trade Treaty. We were therefore pleased to see that happen in April. We now urge States to swiftly ratify and implement the Treaty, to translate normative progress into tangible results on the ground. The historic achievement of the Arms Trade Treaty lies in its establishment of a global norm prohibiting the transfer of weapons where they would be used to commit or to facilitate serious Violations of international humanitarian law, among other grave crimes.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Yet a prevailing disrespect still exists among belligerents for the inviolability of health facilities, transport and personnel, which is ultimately making safe access to health care impossible for untold numbers of people in need. The ICRC therefore once again urges members of the Council to initiate or actively support efforts to address this urgent humanitarian concern, and to press others to do the same. Respect for the laws of war not only provides protection for civilians during armed conflict but also helps facilitate post-conflict recovery. Conversely, attacks on civilians and key civilian infrastructure, such as health and educational facilities, can have harmful repercussions long after a conflict ends.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Between January 2012 and May 2013, the ICRC noted more than 1,200 incidents affecting the delivery of, and access to, health care, including the killing of 112 medical staff, and approximately 250 incidents involving attacks on, or denial of access to, ambulances that were often delivering life-saving support. In summary, a blatant disrespect for the special status of health facilities, transport and personnel is still all too common. Working to address the most serious yet underreported humanitarian problem remains one of the ICRC's priorities. Some progress has indeed been made in terms of mobilizing concerned stakeholders and raising awareness and understanding of the issue.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“I am talking about direct attacks on hospitals, ambulances and health-care personnel; about blocking ambulances from accessing wounded people, or holding them up for hours at checkpoints; the harassment of health-care workers, who sometimes see their colleagues killed or arrested for having treated opposition fighters or civilians and fear for their own lives; and about the diversion of medical supplies. In order to have a better overview of the magnitude of the Violence affecting healthcare, the ICRC has collected non-exhaustive data in 23 countries.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“We will continue to rise to those challenges and persistently negotiate our way through to those most in need, all the while pressing the parties to conflicts, both States and non-State armed groups, to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law. I would like to briefly mention one specific issue of particular concern to the ICRC, one that I have reiterated at successive briefings to the Security Council, namely, the issue of violence against health care.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Tragically, attacks against humanitarian personnel have continued unabated in numerous countries around the world. If anything, those terrible events have further strengthened the ICRC's resolve to achieve broad- based acceptance and understanding of its impartial, neutral and independent humanitarian approach, and to continue to build its security strategy based on that acceptance. Today, as 10 years ago, finding the right balance between the humanitarian impact of our programmes and the risks faced by our staff - fully mindful of the impact that halting operations has on vulnerable people - is an ever-present challenge in the ICRC's daily work.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“It also helps to ensure the safety of our staff. Yet the risks in pursuing such an approach are ever present, both for the ICRC and for Red Cross and Red Crescent societies with whom we work closely in many challenging and volatile contexts. Indeed, it is primarily a lack of respect for international humanitarian law by the parties to a conflict that impedes humanitarian access and endangers humanitarian personnel. As we mark World Humanitarian Day today, we acknowledge humanitarian workers everywhere and pay special tribute to those who have lost their lives in the line of work. For both the United Nations and the ICRC, the attacks 10 years ago against our staff and facilities in Baghdad will bring back particularly painful memories.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Working to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, and thereby endeavouring to help protect civilians, is a fundamental tenet of the ICRC mandate and work, and it is reflected in our impartial, neutral and independent approach. On the ground, that entails continuous engagement with all parties to a conflict, including non-State armed groups, and building pragmatic relationships with the relevant political forces at both the local and the national levels in a confidential manner, thus building trust. It means remaining close to the beneficiaries and responding to actual needs in a particular context, negotiating access step-by-step and scaling up operations when necessary. That helps to facilitate the broadest possible acceptance and respect, and thereby the broadest possible humanitarian access to civilians in need.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“The most critical challenge to the protection of civilians, among the five core challenges first set out by the Secretary-General in his 2009 report (8/2009/277) on the issue, is the need to improve respect for international humanitarian law by States and non-State armed groups, in international and non-international armed conflicts, regardless of their causes. That also entails strengthening accountability for violations of international humanitarian law, both by parties to conflict and by individual perpetrators, whether at the national level, including judicial action based on universal jurisdiction, or through international tribunals.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“In some cases, men, women and children are deliberately targeted - killed or wounded, raped, forced out of their homes, their property destroyed - abused in every sense. Many others suffer ill treatment in detention or go missing. Their plight and the anguish of their families often continues long after a conflict ends. The elusiveness oflasting political solutions to many of today's armed conflicts has effectively consigned millions of people to chronic suffering and hardship, with humanitarian actors left to try to alleviate the worst of it, despite sometimes formidable constraints. However, neither the complexity and intractability of many of today's armed conflicts nor the burden of the global economic crisis can be an excuse for States to ignore their primary responsibility to the people affected by the conflicts.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“While considerable progress continues to be made on the normative and policy fronts towards the protection of civilians, including the historic adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty in April, the reality on the ground continues, sadly, to reflect a dire lack of protection. In some of the diverse contexts in which the ICRC works, the situation of large numbers of civilians caught up in armed conflict is nothing short ofcatastrophic. Not only are many of today's armed conflicts increasingly protracted and increasingly complex in both their causes and consequences, they are also characterized by an alarming contempt for the rules of international humanitarian law on the part of belligerents. The result, simply put, is a spiralling escalation of human suffering.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Mr. Spoerri: I am honoured once again to have an opportunity to brief the Security Council on a topic that is at the heart of the mission and mandate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and central to all aspects of our daily work in armed conflict zones around the world. On behalf of the ICRC, my thanks go to the Argentine delegation for the invitation. Without being unduly pessimistic, it is fairly certain that, in terms of concrete progress on the ground, good news will be in short supply at today's debate, as it was in all the preceding ones in recent years.”
2013-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7019 (2013) · source
“Tackling the problems ranging from combatting Violence to health care workers, ensuring the adoption of a strong arms trade treaty to taking concrete measures to improve compliance with international humanitarian law would already represent great strides towards achieving our common goal. I end, therefore, with the ICRC's urgent plea to the members of the Council to do all they can to address those issues.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“Henri Dunant's vision of humane treatment for wounded and captured soldiers on all sides - which has extended to one of providing protection and assistance to all people affected by armed conflict, on the basis of humanitarian need alone - must surely remain the bedrock of humanitarian action, as much today, as was the case 150 years ago. The desire and ambition to uphold human dignity, even in the midst of armed conflict, must surely continue to be our common goal. Respect for the laws of war also provides the foundation on which people can rebuild and recover after conflict has ended.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“Whereas the latter may have military, political or economic objectives underpinning it, the former must always be based purely on actual needs. Blurring the lines between the two ultimately complicates or hinders impartial humanitarian access to people on both sides of a conflict for all actors. To that end, the principles of humanity and impartiality must be the essential guide for all humanitarian actors, regardless of their particular mandate or approach. As the ICRC marks its 150th anniversary this week, it is a fitting moment to reflect on not only the profound changes in the humanitarian environment over the years and the necessity to adapt to those changes, but also on what has remained constant.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“Of course, there are numerous challenges and constraints that make that task all the more difficult. The humanitarian environment is an increasingly complex one. Just one aspect of that is the sometimes baffling array of new actors, both those involved in armed conflict and those responding to its humanitarian consequences, with at times a blurred line between the two. Increasing numbers of civilian and military actors are working for the protection of civilians with very different mandates, objectives and approaches. At the same time, the limitations on access to people in need of protection that have been imposed by States and non-State actors are a severe constraint in numerous situations of armed conflict. The challenge here is to clearly distinguish and separate principled humanitarian action from pure relief assistance.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“The joint Swiss-ICRC initiative to strengthen compliance with international humanitarian law has gained momentum, with an increasing number of States engaging in substantive discussions on that issue. The ICRC works at all levels - diplomatic, policy and operational - towards ensuring better respect for international humanitarian law. To be credible and effective, that requires a rigorously impartial, neutral and independent approach, one that remains consistently distinct from any kind of political or judicial process. That in turn helps to facilitate dialogue with parties on all sides to a conflict and humanitarian access to people in need. Protection lies at the heart of the ICRC mandate and mission and provides a framework for our assistance activities.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“The third major concern - namely, the prevailing lack of respect for international humanitarian law by both States and non-State armed groups, coupled with a dominant culture of impunity - is the main common denominator of all other protection concerns. Some progress has undoubtedly been made at both the national and the international levels to improve compliance and accountability. That ranges from the implementation of domestic legislation to the training of security forces and the judicial processes of the international criminal tribunals. In addition, in 2011, the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent endorsed the ICRC proposal to further work aimed at strengthening legal protection for people affected by armed conflict.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“A strong and effective arms trade treaty is urgently needed to enhance the protection of civilians as well as health-care and humanitarian workers working to assist those who are most vulnerable and to help ensure that international humanitarian law is respected by all parties to armed conflicts, be they international or non-international in nature. The next diplomatic conference, to be held in just a few weeks' time, will be a golden opportunity, which we urge States to seize decisively in order to redouble their efforts to ensure the adoption of a robust arms trade treaty, one that sets strict criteria for all transfers of all conventional arms. The ICRC remains committed to helping to achieve that goal, working with States, national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the United Nations and other organizations.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“Indeed, that is required under the obligation to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law in accordance with common article 1 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. That brings me to the second major concern, which is closely linked with the first, and that is the massive circulation and widespread availability of arms and ammunition. In many contexts, that may put civilians at a risk of being wounded or killed after an armed conflict has ended equal to the risk during the conflict. The poorly regulated international trade in conventional arms, including the inadequate standards for their transfer, is at least partly to blame.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“In some cases, secondary explosions targeted those trying to assist the victims of an initial explosion, a particularly repugnant practice causing further injury and death and preventing care from reaching those who urgently need it. A further trend with sometimes catastrophic consequences is the large-scale flight of health workers in the face of attacks, threats or general insecurity. Thus, while there may be some steps in the right direction, much more needs to be done. As States bear the primary responsibility for improving the situation, the ICRC once again urges members of the Council to initiate or actively support efforts to tackle this pressing humanitarian concern and to influence others to do the same.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“States have in some cases, of their own volition, undertaken diplomatic initiatives aimed at facilitating the delivery of health care in conflict- affected countries. In others - Colombia and Yemen, for example - they have taken specific steps towards ensuring respect for health care structures and personnel in their own countries. Sadly, the good news cannot detract from the bad. ICRC health care data for 2012 shows that the vast majority of violent incidents, or over 80 per cent of the almost 900 incidents recorded in 22 countries, affect local health care workers. Of those health workers caught up in such incidents, around 25 per cent were killed or wounded.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“Following the adoption of a far-reaching resolution on health care in dangerous situations at the thirty-first International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, held in Geneva in December 2011, the ICRC began a series ofconsultations with States and other major stakeholders on making the delivery of health care safer in dangerous situations worldwide. Some concrete steps have already been taken. A series of experts' workshops, which began in 2012 and will continue into 2014, has mobilized health authorities, medical associations, national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and non-governmental organizations from around the world. They have helped to raise awareness and understanding of the issue and have put forward practical recommendations for safe practices.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“During the debate held in June 2012, I focused on three issues of fundamental concern to the ICRC. The continuing urgency of those issues justifies my returning to them today. They are, first, threats affecting access to health care for the wounded and sick in armed conflicts and other emergencies; secondly, the availability and use of arms; and thirdly, the overarching lack of compliance with international humanitarian law on the part of States and non-State armed groups, which lies at the heart of the massive suffering to which we are witness. On the issue of violence against health care personnel and facilities, I will start with some modest but encouraging good news.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“Mr. Spoerri: On behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), I am pleased and honoured to once again brief the Security Council, and I thank the Republic of Korea for the invitation. Since I last addressed members of this Council eight months ago (see S/PV.6790), a number of armed conflicts have seen a resurgence or have intensified, and others have continued to rumble on, as they have for many years. All of them, regardless of their causes or where they are in the world - be it in the Syrian Arab Republic or Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Afghanistan - have at least one thing in common. In all of them, the grim reality is that civilian men, women and children continue to suffer the overwhelming burden of the fallout, while efforts to protect those civilians are fraught with difficulties.”
2013-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6917 (2013) · source
“The ICRC urges the States in this Council to take practical measures to counter a wide range of threats to health care, to adopt a strong arms trade treaty and to commit to strengthening legal protection for the victims of armed conflict. Resolute action in those three areas would go a long way towards ensuring better protection of civilians everywhere.”
2012-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6790 (2012) · source
“The Security Council has an essential role to play in reminding the parties to conflicts to fully respect the rules of international humanitarian law governing humanitarian access. It is Vital, however, that all concerned understand and respect the roles played by different actors on the ground, including organizations without any judicial functions, such as the ICRC and national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In that vein, it was reassuring that the Secretary-General's report explicitly recognized the diversity and specific mandates of protection actors and stressed their security and need to have access. As we deliberate here today, civilians in many parts of the world are bearing the brunt of hostilities.”
2012-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6790 (2012) · source
“At the national level, there have been many measures to improve compliance and accountability, such as adopting legislation, training public officials, including security forces, and strengthening local judicial capacities. In parallel, key decisions of the international criminal tribunals have constituted major steps in the effort to ensure accountability. Still, major challenges remain. Last year's International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent endorsed ICRC proposals for further work to strengthen legal protection for people affected by armed conflict. Ajoint Swiss-ICRC initiative is already under way to explore with States ways to make compliance mechanisms more effective.”
2012-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6790 (2012) · source
“An effective arms trade treaty would require States to assess whether the weapons they are transferring may be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law and other relevant international instruments, and to prohibit those transfers when such clear risks exist. A strong treaty would save lives, facilitate medical and other humanitarian aid and strengthen compliance with international law. The failure to comply with international humanitarian law is the third issue that I wish to stress. As set out in the Secretary-General's report, weak compliance with international humanitarian law and the lack of accountability for violations seriously impact the protection of civilians. Fortunately, some positive developments have been observed.”
2012-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6790 (2012) · source
“Civilians remain at risk of being injured, killed or displaced by violence involving weapons, even long after a conflict has ended. That is partly a consequence of the poorly regulated international trade in conventional arms. The ICRC, in most of the contexts in which it works, is confronted with the manifold effects of inadequate control over transfers of conventional weapons. That is why the ICRC strongly supports the adoption of a global arms trade treaty. One key objective of such an instrument must be to reduce the human cost of that availability by setting clear treaty norms for the transfer of conventional arms.”
2012-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6790 (2012) · source
“Such consultations are under way, aimed not at creating new international instruments or legal frameworks but rather at producing practical recommendations and measures to be implemented at the national level. While a concerted international effort is required to tackle such major humanitarian concerns, primary responsibility clearly lies with States. The ICRC therefore makes a special plea to the members of this Council to actively support this important humanitarian endeavour. Many threats to the security and delivery of health care stem in fact from the widespread availability and use of weapons, which is the second issue I would like to highlight today. Each year, hundreds of thousands of civilians pay a devastating price for the rampant availability and misuse of conventional weapons.”
2012-06-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6790 (2012) · source