YouSaid · the spoken record

Spoljaric Egger

lines on the record: 28
first: 2023-03-07
most recent: 2023-10-25
sittings or episodes: 3
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

“Their knowledge and role in influencing and mobilizing their authorities must be acknowledged and respected in peace negotiations. There are 100 steps to peace, and the first steps are always humanitarian. Without direct input from women, without recognition of the gender-specific impact of armed conflict on women and without an acknowledgment of women’s roles in all aspects of their societies, peace responses will fall short — and therefore lack prospects for true stability and security.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“Complying with international humanitarian law and providing for principled humanitarian action make important contributions to protecting women’s lives and dignity, preserving their assets and the essential infrastructure that they rely on and safeguarding cohesion and trust in their societies. Some crucial humanitarian issues that are experienced primarily by women but that affect entire societies are not being adequately addressed at present. For instance, addressing the issue of the missing and bringing closure to family members is one of the many steps towards trust, reconciliation and stability. I have spoken with women who were the front-line negotiators in the search for their missing relatives. Those women are courageous activists and leaders.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“ICRC has been working with legal and military experts to understand those impacts so that States can better comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law not to discriminate and to reduce civilian harm. States can fix gender gaps in operational data related to the demographics of civilians, their patterns of life, their power relationships and the risks they face. The participation of local women’s organizations that know their communities in that regard is crucial. Lastly, the full participation of women is critical and is a pathway to peace. Every day, ICRC sees that, wherever they are able to participate equally and meaningfully in their economies and societies, women — who control assets — yield benefits for the resilience of the whole community and improve the prospects for peace.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“And States must increase their efforts to promote restraint in the ranks of their armed forces and those they support. Secondly, the faithful application of international humanitarian law requires an understanding of the gender-specific harm caused by armed conflict. Women and girls are affected differently by the conduct of military operations, such as in terms of their ability to flee, as they are more likely to care for children, the sick and elderly and may need special consideration; in terms of their access to medical care, as they are likely to have fewer financial resources to cope with injury; and in terms of their access to specialized health services, especially when they are pregnant or giving birth.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“And respect for international humanitarian law is an ingredient in achieving lasting peace. There is growing recognition by States and armed forces that any durable peace process must address sexual violence committed during conflicts and prioritize the needs of all survivors. Accountability must be ensured to assist in curtailing repeated patterns of violence. Sexual violence, however, continues to occur with frequency and impunity. States must therefore adapt their national laws to ensure that sexual violence is always designated as a war crime, provide special measures of protection for victims and survivors and ensure respect for their privacy. Those laws must be known, respected and acted upon by the relevant authorities.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“It is the reality of these women that must urgently be addressed — women killed or injured from the reverberating effects of hostilities on health services; women who suffered and survived sexual violence, and those who have not survived it; women who are missing and whose families urgently seek news; wounded and detained women combatants and women recruited by armed groups in non-combatant roles. Earlier this year, I addressed the Security Council on ICRC’s perspective on the gendered impacts of armed conflicts (see S/PV.9276). I now wish to further these messages today and outline three areas for change. First, we must prevent and address the harms caused by sexual violence. Sexual violence is clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“As an organization mandated to play a neutral intermediary role, the ICRC regularly works with the parties to facilitate their agreement so that civilians can safely cross front lines, people deprived of liberty can be accounted for and released and families separated by armed conflict can be reconnected. Reflecting on my first year as president of the ICRC, I have regularly seen how women and girls are gravely affected by conflict. Yet the harms they suffer are too often considered marginal, insufficiently understood or addressed. Many violations against women go undocumented and continue to be considered an inevitable side-effect of war.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“Full compliance with international humanitarian law also requires that diverse women, men, girls and boys be equally protected, whether they be civilians, combatants, wounded or prisoners of war. In conflicts globally, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies consistently recall the rules of war to the parties. The laws are clear — protect all civilians and civilian infrastructure; do not resort to indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks; not take hostages; treat detainees and prisoners of war humanely and allow impartial humanitarian organizations, such as the ICRC, to work unhindered.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“Ms. Spoljaric Egger: I thank the Federative Republic of Brazil for convening this important debate. Current developments in the Middle East, but also in other parts of the world, are a shocking reminder of how rapidly humanitarian conditions can deteriorate. The desperate situation we are seeing today is happening on our collective watch. Reprieve must come quickly for all civilians no matter where they are. It is urgent that warring parties maintain a minimum of humanity, even during the worst of war. All parties to a conflict must, under all circumstances, do their utmost to ensure that civilians are protected and international humanitarian law is strictly adhered to, in particular in their conduct in hostilities and in providing humanitarian relief.”
2023-10-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9452 (2023) · source
“I call on all States to uphold the Geneva Conventions, including through their influence over others. In times of compounding global trends and geopolitical tensions, compliance with international humanitarian law must become a political priority. I want to thank you, Mr. President, as well as the Secretary-General, for your strong and unwavering support to the ICRC.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“The ICRC urges States to ensure that all persons, regardless of their gender, are protected in conflict and equally benefit from humanitarian assistance; ensure that the clear prohibition of sexual violence under international humanitarian law be integrated into national laws, military doctrine and training; and to commit to applying a gender perspective into the application and interpretation of international humanitarian law. The ICRC continues to insist on the preventive and protective effects of international humanitarian law. Compliance with the law protects civilians. It prevents violations and abuses. It reduces the cost of war, while maintaining a pathway to ceasefire agreements and eventually to lasting peace, functioning economies and a healthy natural environment.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“We urge States and other actors to take all necessary measures to prevent and mitigate the impact of harmful information on the safety, dignity and rights of civilians and to preserve the space for neutral, impartial humanitarian action and to protect it from political instrumentalization. Finally, I must underscore that the protection of civilians means protection for all. There is no chance of enduring stability or security until international humanitarian law is upheld for all genders.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“That requires enabling a humanitarian dialogue with non-State armed groups, no matter where they are — for instance, through the implementation of the humanitarian carveout for sanctions regimes adopted by the Council in resolution 2664 (2022). That is critical for an organization like the ICRC, which maintains a dialogue with more than 300 armed groups worldwide. In today’s operating environment, misinformation and disinformation also present a threat to populations and hinder humanitarian operations. Misinformation can fuel dangerous community divisions and undermine community acceptance of humanitarian organizations.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“The ICRC therefore calls on States and other actors to respect, and ensure respect for, international humanitarian law, including the rules on the conduct of hostilities, in order to reduce the risk of food insecurity and famine, and to invest in practical solutions and adaptation measures to mitigate the effects of climate change in conflict-affected regions. Thirdly, I call on States to enable neutral and impartial humanitarian access. That means access to civilians in need, especially those in besieged communities; access to overcrowded detention facilities in which we continue to see worrisome trends in relation to ill-treatment and torture; and access to the estimated 175 million people who live in areas fully or partially controlled by armed groups.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“Secondly, States must step up to prevent and mitigate food insecurity in conflict-affected areas. During my visit to the Horn of Africa earlier this year, I saw how conflict and climate shocks are having a devastating impact on already vulnerable communities. In Somalia, more than 7 million people are in urgent need of food and water. The combination of drought, the lack of investment in climate adaptation in conflict zones and the knock-on effects of the international armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine is gravely affecting people in conflicts around the world.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“In adopting resolution 2573 (2021), more than two years ago, the Security Council demanded parties to armed conflicts to do more. I echo that call today. The ICRC urges all parties engaged in urban warfare to ensure that the protection of civilians is prioritized in urban settings; comply fully with international humanitarian law, especially the principles on distinction, proportionality and precaution; refrain from the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas and endorse and faithfully implement the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas; and to ensure that the protection of essential services encompasses the infrastructure, people and consumables that keep hospitals and water and power facilities functioning.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“The widespread and often indiscriminate destruction of homes and critical infrastructure disproportionately raises the cost of war. Across the places I visited in the past months, I saw how the shock of losing one’s home is compounded by the interruption or prolonged absence of essential services such as water, electricity, health care and education. As fighting envelops towns and cities, including in the Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, the ICRC is seeing large-scale and compounding patterns of harm. We need to break the pattern of violations, and that can be done through strong political will and sustained action. State and non-State parties must do more to prevent, reduce and mitigate the damage that armed conflict causes in urban centres.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“The ICRC’s figures show that, over the past 20 years, the number of non-international armed conflicts has more than tripled from less than 30 to more than 90. Many of those are protracted conflicts, bringing ceaseless suffering that is compounded by climate shocks, food insecurity and economic hardship. Civilians are gravely unprotected because they suffer a relentless accumulation of attacks, threats and destruction, as well as political stalemates. When conflicts are characterized by widespread destruction and violations of international humanitarian law, development and peace become an unachievable ambition. In other words, the protection of civilians is a precondition for peace, stability and recovery. My calls to States today are urgent. First, States must protect civilians and critical infrastructure in urban areas.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“Ms. Spoljaric Egger: For the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the issue of the protection of civilians lies at the core of our mandate. As we meet, countless civilians in conflicts around the world are experiencing a living hell. At any minute, the next missile can obliterate their homes, schools and clinics and everyone in them. On any day, their loved ones might be abused, raped, detained or tortured. On any week, they might run out of food or medicine. Everywhere I look, I see a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation. In my short time as President of the ICRC, I have visited conflict-affected countries in Africa, Europe and the Near East. Entire regions are trapped in cycles of conflict without an end in sight.”
2023-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9327 (2023) · source
“The protection of those faced with the greatest discrimination and dehumanization — very often, women and girls — lies at the heart of respect for the law as a pathway to peace. Peace draws closer when people of all genders are equally respected and protected, free from physical and mental harm, and when they have the opportunities to shape their future.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“In peacetime, women must be empowered not only politically and legally but also economically if they are to play a role in political settlements. At the end of the day, only those who control assets will have an influence when important decisions are taken. It is vital that women not just be at the table to make up the numbers, but also be empowered to represent their communities. Closing the gender gap in innovation and technology is the focus of the Commission on the Status of Women at its sixty-seventh session, which opened yesterday. Nowhere is the digital gender divide more acute than in conflict settings. We must urgently ensure that the promises of technological advancement also support the efforts for its gender equality and women’s empowerment in those contexts.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“Engaging more boldly and directly with weapons-bearers on the issue of sexual violence, with the ultimate goal of preventing it from occurring in the first place, should become a de facto preventive approach that is supported and facilitated in times of peace in order to prevent the worst in times of war. Thirdly, States can empower women before, during and after the onset of armed conflict to support a greater likelihood of achieving a sustainable peace. If women are absent in former labour markets, if they are not benefiting equally from digital transformation and technological advancement, if they have no access to health care and if they have to live with the physical and mental scars of sexual violence, how will they take their seat at the table?”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“While acts of sexual violence are prohibited, both explicitly and implicitly, under international humanitarian law and in international and non-international armed conflicts alike, it is too often a known and normalized reality. Currently, national frameworks feature inadequate definitions of sexual violence and multiple barriers that prevent survivors from coming forward. Survivors of sexual violence often suffer from a double violation, in that they face community rejection or stigmatization if they attempt to access support or legal services. Changes to domestic law and policy are required. They should be robust, resourced and implemented.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“The effective implementation of those obligations requires the political will of States to assess their own conduct and to seriously examine whether or not their fighting forces have the resources and expertise to take the protection of the entirety of the civilian population into account. It is urgent that States be committed to applying a gender perspective to the application and interpretation of international humanitarian law. Those commitments can be made in women and peace and security national action plans and related policies. Secondly, States must ensure that the clear prohibition of sexual violence under international humanitarian law is integrated into national law, military doctrine and training.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“As a neutral organization, we do not take a stand on political, military or ideological matters. But that has never prevented us from seeking to reach people and alleviate their suffering and the harms they face that are shaped by social or political power dynamics. First, international humanitarian law lies at the heart of protecting all victims of conflict. That means that diverse women, men, boys and girls are protected equally. Respect for international humanitarian law will prevent the enormous harm resulting from the violations of its rules. It will also help to rebuild stability and reconcile societies. Importantly, international humanitarian law prohibits discrimination and requires the parties to armed conflict to assess and take steps to reduce expected civilian harm.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“Every day, the International Committee of the Red Cross bears witness to the vital role that women play in protecting and leading their families and societies, such as in their mobilization and their search for their missing relatives. The ICRC is also acutely aware that the humanitarian responses that fail to take gender inequality into account are likely to reinforce gender-based discrimination and other harms. The ICRC’s principles are there to guide us — humanity, impartiality and neutrality. Taking those three principles together means that we take the side only of the victims of armed conflict and violence, whether they are men, women or children. Neutrality, in particular, is a practical tool that allows the ICRC to negotiate access to populations affected by conflict in the places that are the hardest to reach.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“They die giving birth, unable to access the medical care that could have saved them. Women and girls are displaced, at risk of further abuses, while in search of water, firewood and food in their daily struggle for survival. Some are former soldiers, who are dehumanized and often denied the same treatment as their male counterparts. Some are detained in prisons designed for men and therefore unsuited to their needs. Others go missing and are at greater risk of either not being reported missing or of their missing status not being adequately recorded by the authorities. And in the digital space, women’s safety and dignity are threatened by gender disinformation and abuse. Civilians, fighters, caregivers, prisoners, mothers, daughters — the realities of women in conflict are all too often invisible and disregarded.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source
“Ms. Spoljaric Egger: I thank the Republic of Mozambique for convening today’s important debate. As we speak, more than 100 armed conflicts are raging around the world. At the same time, hard- won generational gains on gender equality are being reversed. That is no coincidence. As respect for gender equality declines, violence rises. When armed violence intersects with pre-existing patterns of discrimination, the impacts are disastrous for communities. Gender inequality harms us all and holds back women and girls the most. From front lines to camps and prisons, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sees on a daily basis the brutal impacts of armed conflict on women and girls. They are exposed to sexual violence at the hands of arms-bearers at shocking levels.”
2023-03-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9276 (2023) · source