YouSaid · the spoken record

Tesfay

lines on the record
27
first
2015-10-23
most recent
2016-02-15
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

  1. “Moreover, the Security Council continues to neglect the illegal occupation of our sovereign territory by Ethiopia. That occupation continues in violation of international law, several Security Council resolutions and the final and binding delimitation and demarcation decisions by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, the implementation of which is guaranteed by the United Nations. In conclusion, Eritrea endorses the concept note submitted by the presidency (see S/2016/103, annex). Eritrea also strongly believes that there is no other international body better suited than the United Nations to handle regional and international issues. Yes, it has to be maintained, but it also has to be reinvigorated, enhanced and reformed.”

    2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source

  2. “For the geopolitical interests of the major Powers, and becoming a victim of the Cold War, six decades ago - in 1952, to be precise - the Eritrean people were denied their inalienable right to self-determination and independence by the United Nations. For 30 years, the Eritrean people were savagely bombed from the air and on the ground, with the aim of crushing their just struggle for independence. However, through sheer determination and a grass-roots participatory system, the Eritrean people were able to achieve their independence on 24 May 1991. Today, once again, the Eritrean people are being subjected to unfair and illegitimate sanctions by the Security Council on the basis of fabricated allegations that have proved to be unfounded.”

    2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source

  3. “Respect for the dignity and rights of citizens and migrants and fidelity to the Charter of the United Nations and international law should also be guiding principles. The United Nations Charter and its principles must not be compromised for diplomatic and political expediency. To underline and understand how those principles have been compromised and abused, it is appropriate to mention Eritrea's historical and current experience with the United Nations. Eritrea has been and is today a victim of the hypocritical working methods of the United Nations, which is fully dominated and controlled by a few permanent members of the Security Council.”

    2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source

  4. “Every Government and nation has been calling for the revitalization and restructuring of the United Nations. However, two decades after reform of the Security Council was formally placed on the agenda of the United Nations, and despite many extensive and viable proposals, we are where we were 70 years ago. It is vital that all nations, small and large, and peoples as well as political and social forces that stand for peace, independence, respect for international law, justice, equity and sustainable development, forge a common front in order to defend the time-tested principles of the equal sovereignty of nations, respect for territorial integrity, and peaceful coexistence. The right ofnations to choose their social and economic path of development must not only be respected but must be the main principle of the United Nations.”

    2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source

  5. “And yet the United Nations, the Organization that supposedly represents the entire community of nations and the peoples of the world, remains thoroughly dominated by the few and has marginalized the overwhelming majority. The international community has a choice to make: do we want to see a United Nations that is an effective multilateral instrument for the maintenance of international peace and security, or one that continues to maintain its present archaic nature, with dominant and powerful countries misusing it to justify their hostile and hegemonic policies towards nations that do not dance to their tune? If the choice is the latter, the confidence of the majority of nations in, and their support for, the United Nations will be further eroded.”

    2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source

  6. “In this dynamic and evolving era, maintaining global peace and security has been and remains one of the cardinal goals of the United Nations; yet conflicts and wars have become a constant feature of our lives. Many of these wars are waged in total disregard for the Charter of the United Nations and, increasingly, without its mandate. As a result, collective and coordinated remedial action is required by all countries, large and small. The world has changed almost beyond recognition since 1945. The global demographic, economic, political and cultural realities of the world and of States bear little resemblance to the past.”

    2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source

  7. “At the outset, I would like to thank the presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for having organized this open debate under the theme "Respect for the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations as a key element for the maintenance of international peace and security", which is timely and most appropriate. Let me also seize this opportunity to express appreciation to the Secretary-General for his remarks this morning. This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, founded to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and ensure justice and development for all nations.”

    2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source

  8. “The other major area where Ethiopia will further strengthen its activities is in supporting Eritreans in their campaign to change their Government." In conclusion, the use or threat of force against any country, big or small, is a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law that should be condemned by the Security Council. If the Somalia/ Eritrea Monitoring Group and the Security Council want to be involved on this issue under the current agenda item, their option is one and only one: to urge Ethiopia to unconditionally and immediately withdraw from sovereign Eritrean territories, including the town of Badme.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  9. “For example, on 7 July 2015, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, speaking to his Parliament, said that, "Ethiopia will be forced to take appropriate action against Eritrea." On 9 August 2014, during an interview with Ethiopian Tsenat Radio, based in Washington, DC, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia clearly stated that, "The no-war/no-peace situation with Eritrea is over. Ethiopia from now on is ready to take military action against Eritrea." On 17 April 2012, speaking to the Ethiopian Parliament, the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi stated that, "The Ethiopian Government has now decided to carry out a more active policy, taking actions against Eritrea. The actions will involve using all means at Ethiopia's disposal to change the Eritrean Government.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  10. “Thirdly, the unjust sanctions imposed against Eritrea are not linked to the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict. However, in a manner that disregards context, perspective and ramifications, and in violation of the SEMG mandate and in an attempt to move the goal post, the Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group has started to deal with the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict. Once again, Eritrea underlines that the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia is an issue between occupied and occupier. Ethiopian officials' constant military threat against Eritrea must be also taken into consideration.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  11. “As the Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group has clearly stated that it has found no evidence of Eritrean support for Al-Shabaab and as the Djibouti-Eritrea issue is being handled by the Government of Qatar, with Qatari forces being deployed at the common border between Eritrea and Djibouti, there is no imagined or real threat to international peace and security in which Eritrea is involved. The Security Council must therefore immediately and unconditionally lift the sanctions against Eritrea. Secondly, given the current fight against global terrorism and extremism, lifting unjust sanctions will enhance peace and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region. On the other hand, we emphasize that maintaining sanctions can only be a recipe for disaster and chaos.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  12. “In the context of maintaining regional and international peace and security, the Group is clearly solely mandated to look into whether Eritrea supports Al-Shabaab in Somalia and into how the border dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti is being handled. However, overstepping its mandate, the Somalia/ Eritrea Monitoring Group continues to routinely deal with the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict, and does so in a manner that ignores context and ramifications. Another equally important aspect is, at least in Eritrea's experience, the fact that the Monitoring Group has routinely reported uncorroborated allegations and refused to rectify them when those allegations were found not to be true.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  13. “Sweeping statements such as "information gathered from reliable sources" or "information gathered from former officials" and so on must be rejected and cannot be the basis upon which the Security Council takes its decisions. Sanctions committees must ensure that the contents of the reports of panels of experts are within the purview of the mandate and that experts strictly respect and adhere to the mandate. Whenever experts overstep the mandate, they should be instructed not to do so by the committee. In the same vein, when information provided by experts is found to be false, it must be corrected publicly and as soon as possible. Again, that has not been Eritrea's experience. In addition to overstepping its mandate, the Somalia/ Eritrea Monitoring Group has been making baseless allegations collected from nameless and faceless sources.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  14. “Thirdly, with regard to rigorous examination by experts and monitoring group reports, which is an important aspect of the work of sanctions committees, Eritrea strongly believes that sanctions committees must ensure that the reports of experts and monitoring groups meet the highest evidentiary standard, as stipulated in the report of the Informal Working Group of the Security Council on General Issues of Sanctions, which, inter alia, underscores the need for expert panels to rely on verified information and documents and ensure that "their assertions are corroborated by solid information and that their findings are substantiated by credible sources" (S/2006/997, annex, para. 23). Furthermore, the sources of the reports must be clearly identified and known.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  15. “Secondly, with respect to transparency and information sharing, sanctions committees, especially those dealing with country-specific sanctions, need to regularly interact and share information and allegations with the country concerned. Countries under sanctions have every right to receive in a timely manner the full contents of draft and final reports compiled by experts and monitoring groups. That will allow sanctions committees to hear the views of the country concerned, which is consistent with the legal principles of"equality of arms" and "the accused is innocent until proven guilty". Such methods will definitely ensure transparency. It must be underlined that Eritrea, as a country concerned, continues to be denied access to the monthly assessments and the draft and final reports of the Monitoring Group.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  16. “To continue to impose the unjust sanctions against Eritrea despite the fact that the Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) has reported that the grounds for imposing sanctions do not exist is not only a travesty ofjustice, iit constitutes collective punishment against the people of Eritrea. However, more important, with the current political and security realities in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region, maintaining unjustified sanctions against Eritrea undermines and limits the capacity of a State Member of the United Nations to implement Security Council resolutions to combat global extremism and terrorism or to meaningfully contribute to maintaining regional and international peace and security.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  17. “First, with respect to ensuring a comprehensive assessment of the impact of sanctions regimes, once the causes for sanctions are proved not to exist and their implementation is negatively affecting regional and international peace, security and development, as well as people's lives, the Security Council is duty-bound to immediately and unconditionally lift sanctions. Legal and factual issues must be separated from politically and diplomatically motivated agendas. Oranges and apples should not be mixed. It has been six years since the Security Council imposed unjustified and politically motivated sanctions against Eritrea.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  18. “I would like to thank the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in particular Ambassador Rafael Dario Ramirez Carrefio, for organizing today's important and timely debate on the working methods of the subsidiary bodies of the Security Council. Given the complex and dynamic global environment, improving the working methods of the subsidiary bodies of the Security Council is of paramount importance. Eritrea strongly believes that a transparent and credible process in the Security Council is not an option but a necessity. For the sake of brevity, I would like to highlight the following three points.”

    2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source

  19. “Eritrea and the Council' legal authority in the maintenance of region will suffer the consequences of unwarranted international peace and security." nited Nati n acti n in the .h rt-term. But in the U 0 s 0 g 0 The meeting rose at 10.40 am.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  20. “Ethiopia's acts also violate the Algiers Peace Agreement - guaranteed by the United Nations Security Council - and the final and binding arbitral decision. This must surely be an affront to the United Nations Security Council in as much as it wishes to hide it. "The United Nations Security Council is mandated by Articles 39 to 410f the United Nations Charter to take appropriate measures against Ethiopia. But the United Nations Security Council cannot contemplate this action as Ethiopia enjoys the full protection and tutelage of the United States. But in submitting to the United States political wishes andprcfcrenees, the UnitedNations Security long term, the real casuality is international law, as Council is compromising and undermining its well as the corrosion ofthe United Nations Security own legal mandate and authority.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  21. “And, instead of redressing these injustices - and making due reparations to Eritrea - the United Nations Security Council, despite the reservations and objections of several of its members, has opted to dwell on its misguided course under the heavy-handed prodding of the United States and its usual allies. As it happens, the United Nations Security Council is invoking non-existent facts and potential 'threats to regional peace and security' in its dogged desire to harass Eritrea. "There is one unfathomable fact that the United Nations Security Council cannot gloss over as it unfairly Victimizes Eritrea. Ethiopia continues to occupy sovereign Eritrean territories, including the town of Badme, in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  22. “But trumped up charges were Vital for the architects of the sanctions resolutions against Eritrea who used their diplomatic clout to ram through the unjust measures against Eritrea in a largely pliant Security Council. "Six years on, all Security Council members and the international community as a whole, are fully aware of the false testimonies that were concocted against Eritrea to serve some political ends. "Indeed, the United Nations report this year - as it was also the case last year - states categorically that the 'Monitoring Group' has found no evidence of Eritrean support to Al-Shabaab. "Under normal circumstances, the United Nations Security Council should drop its case against Eritrea and rescind the sanctions resolutions which were unjust in the first place. But these are not normal times.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  23. “The title of the press release is, "Security Council action that undermines its own legal authority" and it reads as follows: "In a resolution adopted today, the United Nations Security Council has sadly decided to maintain yet for another year the unwarranted sanctions that were originally imposed against Eritrea on the Christmas eve of December 2009 and its follow-up resolution that was adopted in December 2011. "At the time, Eritrea was falsely accused of dispatching 2000 troops to Somalia in support of Al-Shabaab. The pattern of unsubstantiated allegations was repeated in 2011 when Eritrea was wrongly accused - just one month prior to the adoption of resolution 2023 (2011) - of sending three plane loads of arms to Al-Shabaab through the airport of Baidowa. "All these allegations were patently false.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  24. “Moreover, sanctions restrict Eritrea's capacity and capability to maintain its security and defend its sovereignty and to effectively contribute to the implementation of Security Council resolutions calling on all of us to fight against global terrorism and extremism. Concerning resolution 2244 (2015), which has just been adopted, it is a decision that defies logic and legality. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea has put out a statement, which I will share for the record.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  25. “Therefore, since the two justifications for the imposition of the unjust sanctions against Eritrea are non-existent, the correct, logical and legal action should have been for the Security Council to immediately and unconditionally lift the unjust sanctions against Eritrea and terminate the mandate of the Monitoring Group's connection with Eritrea. Any other pretext is unacceptable. It is a political agenda. Unfortunately, because of the misguided geopolitical agenda of the United States Administration in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region, the Security Council has sadly decided to maintain the unjust sanctions against the people and the Government of Eritrea for another year. Sanctions, as everyone knows, affect the poor, especially those who are the most vulnerable: women and children.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  26. “They were Eritrea's alleged support to Al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Djibouti-Eritrean conflict, in the context of their implications to regional and international peace and security. They were nothing more and nothing less than that. The Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea has concluded that it has found "no evidence that Eritrea was supporting al-Shabaab" in Somalia (S/2015/802. p. 3). With regard to the disputes between Eritrea and Djibouti, the Presidents of the two countries have entrusted the State of Qatar to mediate their disputes.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source

  27. “I would like to thank you, Mr. President, and the members of the Security Council for giving my delegation the opportunity to participate in a meeting on an agenda item that directly affects my country. I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the Chairman of the Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea and those representatives of different countries who, in defending the principles of impartiality and objectivity and the procedures of the Security Council, have played a constructive role in ensuring that resolution 2244 (2015) would reflect the reality in Eritrea, the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region. The two justifications for the imposition of the unjust sanctions against Eritrea were crystal clear.”

    2015-10-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7541 (2015) · source