YouSaid · the spoken record

Thomas-Greenfield

lines on the record: 1,605
first: 2021-05-27
most recent: 2023-12-22
sittings or episodes: 219
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

“Internally displaced persons and refugees will not return home as long as they fear for their own safety and that of their loved ones. It is beyond frustrating to have the same meeting month after month and not see progress towards a long- term peace. It is past time for the Al-Assad regime and Russia to meet their commitments. It is past time for them to take responsibility for the violence and instability. It is past time to do right by the Syrian people. In the meantime, I commit that we will keep up the pressure, we will push for progress, and we will continue to do everything in our power, as we have done today with the new $756 million funding announcement, to support meeting the dire needs of the Syrian people.”
2022-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9130 (2022) · source
“Instability and violence have robbed Syrian refugees of the dream of returning home. We commend the Member States that continue to host large numbers of Syrian refugees. While many refugees hold out hope that they will return to Syria, no one should pressure them to risk their lives to do so. After all, more than 130,000 people are still arbitrarily detained and are missing inside Syria. The vast majority of the detentions are forced disappearances at the hands of the Al-Assad regime. As the recent report of the Secretary-General (A/76/890) on this issue spells out, the Al-Assad regime has made little progress in addressing detentions and disappearances. That is not a welcoming environment. Until all those missing or arbitrarily detained are accounted for, we will not, and we cannot, be silent.”
2022-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9130 (2022) · source
“Even as we work to galvanize more international assistance, we know that only a durable political solution to the conflict will allow the Syrian people to rebuild and recover. A just, enduring peace is the only answer. The Council clearly outlined a pathway to such a peace in resolution 2254 (2015). Unfortunately, the Al-Assad regime, aided by Russia, has consistently stalled and subverted these processes, sowing more instability and violence. The unfounded and unnecessary delays in the Constitutional Committee’s work must end. While Russia has repeatedly told the Council that the political process in Syria must be Syrian-owned and Syrian-led, it continues to obstruct the process of the Constitutional Committee for reasons entirely unrelated to Syria. Such delays have a human cost.”
2022-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9130 (2022) · source
“The assistance will touch the lives of Syrians in all 14 governorates. It responds directly to the United Nations humanitarian response plan, in which early recovery accounts for over one quarter of its activities. We remain the world’s largest donor to Syria because we are committed. As I said in San Francisco last week, we are committed to serving the people of the world. We have not, and will not forget, about the people of Syria. The United States commitment to the Syrian people and the full implementation of 2642 (2022) is beyond question, but we cannot do that work alone. The needs in Syria are simply too great. We therefore call on other countries to join us in doing more and giving more.”
2022-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9130 (2022) · source
“At the Brussels Conference in May, I announced more than $800 million in additional United States aid for the Syrian humanitarian response, and today I am proud to make a new additional funding announcement of more than $756 million in humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people. This new assistance will bring immediate relief to millions of refugees and displaced persons. It will help humanitarian partners provide clean water, food, hygiene and relief supplies, shelter, protection services and critical health and nutrition assistance. It will also include support for early- recovery programmes across the entire country. In case it is not clear, let me say it directly: this funding shows just how urgent and dire we believe the situation is and how committed we are to the full implementation of resolution 2642 (2022).”
2022-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9130 (2022) · source
“Griffiths and recently also by United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Riza poses a grave threat to Syria’s people. It is yet another crisis facing the Syrian people, who have had to endure more than 11 years of conflict — conflict that has killed more than 350,000 people, displaced 13 million and pushed more than 2 million into severe food insecurity. The United States has been a committed supporter of the Syrian people. That is why we have pushed so hard, over the past year, for a one-year renewal and expansion of the Syrian cross-border mechanism to address this and other crises faced by the Syrian people, and that is why we must extend the mechanism in January for another 12 months.”
2022-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9130 (2022) · source
“Let me thank Deputy Special Envoy Rochdi and Under-Secretary-General Griffiths for their briefings. I also deeply appreciate the briefing by Mr. Darwish, whose advocacy in promoting freedom of expression and dialogue in Syria is admirable and an important reminder for all of us. The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression holds the distinction of being the first Syrian non-governmental organization ever granted United Nations accreditation. We are all grateful for the work he continues to do. As our briefers have outlined, the Syrian people remain in peril. The Al-Assad regime and others have made little progress in addressing the political situation as envisioned in resolution 2254 (2015). It is painful to hear about the continuing deteriorating humanitarian situation on the ground. The new cholera outbreak just reported by Mr.”
2022-09-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9130 (2022) · source
“I ask that members remember what they have heard here today. No one — I repeat no one — will be able to say that we were not warned.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“Let the world see what is going on. As Security Council members, we are here to promote international peace and security and uphold the Charter. At a minimum, I hope that each of us here acknowledges that as we heard today from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, all persons being subjected to filtration need access to United Nations and humanitarian agencies as soon as possible so that we can verify their well- being. Until Russia provides that access, we will have to rely on the evidence we have accumulated and the brave testimony of survivors. The picture they paint, alongside the mounting reports, is chilling. There will come a day when we are gathered in the Council to condemn the Russian Federation’s attempts to annex more of Ukraine’s territory.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“It is part of the Russian playbook for Ukraine that we have been warning Council members about since the very beginning of the war. Those referendums will attempt to create a false semblance of legality and public support so that Russia believes that it can annex Kherson, Zaporizhzhya and other regions of Ukraine. Of course we will never recognize any efforts by Russia to change Ukraine’s borders by force. We must hold the perpetrators of these atrocities to account. We must respond as an international community that still respects the Charter of the United Nations. We know what Russia will say about all of it. It will deny, deny and deny, but there is a simple way to know if any of it is true. Let the United Nations in. Give the independent observers access. Give non-governmental organizations access. Allow humanitarian access.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“Why are they intimidating locals and deporting anyone deemed threatening? Why are they systematically cataloguing Ukrainians moving through the system? Why is Russia appointing officials in occupied areas, imposing its education curriculum in schools and trying to get Ukrainian citizens to apply for Russian passports? Why are Russian forces and proxies doing their best to erase the living memory of Ukraine? The reason is simple: to prepare for an attempted annexation. The goal is to change sentiments by force. To provide a fraudulent veneer of legitimacy for the Russian occupation and eventual, purported annexation of even more Ukrainian territory. That effort to fabricate facts on the ground is a predicate for sham referendums.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“Of course, I need not remind the Security Council that the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territories to the territory of the occupier is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and constitutes a war crime. We should take a moment to consider the fate of those who do not pass filtration. The evidence is growing every day that thousands of Ukrainians deemed a threat owing to their potential affiliation with the Ukrainian army, territorial defence forces, media, Government or civil-society groups are reportedly being detained or simply disappearing. Why are they doing that? Why are they confiscating Ukrainian identity documents? Why are they forcing Ukrainians to fill out Russian passport applications?”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“And we are further aware that they are providing lists of Ukrainians to be targeted for filtration and receiving reports on the scope and the progress of operations. Filtered — the word does not begin to convey the horror and the depravity of those premeditated policies. Just look at how Russia is treating Ukrainian children. Estimates indicate that thousands of children have been subject to filtration, some separated from their families and taken from orphanages before being put up for adoption in Russia. The United States has information that in July alone, more than 1,800 children were transferred from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine to Russia.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“And there is mounting and credible evidence that those considered threatening to Russian control because of perceived pro-Ukrainian leanings are disappeared or further detained. One eyewitness said that she overheard a Russian soldier say “I shot at least 10 people” who had not passed filtration. Estimates from a variety of sources, including the Russian Government, indicate that the Russian authorities have interrogated, detained and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens from their homes to Russia, often to isolated regions in the Far East. I want to be clear. The United States has information that officials from Russia’s presidential Administration are overseeing and coordinating those filtration operations.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“At those filtration locations, Russian authorities or proxies search, interrogate, coerce and reportedly sometimes torture subjects. But those horrors are not limited to the centres that have been set up. Filtration may also occur at checkpoints, routine traffic stops or on the street. In an interview conducted by Human Rights Watch, a man from Mariupol said that he and dozens of Mariupol residents were forced to stay in a schoolhouse under filthy conditions, and that was even before they were taken to undergo filtration. Many got sick. He said, “We felt like hostages.” Those operations aim to identify individuals whom Russia deems insufficiently compliant or compatible with its control.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“When you refuse, you are given a Russian passport and sent deep into Russia against your will, far away from your family and with no means to communicate with anyone you know or love. You have been filtered. That is the picture that many credible reports from diverse sources present of the so-called filtration operations that Russia has set up in Ukraine. We now have eyewitness testimony from victims and increasingly detailed reporting from groups such as Human Rights Watch, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab. And you have heard two of our briefers today share that information. Even Russia’s State-managed TASS news agency has reported on the many Ukrainians who have been relocated to Russia.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“You are escorted against your will to a centre to undergo filtration. You are terrified about what happens next, because your grandmother told you stories of her friends and neighbours disappearing in the Soviet Union and even what Russia did to its own citizens during the war in Chechnya. You are separated from your partner and your children. Your personal biometric information is recorded. Your Ukrainian driver’s licence and passport are confiscated. Your cell phone is searched for perceived anti-Russian messages. You are stripped of your clothes. You are interrogated. You are beaten. You hear gunfire and screams from rooms next door. Others deemed more threatening are being tortured and killed. Because you are of fighting age, you are asked to fight for Russia.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“I thank Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo and Assistant Secretary-General Brands Kehris for their briefings. And I thank Ms. Drik so much for offering a stark and credible view of the situation from a civil-society perspective. I want us to imagine, for a moment, that we are parents in Mariupol. You and your partner are young and healthy. You have a 10-year-old son and a two-year- old daughter. You are happy. You are not particularly political, but you love your life in Ukraine. And suddenly, Russia invades. Russian forces bomb your schools and hospitals. They destroy your peaceful city. Still, you do your best to keep your family safe. You huddle in shelters. You try to survive. One day, you and your family are trying to scrounge up some food and you are stopped on the street by Russian forces.”
2022-09-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9126 (2022) · source
“I will be brief. Let me just state that, if the Russian Federation believes that there was an economy in Afghanistan to be destroyed, it has been destroyed by the Taliban. Also, let me be clear that the United States has not turned its back on Afghanistan. We have remained in the country and have continued to provide essential assistance to the Afghan people. We are working closely with the international community and partners to support the establishment of mechanisms that will protect, preserve and disburse, on a limited basis, the assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan for the benefit of the Afghan people. I also want to be clear that we will not turn those funds over to the Taliban to be used for their purposes, which do not contribute to the well-being of Afghans.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“China’s contributions have been similarly underwhelming. If Council members want to talk about how Afghanistan needs help, that is fine. But we humbly suggest that they put their money where their mouths are. In the meantime, the United States, along with other partners and allies, including many on the Council, will continue to diligently do everything it can to support the Afghan people. We will continue providing humanitarian assistance. We will continue supporting UNAMA. We will continue to be a champion for Afghanistan’s women and girls. We will continue to do everything we can to help the mothers and daughters, the fathers and sons — the people of Afghanistan — who deserve so much.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“Fortunately, there is one reason why the afghani — the Afghan currency — has held stable: because major donors, including the United States, have generously contributed well over $2 billion dollars in humanitarian assistance and basic-needs programming to the country since August 2021. Today we heard Russia say that is not sufficient. Russia argued, as others have in the past, that Afghanistan’s problems are the fault of the West and not the Taliban — really? Here is my question. What is Russia doing to help other than rehashing the past and criticizing others? If Russia is concerned about Afghan women and children dying, how is it helping them? To date, Russia has contributed only $2 million to United Nations humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan. And it has contributed nothing this year — not one cent.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“Let me be clear: no country that is serious about containing terrorism in Afghanistan would advocate giving the Taliban instantaneous, unconditional access to billions in assets that belong to the Afghan people. The countries, like ours, that have rolled up their sleeves and tried to engage with this issue have seen how the Central Bank of Afghanistan was hollowed out long ago. It does not have a credible anti-money laundering system in place. It does not have a credible system for combating the financing of terrorism. And it does not have an independent monitor in place to verify improvements in capacity through technical assistance. The Central Bank of Afghanistan therefore cannot currently conduct responsible monetary policy on its own.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“Its good offices, outreach and human rights reporting continue to be invaluable. We have also worked bilaterally to help the Afghan people directly. The United States is the world’s leading donor in Afghanistan. Over this past year alone, we have provided more than $775 million in humanitarian assistance directly to the Afghan people and Afghans in the region. We are proud to be the largest funder of United Nations operations in Afghanistan. We have also issued seven general licenses to enable economic activity for the Afghan people. And we are supporting efforts to protect, preserve and facilitate access to approximately $3.5 billion in Afghan Central Bank assets for the benefit for the Afghan people.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“It continues to interfere with the delivery of critical assistance that the Afghan people desperately need. The Taliban have increased taxes on critical assistance. And they fail to protect humanitarian aid workers. That is all to say that the Taliban are not providing for the Afghan people in their time of need. But the United States will not give up or look away. We are determined to help the Afghan people. We have worked multilaterally through the United Nations and the Security Council to assist them. Last year, we led the Council’s effort to unanimously adopt resolution 2615 (2021), which established a carve-out for the delivery of humanitarian aid for the Afghan people. We have strongly supported the work of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), whose critical work we supported extending in March.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“That is both a moral problem and an economic one. UNICEF estimates that the Afghan economy would gain $5.4 billion if the Taliban let girls go to secondary school and join the workforce. On top of that, the Taliban’s proclamation that it would be best for women to simply stay at home if a male chaperone cannot accompany them means that nearly all female-headed households in the country are not getting enough food to eat. Instead of looking to the international community for help with those crises, the Taliban harboured the leader of Al-Qaida in downtown Kabul. How can the Taliban expect to build a relationship with the world when it provides safe haven to those who seek to do harm to us all — and I do mean all of us. In recent months the Taliban have even made the delivery of humanitarian assistance more difficult.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“The Taliban’s policies repress and starve the Afghan people instead of protecting them. The Taliban’s exclusion of outside voices means that the people who would contribute towards alleviating the suffering from those crises are not allowed to help. Among the Taliban’s most egregious actions has been their repression and abuse of women and girls. The Taliban have denied women the opportunity to work, a decision that is both unjust and economically perilous. In Chicago last week, I met with an Afghan refugee who had found a new life in the United States. But he is kept up at night knowing that his wife is still there. She was educated, engaged in the private sector and contributing to her country. Now she is secluded in her home. It is equally egregious that girls have not been allowed to return to school.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“I would like to thank Under-Secretary- General Griffiths and Deputy Special Representative Potzel for their briefings. I am glad this meeting was called today, not for the reasons the Russians requested it but because the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is grave, as we heard from the United Nations briefers, and it requires our attention. Flash floods, earthquakes, avalanches, droughts and terrorism have made a desperate situation more dire. The global food insecurity crisis, exacerbated by the coronavirus disease pandemic, climate and conflict, has been felt acutely by the Afghan people. Everyone here heard the statistics Under-Secretary Griffiths outlined, describing what he calls a “relentless layer of crisis”. The Taliban have failed to provide for the Afghan people. In fact, they have done just the opposite.”
2022-08-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9118 (2022) · source
“We ate and we danced and we looked in awe at the fireworks in the sky. In Ukraine today there are none of the typical festivals. There are no feasts or concerts. Citizens have been told to stay away from cities and to look for very different kinds of explosions from the sky. We heard President Zelenskyy describe just that to us today. One Ukrainian citizen told a National Public Radio reporter that she hopes that “we can celebrate independence without weapons in the future — maybe with flowers and dances instead.” Let us do everything we can to bring the flowers and the dances back to Kyiv and back to Ukrainians. Let us pray that, by this time next year, her dream will have come true.”
2022-08-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9115 (2022) · source
“Those missiles were a potent reminder that millions of Ukrainians are still under siege and tens of millions around the world are being driven to hunger by Russia’s actions. For all the violence and carnage, the hunger and humanitarian crises, the human rights abuses and threats to vulnerable groups, Russia — and Russia alone — bears sole responsibility. Russia alone is the sole hindrance to a swift resolution to the crisis. We must continue to call for and ensure accountability for all of Russia’s atrocities. Today marks six months of the war, but it also marks Ukraine’s Independence Day — a day normally celebrated by parades and festivals with joy. Many of us came together in a similar kind of celebration on 4 July on the lawn of the United Nations Headquarters as America celebrated its independence.”
2022-08-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9115 (2022) · source
“Those camps are abducting and separating children from their parents. Russian forces are forcibly confiscating and replacing passports, dictating curriculums in schools and replacing Ukrainian street names and other public signs with Russian language alternatives. The evidence of Russian forces interrogating, detaining and forcibly deporting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, including children, continue to mount. The reasons are clear: they want to destroy Ukraine, its culture, its people and its very existence. Even where we have seen progress like the movement of grain and other foodstuffs from Ukrainian ports following the much-needed arrangement signed with Türkiye, Russia did not let us forget about its intentions. Mere hours after the deal was inked, Russia launched missiles at the port of Odesa.”
2022-08-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9115 (2022) · source
“No matter how many more sham referendums or illegitimate authorities Moscow tries to install, we will continue to defend the Charter of the United Nations and uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. As we discussed yesterday (see S/PV.9114), Russia is responsible for creating another grave risk to another core commitment by the international community, namely, that of nuclear safety. Ukraine had an impeccable record of nuclear energy safety and security at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, but Russia recklessly attacked and seized control of that plant by force, risking nuclear disaster. In a similar vein, we are particularly concerned by Russia’s so-called filtration operations, which involve the systematic forced deportation of Ukrainian civilians to remote areas of Russia.”
2022-08-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9115 (2022) · source
“Russian disinformation campaigns are increasingly being weaponized to prepare for further attempts to annex Ukrainian territory. The Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, publicly acknowledged that as one of the Kremlin’s objectives. Specifically, Russia is laying the groundwork to attempt to annex the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya, as well as all of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Let us be clear: the international community will never recognize Russia’s attempt to change Ukraine’s borders by force. When the world’s leaders come to New York next month to reaffirm their commitments to the Charter of the United Nations, they are also reaffirming their support for that basic principle.”
2022-08-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9115 (2022) · source
“Six months of Russia’s flagrant lies in disregard of international law, including violations of the Charter of the United Nations. Six months of attacks by Russia, killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure. Six months of devastation and missile strikes that have torn apart families and stolen the lives of too many, including the life of 4-year-old Lisa Dmitrieva, who was killed last month in a missile strike that left 24 people dead. Six months of horrific atrocities, including rape, murder and torture in towns like Bucha, Irpin and others. Six months of families being separated and millions displaced. Six months of killings, thousands dead. Six months later, Russia’s goal is as clear as ever: to dismantle Ukraine as a geopolitical entity and erase it from the world map.”
2022-08-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9115 (2022) · source
“I thank Secretary-General Guterres and Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo for their briefings. I would also like to congratulate Ukrainians on their Independence Day and thank President Zelenskyy for participating in this meeting today. The United States stands with President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine today and every day. Every Russian bomb that falls only strengthens our resolve to support their sovereignty and their independence. Today marks six months of Russia’s premeditated, unjustifiable and brutal full-scale war against Ukraine. It has been just six months since we sat here in the Council Chamber and watched as Russia, serving in the presidency, attempted to defend the indefensible. Six months of Russia’s defiance of the international community.”
2022-08-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9115 (2022) · source
“We are prepared to work with all countries on risk reduction and strategic stability efforts. We will continue to support the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty. And we are eager to begin working with partners to restart negotiations this year on the long- delayed fissile material cut-off treaty. Those global challenges require global solutions. They require good faith and adherence to established norms and international law. They require commitment and perseverance, which too often are in short supply. But we have to persist because our collective security hangs in the balance.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“At the Review Conference, we are seeking a consensus final document that preserves the integrity of that essential treaty and strengthens its implementation across all three of the treaty pillars in order to accomplish concrete and practical ways to move forward. It is also important that the Review Conference acknowledge the manner in which Russia’s war and irresponsible actions in Ukraine seriously undermine the NPT’s main purposes. That is why we believe that resuming mutually beneficial inspections under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is a key part of our cooperation that must continue. We are ready to negotiate expeditiously a framework to replace New Start in pursuit of further bilateral strategic nuclear arms reductions with Russia.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“And finally, we came away from the twentieth century in agreement that existential threats like nuclear proliferation needed to be monitored together, that we should use institutions and mechanisms established by the United Nations Charter, like the Security Council and General Assembly, to address those shared challenges to peace and security. That is the message that President Biden and Secretary Blinken delivered just a few weeks ago at the onset of the tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The United States will continue to support the NPT, which remains the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“The greatest mistakes of the twentieth century came from the age of empires, when countries and people were not free to make their own sovereign determinations about their societies, economies, partnerships and alliances. We cannot make those mistakes again. That is why we enshrine those lessons in documents like the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By protecting and promoting human rights, we protect what bonds us together — our shared humanity. That is why States cannot excuse their human rights violations under the guise of domestic internal affairs. Universal rights are and must be just that — universal. The language in the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights could not be clearer.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“But Russia’s tortured full-throated messaging on the supposed threats it faces from it its neighbours omits the fact that all nations have the right to choose their security alliances. Russia’s interpretation of indivisible security does not justify one country’s attempted annexation of another. That goes against not only the principles, but the explicit words of the United Nations Charter and its allowances for mutual self-defence arrangements. Russia’s selfish desire to invade its neighbour and steal its land has had implications for us all. It has exacerbated global food insecurity, has launched a new refugee crisis, has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians and has degraded the bedrock principles that have prevented new world wars.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“We convened dialogues at high levels across a range of international venues, including in the Council, in order to voice concerns about the security situation and to discuss potential measures to revitalize Europe’s security architecture. Russia, however, rejected dialogue, discarded established views of sovereign equality, discarded the concept of the indivisibility of security and launched a horrific war. Russia has justified its actions by attempting to redefine basic concepts like sovereignty, territorial integrity and the indivisibility of security. It has done so by asserting that it is Moscow’s prerogative to dictate the political and security choices of its neighbours. Russia is fond of saying that the security of one State cannot come at the expense of others.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“And it requires us to hold Member States accountable — vigorously and consistently — when they violate the Charter and the principles it stands for. Unfortunately, one of the greatest threats to our success in maintaining peace and security is from within. At the top of the list is the full-scale invasion by Russia, a permanent member of the Council, of its sovereign neighbour and fellow United Nations Member State, Ukraine. Before Russia’s unprovoked invasion, the United States, Ukraine and its neighbours, as well as other Member States, undertook intensive diplomatic efforts to dissuade Russia from choosing a path of force and violence.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“I thank the Secretary-General and Ambassador Zlauvinen for their briefings and their steadfast commitment to furthering multilateral diplomacy. We live in a world where our greatest challenges are shared, and global challenges require global solutions. That is what makes multilateral institutions such as the United Nations so valuable. The United Nations, unlike any other institution, can galvanize the world towards better ends. We can promote human rights, protect innocent civilians, provide humanitarian relief and save lives. We can strengthen sovereign equality, promote human development, deter threats to peace and security and work towards a more equal and just world. But success requires good faith. It means not just quoting the Charter of the United Nations, but actually abiding by its principles in practice.”
2022-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9112 (2022) · source
“The Mechanism’s efforts are essential to continuing the flow of commercial goods into Yemen, preventing further deterioration of the humanitarian situation and sustaining the truce. This is a critical moment for Yemen. The United States and the international community stand ready to support Yemen’s peace and recovery process, but, first, the Yemeni parties themselves must choose peace. The fact that the truce in Yemen continues to hold is cause for hope. It has significantly reduced violence; it has saved lives and improved freedom of movement; and it has created momentum towards peace. We must now take the next step forward.”
2022-08-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9110 (2022) · source
“We also call on donors, particularly regional donors, to increase and expedite economic support, which will help to bolster the efforts of the Republic of Yemen’s Government to stabilize the economy and strengthen basic services. Other urgent needs include funding for the United Nations emergency project to prevent a spill from the FSO SAFER oil tanker. Such a spill would cause an economic, humanitarian and environmental disaster in the Red Sea and would cost tens of billions of dollars in clean-up costs and lost revenue. Again, we therefore call on donors, including from the private sector, to step forward now. Finally, the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism also faces a funding gap of $3.5 million this year, and it will suffer a lapse in operations next month if donors do not step up now.”
2022-08-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9110 (2022) · source
“We are closely tracking the recent instability in Shabwah and urge Yemenis to work through their differences peacefully in order to focus on building on the United Nations-mediated truce. Before I conclude, I want to talk about efforts to support humanitarian needs and recovery on the ground. For our part, we have provided more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Yemen in 2022 and nearly $5 billion since 2014, making us the largest donor to those efforts. We call on the international community to join us and the rest of the world in addressing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. But Yemen needs more than just humanitarian assistance.”
2022-08-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9110 (2022) · source
“The first step to securing an expanded agreement is Houthi action with regard to Taiz — a long overdue humanitarian imperative. We call on the Houthis to accept the Special Envoy’s proposal and open roads to Taiz without delay. In addition, the parties must make progress on salary payments for civil servants. We also demand that the Houthis unconditionally and immediately release the current and former United States and United Nations locally employed Yemeni staff whom they detained in Sana’a. I have to repeat this: we demand their unconditional and immediate release. Holding those individuals, as well as other humanitarian workers, is unacceptable, and it is long past time that the Houthis end such outrageous behaviour.”
2022-08-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9110 (2022) · source
“Such a truce extension also provides an important opportunity to transition to a stronger, more comprehensive agreement that meaningfully expands benefits for Yemenis and allows for a durable resolution to a conflict that has gone on for far too long. We therefore call on the parties to intensify and expedite negotiations to finalize an expanded agreement based on the proposal shared by the Special Envoy. An expanded agreement would allow for discussions to secure a comprehensive nation-wide ceasefire and pave the way for resuming a Yemeni-Yemeni political process. Let us be clear: such a political process must include meaningful input from women, civil society leaders and members of other marginalized communities.”
2022-08-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9110 (2022) · source
“Let me thank Special Envoy Grundberg and Acting Director Mudawi. I want to express my gratitude to them both for their unwavering commitment to bringing peace and humanitarian relief to Yemen. Thankfully, we now have an opening for a sustained peace due to the recent truce extension. We appreciate the central role played by regional partners to make that possible, including Saudi Arabia’s leadership and Oman’s efforts to promote dialogue between the parties. Thanks to the leadership of the Presidential Leadership Council, Yemenis continue to tangibly benefit from the truce. Fifteen thousand Yemenis have flown from Sana’a airport for the first time since 2016, and five times more fuel is entering Al-Hudaydah per month as compared to 2021.”
2022-08-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9110 (2022) · source
“Building towards a durable solution means refraining from provocative actions, rhetoric or other measures that would disrupt respect for the historic status quo at holy sites in Jerusalem. We call on all Member States to join us in supporting steps that can stabilize the situation on the ground, deliver economic benefits to the Palestinian people and revitalize political horizons that meet the needs of both Israelis and Palestinians.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“Even as this conflict in Gaza brings new lists of families devastated by loss, we recall the two Israeli civilians still being held in Gaza, along with the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in action in a previous conflict. Every family, irrespective of nationality, religion or creed, deserves to bury its loved ones in a dignified and unimpeded manner. We hope that the ceasefire holds, and we will continue working to prevent further violence. We all know that the best way to achieve lasting peace is through a comprehensive solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. As President Biden affirmed during his visit to the region in July, the United States remains deeply committed to the two-State solution. To that end, we strongly urge all parties to refrain from any unilateral steps that would imperil progress.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source