YouSaid · the spoken record

Van Bohemen

lines on the record: 705
first: 1993-08-27
most recent: 2016-12-31
sittings or episodes: 114
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 Council's ability to refer situations to the International Criminal Court plays a vital role. At the same time, the Council needs to be very careful that it is not using referrals as a political tool or as the only possible resource in an otherwise intractable situation. Such actions risk politicizing the Court, and can prolong both the conflicts concerned and the process of seeking accountability. Moreover, when referrals are made, they need to be accompanied by a clear commitment to providing the Court with the support, cooperation and resources it needs to discharge its mandate. The need for sustained follow-up is particularly evident in the case of the Council's referral of the situation in Darfur. The Prosecutor's twenty-fourth report on this issue makes for depressing reading.”
2016-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7833 (2016) · source
“I want to thank Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda for her report and briefing. I commend her for the candor of her remarks and for the challenge that she has made to the Security Council. New Zealand has long supported the need for an effective international accountability framework. Our experience on the Council over the past two years has reinforced our view that, without an effective accountability mechanism, too many of the conflicts that wind up on the Council's agenda will never be adequately resolved. Rather, they will flare up as people will react to the unaddressed injustices that they will have suffered. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has an important role in that framework. It provides the international community with an important tool for ensuring that serious international crimes do not go unpunished.”
2016-12-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7833 (2016) · source
“Today's meeting helpfully builds on high-level Council meetings on counter-terrorism involving Ministers of the Interior and Finance last year, and reinforces the message that all the relevant agencies within Governments need to be involved in implementing Council counter-terrorism resolutions.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“The special meeting on terrorist financing to be convened by the Chairs of ISIL/Al-Qaida and Counter- Terrorism Committees today and tomorrow will provide a useful opportunity to discuss one of the key challenges that we face, that is, how to deprive terrorist groups from accessing, raising and moving the funds they need to finance their activities. I encourage my successor as Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) to continue that useful practice of joint meetings between that Committee and the Counter-Terrorism Committee on the many issues of common interest. In conclusion, I must stress the key role that the Council plays in encouraging States to work together at the bilateral, regional and international levels to identify and address the drivers of violent extremism.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“New Zealand strongly supports the Secretary- General's Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. We will never achieve our common goal of dealing effectively with terrorism if we do not put a sharp focus on addressing the conditions that drive individuals to commit acts of terrorism in the first place. While security responses are essential, they will only ever be a partial fix to the much broader problem. New Zealand also values the work of the Global Counter Terrorism Forum in developing guidelines of best practices, including on judicial cooperation in counter-terrorism.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“We must be as efficient and effective as possible to combat impunity, while ensuring respect for human rights, and in particular ensuring respect for due process in criminal and associated proceedings. In that regard, we must recognize and deal with the fact that many States do not have the systems or the resources to make or respond adequately to requests for evidence or extradition in a terrorism case. We are therefore going to have to do more to strengthen their capacities in those areas. Otherwise, some States may become unwitting havens for terrorists seeing to evade justice or hide assets. To that end, New Zealand recently hosted a joint United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Pacific Islands Forum workshop in Auckland, focused on ensuring legislative compliance with international counter-terrorism instruments.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“In many cases, the information, evidence and witnesses necessary to conduct a prosecution successfully are located in a number of different countries, which raises both practical and legal challenges. As today's resolution stresses, international cooperation among law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities is essential. Mechanisms such as mutual legal assistance and extradition have long existed, but their role in responding to terrorism remains underutilized. Given the extensive use of the Internet by terrorist groups, mutual legal assistance in relation to digital data will become increasingly significant. Just as our approaches to counter-terrorism must respond and evolve to meet the threat, so must the ways in which States cooperate on prosecution and enforcement issues.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“We all know there are no quick or simple solutions Effective solutions will require time, resources and commitment across a broad spectrum of activities to combat terrorism, prevent and limit its spread, bring terrorists to justice and rebuild the communities that have suffered the effects of terrorist violence and oppression. Effective prosecution and enforcement are key parts of that effort. International cooperation is also essential to make those parts work, just as it is to all of our efforts to keep our communities as safe as they can be. The transnational nature of many terrorist operations makes it much harder both to prevent terrorist attacks and apprehend terrorists. As our briefers have emphasized today, the transnational dimension also poses major challenges to the successful prosecution of terrorists, once apprehended.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“Groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)/Da'esh and Al-Qaida propagate and carry out indiscriminate attacks across borders and use the Internet to recruit for, finance and incite acts of terror. They find refuge in fragile States and vulnerable communities and among the disenfranchised. As the Council has recognized, the emergence of foreign terrorist fighters and the susceptibility to recruitment of young people from all parts of the world are particularly concerning developments. Foreign terrorist fighters prolong the conflicts in which they participate and carry extremism from one conflict zone to another. Without effective strategies for deradicalization and reintegration, the knowledge and skills they have gained also have the potential to pose a threat to their countries of origin, should they return.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“I thank the Spanish presidency for convening this briefing. I also wish to thank our briefers today. Promoting cooperation has long been an objective of the Security Council's counter-terrorism efforts. Today's resolution 2322 (2016), on international judicial cooperation on counter-terrorism, advances those efforts, and we commend Spain for its leadership. I, too, wish to place on record my delegation's condolences to Egypt and Turkey for yesterday's terrorist attacks. While terrorism is not a new phenomenon, the rise of extensive global networks and their sophisticated use of modern communications technologies have considerably extended its reach. No country can consider itself safe from the threat.”
2016-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7831 (2016) · source
“At the macro level, the members of the Council need to accord greater respect to the mechanisms it establishes for the administration of justice. While the Council may be a political body, thejudicial mechanisms it establishes must manifest independence, transparency and freedom from politics - the hallmarks of justice in any credible legal system. At the more immediate level, New Zealand encourages the Council and its Informal Working Group on International Tribunals to be active in monitoring the issues we have raised in our statement, including the Mechanism's progress on the ICTR archives and the relocation of released or acquitted persons.”
2016-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7829 (2016) · source
“As New Zealand prepares to complete its current term on the Council, I wish to offer some concluding thoughts on how the Council makes use of its relationships with relevant international legal institutions in discharging its mandate. These organs all have their own areas of primary competence, but they all operate at the intersection of international law and peace and security. Overall, it is hard to escape the impression that Council members appear less aware of the legal and judicial contexts which could support their work than they were when New Zealand last served on the Council two decades ago. Politics now seems to dominate completely and it is hard to argue that this has made the Council more effective. The question I want to leave with Council members is: how can we do better?”
2016-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7829 (2016) · source
“We understand and support the desire of the Rwandan Government to have the originals of the archives located in Rwanda. This desire is not peculiar to Rwanda. Any of us in a similar situation would want documents critical to our national history to be located in our own territory. We recognize there are practical and process issues to be worked through, and hope these can be resolved. This is an important issue of principle. The Mechanism's report also highlights the increasingly urgent need for a comprehensive solution to the issue of relocation. We reiterate our call to the Mechanism to develop a process for risk-based assessments for relocation of those acquitted and for released persons remaining in the Arusha safe house.”
2016-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7829 (2016) · source
“We have taken note of the deficiencies identified by the evaluation report (S/2016/441) of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), but at this stage in the Tribunal's life cycle, we believe the focus must be on the practical and the achievable. It makes little sense to divert precious resources from core completion work. We therefore welcome the practical alternative suggestions provided by the Tribunal. We are pleased to see the Mechanism's continued commitment to maximizing effectiveness and efficiencies and we commend the flexibility it has shown during the transition phase with the ICTY, including through the One Office approach and dual batting of some staff. New Zealand raised the important ICTR legacy issue of access to archives issue during the Council's last debate in June (see S/PV.7707).”
2016-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7829 (2016) · source
“The cooperation of all relevant States with the ITCY remains essential to its completion strategy. It is axiomatic that all States are required to cooperate with the Tribunals in order to ensure justice is delivered. That obligation applies particularly to the States of the region. These requirements are set under international law and should not be subject to domestic law constraints. In that connection, we urge Serbia to lend its full support to the ICTY's work. While we understand that it is important to respect the different competencies of the judiciary and the executive, the national obligation to cooperate remains and cannot be ducked by suggesting the issue is for someone else to address.”
2016-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7829 (2016) · source
“Governments have not always provided the level of cooperation required and the Council has not been as effective or active in supporting progress as we believe it should have been. As the ICTY enters its final year, New Zealand agrees that its exclusive focus should remain on completing its work by the end of 2017. Both the Presidents' reports and Prosecutor's reports highlight the challenges to be faced in meeting this deadline, but it must be met. The Council and the United Nations must support the ICTY in achieving this. In this regard, we support the adoption of an incentives package for staff members to encourage them to remain with the ICTY until the end of their contracts. That is sensible business planning and we commend the Tribunal for its perseverance on this issue.”
2016-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7829 (2016) · source
“New Zealand remains a strong supporter of the work of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. As someone who worked on the Security Council resolutions that established the ICTY and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), I feel a special sense of connection with the work of the Tribunals. Back then, none of us expected that we would still be sitting in the Security Council 23 years later considering the Tribunals' completion strategies. New Zealand agrees that this has taken far too long. We must all take our share of the responsibility for this situation. It is true that the Tribunals could have done more to expedite their work, but it is also clear that political factors have also played a major role in this delay.”
2016-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7829 (2016) · source
“New Zealand will continue to work in the Security Council, in the General Assembly and elsewhere to continue trying to protect Syrian civilians.”
2016-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7825 (2016) · source
“Today's veto demonstrates to the world that for Moscow and Damascus our common refrain - that there is no military solution to this conflict - is a hollow fiction. For those countries it is clear that a military victory is precisely what they want and are actively pursuing, even if its cost is continued carnage inflicted on the Syrian people. Putting aside the devastating outcome of today's vote for the Council's credibility, we must not lose sight of the fact that the biggest losers today are those on the ground who, instead of having a chance to restore small parts of their lives, will continue to be subjected to the bombing and blasting that have blighted their lives for so many years. However, we will not let today's great disappointment deter us.”
2016-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7825 (2016) · source
“We consulted extensively and took on board as many views as would allow us, or so we understood, to achieve consensus while still making a practical difference for Syrian civilians on the ground. I would note that the delegation with which we engaged most intensively and from which we took the greatest number of changes was the delegation of the Russian Federation. We circulated the latest draft text to all Council members and requested the Secretariat to put it in blue at 8 pm. on Friday, 2 December. That request was circulated to all Council members. It is deeply disappointing that a trivial procedural point should be advanced as a serious argument for delaying such a draft resolution as this, against that practical background. Today's veto is another indictment on Russia, on those that supported Russia and on the Council.”
2016-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7825 (2016) · source
“The Council's failure to act in spite of the graphic monthly briefings and increasingly urgent pleas from Staffan de Mistura, Stephen O'Brien and others is deeply damaging to the Council's reputation, and catastrophic for the people of Syria. As I said last week (see S/PV.7822), our objectives in presenting this draft resolution are those that have guided our engagement on Syria since joining the Council, and that led my Prime Minister to convene a high-level meeting in September (see S/PV.7775). Those objectives were and are to reduce the violence, to restore the ceasefire, to allow humanitarian assistance to reach those in need and to create space for the resumption of political talks. Egypt, Spain and New Zealand had been working on this draft resolution for over a month.”
2016-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7825 (2016) · source
“New Zealand is bitterly disappointed that the Security Council was not able to come together today to adopt the draft resolution contained in document S/2016/1026. The draft resolution, put forward by Egypt, Spain and New Zealand, represented only a small step. In our view, it was the minimum required for a credible response from the Security Council to address the situation in Aleppo and in the rest of Syria. It was a humanitarian draft resolution designed to reduce fighting and get aid to those civilians who most desperately need it. As is well known, New Zealand has been working towards such an outcome for many months.”
2016-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7825 (2016) · source
“Terrorism is an incident of the conflict, not its cause or rationale. In sacrificing the lives of hundreds of civilians and putting hundreds of thousands into misery and suffering cannot be justified by waving the banner of counter-terrorism. Like Staffan de Mistura, we do not accept that the military advances into Aleppo will lead to the objective towards which the Council has allegedly been working for so many years - a political settlement leading to a stable and unified Syria, living at peace with itself and its neighbours. While our immediate focus must be on saving lives, we urge all parties to the conflict to recommit themselves to a political solution and a return to talks and a pathway towards sustainable peace and national reconciliation.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7822 (2016) · source
“Some may argue that our text addresses yesterday's issues and is no longer relevant to the situation on the ground, especially in Aleppo. An immediate ceasefire in Aleppo would undoubtedly address the most pressing humanitarian needs to get desperately needed humanitarian and medical assistance to traumatized civilians and to allow those civilians who want to get out to get out safely to a destination of their choice. Some may argue that the implementation of our resolution would give aid to the terrorists. We cannot exclude the possibility that terrorist groups may try to use a ceasefire to their advantage, but despite the rhetoric of terrorism that is regularly heaped on this conflict, the conflict between the Syrian Government and its people is not fundamentally about terrorism.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7822 (2016) · source
“We are disappointed that the parties have not yet been able to agree on terms to implement the United Nations four-point plan. We also need urgent action to protect those fleeing eastern Aleppo and assurances regarding the fate of those taken into custody by the Syrian Government. The draft resolution that New Zealand, Egypt and Spain submitted to Council members yesterday seeks to start a process to put the protection of civilians at our highest priority. The text represents the minimum that is required for a credible response from the Council, and we urge all Council members to support it. However, it will mean little unless we see urgent changes in the behaviour of the parties themselves, including some at this table.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7822 (2016) · source
“No humanitarian assistance has been allowed in since July, despite several pauses in the airstrikes. We have seen indiscriminate attacks on eastern Aleppo that have killed and injured many in western Aleppo. In the past few weeks, it has become clear that the Syrian Government has eschewed efforts to establish a ceasefire and resume political talks in favour of pursuing a military outcome. The result is another humanitarian catastrophe. We urgently need to halt the hostilities in Aleppo in order to get humanitarian assistance to those who so desperately need it. We call on all parties to work in coordination with the United Nations to ensure humanitarian assistance is delivered to those who remain in eastern Aleppo.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7822 (2016) · source
“Our objectives in putting forth the draft resolution are the same that have guided our engagement on this issue since joining the Council, and the same that led my Prime Minister to convene a high-level meeting on the issue during our September presidency: to reduce the violence, restore the ceasefire, enable humanitarian assistance to reach those most in need and create space for the resumption of political talks on an end to the conflict. A key focus has necessarily been on seeking to address the grave situation unfolding in Aleppo. Over the past few months, we have seen the presence of a few hundred Al-Nusra Front terrorists in eastern Aleppo used to justify an all-out attack on more than 250,000 civilians. Every hospital in opposition-held areas has been destroyed.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7822 (2016) · source
“That has prevented the Council from putting in place measures that would have saved lives. The people of Syria have paid, and continue to pay, a terrible price for that inaction, and so do their neighbours. New Zealand has been working with Spain and Egypt to find a way through that impasse. We have sought to cut through the politics and the polemics and focus on agreeing on action that can make a practical difference on the ground. We have tried to work constructively with all key players to that end. The draft resolution that we put forth yesterday is a manifestation of those efforts.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7822 (2016) · source
“New Zealand welcomes today's briefing on the events unfolding in eastern Aleppo. We thank the briefers and commend them and the brave people that have been working with them in such difficult circumstances. Over the past five years, New Zealand has been highly critical of the Security Council's failure to live up to its responsibilities with regard to the ongoing conflict in Syria. We have not been alone in doing so. For much of that time, the Council has remained largely silent as the country has unravelled and the fighting has become more cruel and more brutal. Often, we have been prevented from acting or even speaking due to the inability or unwillingness of some of the Council's most powerful members to move beyond their own politics and vested interests.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7822 (2016) · source
“We hope that today's resolution and the strengthened measures that it puts in place can help set us back on the path towards a return to negotiations and ultimately the resolution of this long-standing security challenge.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7821 (2016) · source
“Coordinated and comprehensive implementation by Member States is one of the strongest signals the international community can send to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that its continued proliferation activities and disregard for international obligations will not be tolerated, and that a change of course is urgently needed. Ultimately, sanctions are a means, not an end, for effecting change on the Koreanpeninsula. The resolution sends a further signal to North Korea's leadership that their current path of isolation and defiance of international norms is wrong-headed and that a return in good faith to negotiations on denuclearization provides the best prospects for the security and prosperity of their country and their people.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7821 (2016) · source
“New Zealand's support also reflects our commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, to which the actions of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - the only country to have tested nuclear weapons this century - pose a grave challenge. We commend the United States and China for their leadership and cooperation in preparing the measures set out in today's resolution. It is now the responsibility of the international community to ensure that the measures in the resolution are fully implemented and effectively enforced.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7821 (2016) · source
“Given the seriousness of those developments, it is entirely appropriate that the resolution provides for some of the strongest sanctions ever imposed by the Security Council. New Zealand has co-sponsored the resolution for a number of reasons. Not least of those is our concern at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's dangerous and provocative behaviour and its ongoing defiance of the Council and of its own international obligations. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's continued provocations pose arguably the most significant threat to the security of New Zealand's region, the Asia- Pacific.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7821 (2016) · source
“I thank the Secretary-General for his strong statement today. New Zealand welcomes the unanimous adoption of resolution 2321 (2016), which strengthens and expands the sanctions in place against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. This year has seen the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's defiance of the international community and its flouting of international norms reach new heights. As the Secretary-General reminded us, the Council has met many times this year to discuss North Korea's succession of nuclear and ballistic missile tests. These events and the overall trajectory of the situation on the Korean peninsula are sources of great concern and frustration for New Zealand.”
2016-11-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7821 (2016) · source
“I thank Senegal for its work in the area and the briefers for their instructive contributions. We must continue to lend our full support to such efforts.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“Those impacts can exacerbate security risks. New Zealand has been working with its Pacific partners to address a range of water-related vulnerabilities across the region, including rainwater-harvesting systems in Kiribati and Vanuatu and strengthening national water management and delivery systems. We are also working towards improving supply and reliability of water supplies for drought-prone islands in Tuvalu, Tokelau, Cook Islands and the Marshall Islands. In conclusion, ensuring water security for the world's population represents one of the most critical challenges facing the global community. Ultimately, that can only be achieved through effective regional and international cooperation. Doing so will enhance prosperity and security by fostering resilience and trust. It can help prevent conflict and save lives.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“As the Council heard during the open debate on security challenges facing small island developing States convened by New Zealand last year (see S/PV.7499), security threats can take different forms for such States. For many small island States in my own region, reliable access to fresh water is an existential issue. Almost half ofthe small island developing States in the Pacific have no significant surface water resources. Almost as many also lack groundwater reserves. This leaves many communities reliant on unpredictable rainfall patterns for fresh water, representing a threat to the sustainable development and health and, ultimately, the viability of many Pacific populations. Climate change effects on the region are likely to include more intense droughts and the potential contamination of available groundwater resources.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“The denial ofaccess to water can be used for political leverage or as aweapon of war, as we have heard anumber of times this morning. We have seen the shocking and deliberate use of such cynical tactics against civilians in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Freshwater systems form part of critical civilian infrastructure and, as such, are protected under international humanitarian law. As the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross made clear this morning, deliberately denying civilians' access to fresh water represents a violation of international human rights law and in conflict settings may even amount to war crimes. Thirdly, and finally, we need to ensure that water security is not considered solely as a transboundary issue.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“We need to support such initiatives and foster them in areas where frameworks are absent. As the Secretary-General noted this morning, the United Nations can play an important role. We welcome, for example, the work of the Department of Political Affairs, through the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, in fostering dialogue and cooperation on the management of transboundary water resources in Central Asia. Initiatives such as the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace can also allow us to focus our efforts. Secondly, in existing conflict situations we need to recognize that competition for water resources can affect the conduct and continuation of hostilities. Disputes over water need to be fully integrated into conflict analyses and conflict-prevention and resolution strategies.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“I wish to highlight three areas where we believe more could be done on this issue to support international peace and security. First, we need to acknowledge that the effective management of water resources is not only essential for resilience and sustainable development, but is also an effective conflict-prevention tool. In many parts of the world, considerable progress has been made in the collaborative management of water resources, enhancing security and prosperity. This is most effective at the regional level. There are many successful multiparty management frameworks, stretching from the Mekong River in South-East Asia to the Senegal River and the Lake Chad Basin in West Africa. Effective regional cooperation to mitigate conflict risk must be applauded.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“In some regions, hundreds of millions of people rely on the outflow of just a handful of at-risk water sources. Even in a country like New Zealand, which has mostly clean and relatively abundant fresh water, economic activities and a growing population are putting pressure on freshwater resources in terms of both managing access and maintaining water quality. Those regions of the world already struggling with water shortages are expected to experience further scarcity as they feel the combined effects of rapid population growth, increased agricultural production and climate change. Moreover, the potential for conflict between countries over transboundary water resources is well documented. Water crises can increase State fragility and act as a threat multiplier.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“But we know that other members of this Organization have much more difficult situations to manage and that access to critical natural resources can have profound implications for the survival and prosperity of communities, and competition for these has long been a potential source of conflict. Therefore, while I agree with my Russian colleague that there is nothing inherent in water that makes it a security issue, we all know that no resource is more central to human survival than fresh water and that where that resource is scarce or access is restricted, the potential for conflict is real. As we heard from Mr. Danilo Turk, approximately 145 States and 40 per cent of the world's population fall within 263 international river basins.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“I wish to thank you, Minister Ndiaye, and your delegation for having convened this important and very interesting debate. I also express my appreciation to the Secretary-General and the other briefers. The subject of today's debate is somewhat challenging for New Zealand: on the one hand, we are surrounded by water and that water - seawater - is fundamental to our security and to our economic well- being. On the other hand, with our nearest neighbour more than 1,200 miles away, that water is uncontestably subject to New Zealand jurisdiction, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We are in the lucky situation of not having to share freshwater resources with any other nation or manage the challenges of a shared riverine boundary.”
2016-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7818 (2016) · source
“It also begins to deal with some very difficult issues, namely, separation and the political process, but it does not try to provide all the answers. We are aware that there are conversations going on elsewhere. The draft resolution is intended to be complementary to those conversations. We are committed to taking this draft resolution forward, and we urge all Council members to support us in words and in action.”
2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source
“As is well-known, after last month's vetos (see S/PV.7785), New Zealand tried to advance a draft resolution that would have demanded an end to all attacks that risked death or injury to civilians in Syria, especially in Aleppo. It was deeply frustrating that the Council could not unite around a proposition as simple and basic as that. Nonetheless, New Zealand, together with Egypt and Spain, is again putting forward a draft resolution that is similarly modest in ambition. Indeed, we consider it to be the bare minimum that the Council can do. It approaches the conflict through a humanitarian lens, establishes a 10-day pause in Aleppo to allow the United Nations and its partners to get aid in and sick people out, and re-establishes the cessation of hostilities in the remainder of the country.”
2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source
“Looking around the Chamber today, I felt I can see in the faces of my colleagues some of the shame that I feel myself. Instead of responding to the clear breaches of international peace and security, the Council has been largely just a witness to the horrors that have been described to us again today. The situation in Syria is horrible and complex, and many players, external and internal, are playing roles there. A particularly unhelpful role is being played by the terrorist groups. However, leaving aside the area occupied and controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, no amount of diplomatic diversion can hide the fact that we are witness to the destruction of a country and its people, led by its own Government and supported by a permanent member of the Security Council.”
2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source
“But, as we have heard today, cross- front-line access, also called for by the Council, has been systematically denied, blocked, obstructed and obfuscated by the Syrian Government or forces allied with it. And our resolution 2286 (2016) on attacks on health-care workers or hospitals has been blatantly ignored, as we have been told today. Most fundamentally, the Council has been powerless in dealing with the most serious threat facing the Syrian people, namely, the besiegement and bombardment of civilians, most notably in Aleppo, and, as we have been reminded again today, throughout other parts of Syria, as well. I am not going to revisit the horrors that flow from our inaction. They have been described more than adequately by Mr. O'Brien, Ms. Hoff and others.”
2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source
“I thank Mr. Stephen O'Brien and Ms.Elizabeth Hoff for their briefings. I commend them and their staff for their courage and determination in persevering in such difficult and dispiriting conditions. Mr. O'Brien asked the question as to why the Council is holding this meeting. We could have asked the same question during each of the past 12 months. The Council has been powerless in dealing with the essential problem in Syria. Important work has been done in addressing the particular menace of chemical weapons, and, as Mr. O'Brien has reminded us, important humanitarian assistance has been able to get through under the cross-border arrangements called for by the Council.”
2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source
“Kaberuka whereby 25 per cent of the cost of African Union-led peace operations would be financed by African States. We are also supportive of proposals to utilize United Nations assessed contributions for financing African Union-led missions in defined circumstances. We realize that those are ambitious proposals. Moreover, we understand what would have to be put in place as prerequisites for making them work. Meeting such challenges will need to be a priority for the new leadership of the United Nations and African Union, when they assume office next year. In the meantime, Member States will need to take the difficult decisions necessary to advance the partnership with the African Union in a meaningful way.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“But continuing to rely on ad hoc arrangements each time a new African Union-led mission is deployed is simply not sustainable. Time and again, we have found ourselves reliant on temporary fixes and improvised arrangements in order to mobilize and sustain a response to critical security threats. That often leads to critical delays in establishing a mission and to ongoing capability gaps and uncertainties around funding. The result is less effective missions and longer, more costly conflicts. Finding a mechanism for providing sustained, predictable financing for African-led peace operations is therefore an urgent priority. That is why we strongly support the proposals put forward by the African Union to address the issue, particularly the road map outlined by Mr.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source