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

“In addition to due-diligence requirements for human rights in peace operations, we should think through other challenging and complex issues, such as standards for conduct and discipline, financial controls, resource management and environmental standards. That will require significant effort in building relevant capabilities within the AU. What the United Nations will get in return is a stronger partner able to help tackle shared challenges, often significantly more cheaply than the United Nations can. Thirdly, as we have already heard today, we must tackle the fundamental issue of financing for African- led peace operations. New Zealand acknowledges the challenges involved in reaching agreement on a new, more sustainable financing model in the current environment of austerity.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“Greater use of joint visiting missions would be another practical way to enable the two Councils to gain a shared appreciation of situations and lend their combined weight to joint political messaging on what is required. We urge the African Union and the Security Council, including next year's incoming members, to make greater use ofjoint visiting missions in 2017. Secondly, we must work together to help strengthen the relevant capacities in the African Union. If we are to deepen cooperation, it is essential to ensure that the African Union and the United Nations share standards and approaches for key aspects of their field missions.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“Enhanced cooperation between the executive bodies of the two organizations - the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council - is also very important. New Zealand recognizes the significance of regular, structured, formal exchanges between the Councils, such as their annualjoint meeting. But we believe that it is much more useful to have regular informal engagement between the two bodies, and that will deliver greater value. In our experience, such interactions have been most successful when they focus on specific issues, often after field missions, when the two bodies can focus on what has been achieved and what the problems are, rather than the areas where each believes that the other is letting it down.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“If the United Nations and the African Union - and for that matter the regional economic communities - can agree on objective analyses of the fundamental causes and drivers of conflict, decisions on possible responses, solutions and respective roles should flow more naturally. But how can we achieve that? Secretariat-to-secretariat connections are critical. The United Nations Office to the African Union plays a vital role in United Nations engagement with the African Union, and should be further strengthened. Joint assessment missions, information exchanges, training and secondments are also useful tools for building connections, mutual trust and understanding between the two secretariats.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“It is time to move beyond the rhetoric of cooperation to arrangements that will have practical, meaningful application and deliver concrete results. I want to focus today on three specific areas where the United Nations-AU partnership should be strengthened. First, we should foster shared analysis and understanding of security challenges between the United Nations and the African Union. We share the view of Special Representative Menkerios that early engagement on building a common analysis and understanding of security challenges and conflict situations creates an essential foundation for effective cooperation.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“Although different in nature, the case of the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad basin also demonstrated the need for a model that can enable a more robust response to critical security threats, such as that posed by Boko Haram to the countries of that region. In the case of AMISOM, despite the success of the United Nations logistical-support package, troop-contributing countries in the region continue to be frustrated by the lack of predictable financing for troop stipends. Such approaches are neither sufficient nor sustainable, which is why New Zealand welcomes Senegal's initiative in focusing attention on that critical issue today. Over the past decade, we have all made obeisance to the need for cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“In Somalia, we have seen an African-led peace operation, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), operate with support from bilateral donors, backed by a United Nations support office. In Darfur, we have seen a hybrid United Nations-AU force achieve some progress, but it has also encountered serious challenges in implementing its mandate. Those missions have enjoyed some success, and we pay tribute to those who have contributed to that. But they have also highlighted some of the ongoing challenges facing United Nations- AU cooperation, particularly where arrangements for financing, logistical support and mission leadership are concerned. The missions initially led by the African Union in Mali and the Central African Republic are also a clear case in point.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“Over the past two decades, the States members of the African Union have demonstrated their willingness and intention to lead the way in preventing and resolving conflict and securing peace in their region. Effective cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union is essential to ensure support for those efforts and to maximize their chances of success. As others have said, it is therefore critical that the United Nations and the African Union take a structured, complementary and integrated approach to tackling peace and security challenges on the continent. Various models for such cooperation have been tested, with varying degrees of success.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“I would like to thank Mr. Ndiaye for convening today's meeting on an important subject and to acknowledge Senegal's role as one of the most significant contributors to United Nations peacekeeping forces. I thank Assistant Secretary-General Wane, Ambassador Antonio, Special Representative Menkerios and Mr. Kaberuka for their briefings, which have conveyed a clear and consistent set of messages for the Council to consider. New Zealand looks forward to the Council's adoption later this morning of draft resolution S/2016/977, prepared by Senegal and the United States, which we believe will send a strong signal of the Security Council's political support and encouragement of the recent efforts of the African Union (AU) to strengthen our partnership.”
2016-11-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7816 (2016) · source
“At the moment, there is none. In that case, aside from at least reducing the importation of weapons, especially heavy weaponry, the purpose of the embargo would be to signal that international tolerance of what has been going on in South Sudan has reached an end. New Zealand therefore looks forward to working with the United States and other Council members on the draft resolution that is anticipated.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“We should also be working with Council members and the TCCs to document benchmarks and Violations of the status of forces agreement and to build a shared understanding of the picture of non-compliance. At the level of the Council, we and the international community have to take steps to change the calculus of the Government of South Sudan, and the SPLA- IO in particular, so as to give UNMISS the room it needs to conduct its basic mandate. As a Council, we need to send a clear signal, including through targeted sanctions and an arms embargo, that the status quo will no longer be tolerated. The argument that sanctions must be linked to a political process in order to be effective, or that they might complicate the political process, only holds, in our view, when there is a realistic prospect for a political process.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“The Council should be kept updated regularly on progress in implementation, and the Secretary- General and his team need to ensure that such updates are provided. We also need to set clear guidance and expectations for the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the Force Commander, and require them to ensure that the civilian and military components of UNMISS work in support of each other's operations, particularly with respect to the implementation of the mandate, the rules of engagement and the use of force. The Security Council and the troop-contributing countries (TCCs) also have a shared responsibility to address the systemic issues in UNMISS. We need to be having more frank conversations with each other so as to clarify expectations and to highlight the decisions by the TCCs not to follow orders.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“We cannot abandon South Sudan, but neither can we magically conjure up an instant change in the behaviour of South Sudanese leaders or indeed in the way that UNMISS is constituted and operates. Despite the scale of the problem, we need to be focussed and realistic in our immediate objectives, until longer-term arrangements can be developed and put into place. Right now, we first have to heed the warnings of Mr. Adama Dieng about the dangers of genocide and make it clear to South Sudan's leaders that they will be held to account if events deteriorate further. Secondly, we need to implement without delay the recommendations in the Independent Special Investigation report that are capable of immediate implementation.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“UNMISS, as is sometimes forgotten, has four key tasks: protecting civilians, monitoring and investigating human rights abuses, creating the conditions for delivering humanitarian assistance, and supporting the implementation of the peace agreement. However, the only task that UNMISS has really been able to undertake in the past six months and longer is the first of those tasks and, as has been cruelly demonstrated, even that has not been done very well when the pressure has been on. Responsibility for the situation lies primarily with the South Sudanese parties, especially the Government, which has used its position as host Government and its military strength to prevent UNMISS from carrying out its mandate. What do we do?”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“However, some responsibility also lies with those who have offered sanctuary to such people and their assets, with those who have supplied arms to fuel such a crippling war in the world's poorest country and, indeed, with those who have constrained the Council from taking effective action in response to a situation that has been brewing for many years. We are now being warned that a very real and serious disaster is looming at a time when UNMISS is ill-equipped to deal with it. As we know, UNMISS is operating in a non-permissive environment, beset by deep systemic and political problems and in a state of flux, facing changes in leadership in the field and indeed in New York next year.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“We had the horrific outbreak of violence in Juba in July, and the response by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was the subject of a searing report by the Independent Special Investigator appointed by the Secretary- General. Since then, Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) troops and other militias continue to skirmish with each other and maraud about the country, committing atrocities against each other and innocent civilians, to the point where we are now being warned of the real risks of a full-scale civil war and even genocide. Responsibility for the state of affairs rests principally with South Sudan's leaders, who have prioritized power and self-enrichment over the needs of their peoples.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“I would like to begin by thanking Ms. Ellen Margrethe Laj for her briefing and service to the United Nations, particularly in South Sudan. I would also like to thank Mr. Adama Dieng for his frank and clear briefing of the risks that we now face in South Sudan, as well as the President, Mr. Fode Seck, for his similarly honest assessment of the situation as seen by the South Sudan Sanctions Committee. As we have heard, the situation in South Sudan is appalling. The peace agreement negotiated last year is moribund, if not dead. There is no political process occurring, and the key actors are not inclined in any serious way to join one.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7814 (2016) · source
“We encourage OIC to deepen its cooperation with the United Nations in that area. In the light of the many challenges, New Zealand welcomes the OIC 2025 Programme of Action, adopted in April of this year, which sets out a range of actions to strengthen OIC's role in conflict prevention and resolution and post-conflict peacebuilding. The actions agreed at the biennial United Nations-OIC consultations in May provide a useful framework for further strengthening OIC's strategic partnership with the United Nations system in pursuing those goals. New Zealand is confident that the partnership can make a practical difference in restoring peace and security to Muslim and non-Muslim communities alike in the years ahead.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“That means cooperating with communities so as to prevent the radicalization of our youth and to re-educate and rehabilitate those who fall victim to extremist narratives. It means confronting and defeating the politics of hatred and exclusion in our communities. And it means working together internationally to amplify the voices of tolerance and moderation. That is why New Zealand has been a regular partner to OIC and its members in supporting initiatives that promote dialogue and understanding, such as interfaith dialogue and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. And that is why we have been a strong supporter of the Secretary-General's Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. The Plan of Action provides an important blueprint and a useful practical resource for other international actors in that space, including OIC.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“Many communities around the world currently face severe challenges from extremist forces that manifest themselves in many ways, from terrorism and violent extremism, through to aggressively intolerant and exclusionary political and religious movements. Those battles can be fought and won only by way of dialogue and voices within the affected cultures and communities speaking up for peace. We commend OIC's long-standing commitment to promote understanding among different faiths and communities and to reject all forms of intolerance. All of those in the international community who support moderation and the maintenance of peaceful, inclusive societies must also do their part to support those efforts.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“Secondly, we acknowledge the tremendous contribution made by many OIC countries in managing the unprecedented global refugee flows that the international community currently faces. Five of the six countries hosting the largest refugee populations are OIC members, collectively hosting more than 6 million people. OIC members are also among the largest humanitarian donors. We also acknowledge the role played by OIC itself in supporting humanitarian work in settings such as Somalia and Darfur, as well as in some of our near neighbours in South-East Asia. But it is perhaps in preventing and combating violent extremism that we see the greatest potential and need for OIC to contribute in the years ahead.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“The political, military and religious leaders of those countries need to be encouraged and supported in their efforts to bring the suffering of their peoples to an end, including by showing leadership and making the hard political decisions needed to help bring those conflicts to a peaceful resolution. And affected communities will need help in finding ways to live peacefully with each other once more. In close cooperation with the United Nations and other international mediators, OIC has a potentially significant role to play in supporting those efforts. We welcome its participation in the work of the International Syria Support Group and its mediation efforts in Iraq.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“Through its Peace, Security and Mediation Unit, OIC has supported mediation efforts in Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia, as well as in Thailand and the Philippines in my own region - to name but a few examples. OIC brings to those efforts a unique authority and an ability to reach, work with and mobilize communities and religious leaders in the cause of peace. We encourage OIC to continue and expand that important work. Nowhere is that need greater than in the efforts to halt the fighting and reconcile and heal divisions between Islamic communities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the occupied Palestinian territories.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“OIC's standing in the Islamic world and its deep understanding of the religious and cultural context of Islamic communities make it uniquely placed to promote peace and reconciliation by amplifying the voices of tolerance and moderation. I wish to highlight three areas in which enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and the OIC can reinforce their respective abilities to support international peace and security. First, we welcome OIC's efforts over the past decade to strengthen its capacity to contribute to conflict prevention and resolution. New Zealand has been a consistent advocate for a sharper United Nations focus on conflict prevention and for strengthened cooperation with regional and other partners in support of such efforts. OIC is a natural partner in that regard.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“In many settings that instability has unleashed sectarian tensions that have been exploited by violent extremist groups to stir up hatred and division. Ethnic and religious communities, which in many cases have lived peacefully together for centuries, have been turned against one another. That is tearing at the social fabric of much of the Middle East and North Africa, in particular. It is contributing to population movements that have disturbing implications for the future stability and cohesion of many States. Echoes of those strains and intolerances are also being heard in countries far removed from the centres of Islamic faith. OIC has an important role to play in countering those messages of hate, in tamping down the embers of conflict and in promoting healing, reconciliation and understanding.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“I thank Senegal for organizing this debate and the briefers for their important statements. Presidential statement S/PRST/2013/16 of October 2013, on cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) provided long overdue recognition of OIC's growing role in preventing and resolving conflict, as well as of the potential for enhanced collaboration with the United Nations in those efforts. Three years on, the need for a strong partnership between the United Nations and OIC has never been greater. The past few years have been traumatic ones for communities across the Islamic world. Many countries with significant Muslim populations are experiencing instability and, in some cases, violent internal conflicts.”
2016-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7813 (2016) · source
“In that regard, we support the Secretary-General's intention to integrate the prevention of violent extremism into the relevant activities of United Nations peacekeeping operations. As the nature of peacekeeping evolves, the Council needs to adapt to new realities. Peacekeepers are increasingly caught between armed actors and the civilians they are required to protect. It is important that the Council continue to adapt to new forms of conflict, to ensure its peacekeepers carry out their roles safely and effectively.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“It is our hope that, by ensuring that Council members are briefed on emerging threats to peacekeepers and the civilians they are mandated to protect, those risks can be more effectively managed. The work of the Council and the peace operations it mandates does not exist in a vacuum. In that regard, it is important that the Security Council coordinate its work with other United Nations and international entities active in counter-terrorism efforts, to ensure complementarity of effort and avoid duplication. Strengthened cooperation among the relevant agencies to improve the ability of peace operations to function more effectively is essential. We also support the Secretary-General's Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, which emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to address the root causes of violent extremism effectively.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“The use of intelligence and surveillance capabilities assumes particular importance in such environments, and are vital enablers for peacekeepers in detecting and preventing threats to both United Nations personnel and the civilians under their protection. Such capabilities save lives, and we need to move beyond the politics that currently restrict their use. Thirdly, the Security Council needs to provide more meaningful oversight for those peacekeepers deployed to environments where asymmetrical threats are present. That need for more active Council monitoring and management of situations of risk or high or emerging risk led New Zealand to support the establishment of regular situation-awareness briefings.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“We have witnessed several examples in recent years, perhaps most dramatically in the Golan Heights in 2014, of what can happen when peacekeepers do not have clear guidance on how to respond in such situations. To ensure their readiness, we also see merit in missions establishing processes to regularly test and rehearse such scenarios. Secondly, where asymmetrical threats are present, we must ensure that peacekeepers are adequately trained and equipped, and that missions are provided with the necessary capabilities. Too often, that does not happen. We must ensure that United Nations missions are provided the necessary intelligence, logistics and force-protection capabilities to ensure the safety and security of their personnel.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“First, it is vital that we provide peace operations with clear and realistic mandates and that those mandates be backed by appropriate concepts of operations, clear rules of engagement and adequate contingency planning. Peacekeepers must have clarity about what role they should - and should not - be playing in addressing the asymmetrical threats present in their environment. I agree with others who say that peacekeepers should not be involved in proactive counter-terrorism or counter-insurgency activities. But they will be required on occasion to take pre-emptive steps to address imminent threats and to respond in situations when United Nations personnel come under attack.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“Like my colleague from the United Kingdom, I am also going to shorten my statement. The full version will be available on the website of the Permanent Mission of New Zealand. Let me begin by thanking Senegal for convening this important discussion, and our briefers for the information and analysis they have provided us today. Others have covered the more general challenge posed to peacekeepers in the dangerous and complex environments in which many peacekeeping operations take place. I want to highlight three aspects that we consider warrant particular attention to try to ensure that peacekeepers in such environments can operate as safely and as effectively as possible.”
2016-11-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7802 (2016) · source
“It must also send a clear signal to the Yemeni parties that the international community expects them to resume meaningful negotiations with each other towards achieving a sustainable end to the conflict, and that that spoilers will not be tolerated. We stand ready to work with Council members on anything that might be useful to add pressure on the parties to resolve this conflict.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“The alternative is a further prolonging of the current bloody stalemate that can achieve little other than heaping further misery on the Yemeni people and creating longer-term problems for the country and region.We urge leaders on both sides to put the interests oftheir people first and accept this road map as the basis for ending this tragic conflict, and to take it forward in a spirit of flexibility and compromise. History will not judge kindly those who seek to delay or derail these efforts, and neither should the Council. In the coming weeks, the Council needs to focus on doing all it can to support the efforts of the United Nations Special Envoy and others to end the violence.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“For some time we have appeared frustratingly close to an agreement on how to end this conflict. The key elements of a deal have been evident for some months, with the main points of contention being their sequencing. The parties have been presented with a credible road map for security and political arrangements to end the conflict and resume an inclusive political transition. We recognize that this road map requires difficult concessions from all parties, but flat- out rejection is not acceptable.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“The conflict has created a conducive environment for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant to expand their influence and reach. Recent attacks on shipping in the Bab-el-Mandeb have further demonstrated the emergence of other strategic threats from this conflict. Ultimately it is only by ending hostilities that we can restore stability and end the suffering of the Yemeni people. This must be our central focus and most urgent priority. In this regard, we are deeply disappointed at the failure to extend the recent ceasefire brokered by the United Nations Special Envoy. An enduring ceasefire is a necessary step towards a more positive trajectory for Yemen. We urge all parties to agree to a sustained ceasefire as soon as possible.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“This medical crisis is compounded by the ban on commercial flights in and out of Sana'a, which prevents critically injured civilians from getting medical assistance elsewhere. We call for this ban to be lifted immediately. Both sides have also regularly fallen short of their obligations to protect civilians caught up in this conflict. The coalition airstrike against a funeral in Sana'a on 8 October was a shocking example of this failure. It also makes the reports over the weekend of airstrikes against a Houthi-held prison all the more disturbing. Urgent steps are needed to provide accountability for these actions and to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. We stress once again the need for all parties fully comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“More than 10,000 Yemenis have been killed, and most Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Images of the more 370,000 severely malnourished children remind us of the fragility of Yemen's food supply. Although the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen continues to play an essential role in managing food imports, a lack of port capacity means ships face long delays, further inflating the cost of food and fuel. This, compounded by the increasingly serious risk of economic collapse, threatens to put millions onemenis at risk of starvation. The collapse of the public health system also means that millions of Yemenis lack access to even the most basic medical services.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“I would like to thank the Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Mr. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed; the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Stephen O'Brien; and the World Food Programme Regional Director, Mr. Muhannad Hadi, for their briefings and for their work and for their support of Yemen and its people. It is now more than a year and a half since the attempt by Houthi forces to seize control of the Government of Yemen prompted the collapse of the political transition and the outbreak of the current conflict. It is now clear that none of the parties can achieve their aims through military force. Today's briefers have underlined just how bad the situation on the ground has become. Tragically - as we have been saying for too long - Yemeni civilians are paying a heavy price for the ongoing hostilities.”
2016-10-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7797 (2016) · source
“I have little doubt that he was thinking of the challenges we face in the Council and hoping that we might strive for similar positive results here.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Earlier today in Hobarh, Australia, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Resources agreed to establish the world's largest marine protected area. That was the culmination of over six years of dedicated diplomatic effort led by New Zealand and the United States, and involving difficult and intense negotiations with other Commission members, including, I would note, members of the Council: Russia, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Ukraine and Uruguay. As my Minister observed when welcoming that achievement, "This is a great result for quiet diplomacy and honest toil". He added that it was particularly pleasing that this agreement could be reached when there are so many difficulties and so many differences happening elsewhere.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Promoting greater regional economic integration could both enhance Central Asia's prosperity and help maintain peace and stability over the longer term. There is obviously no one-size-fits-all approach to cooperation with regional organizations, but it is clear that it is in all our interests to encourage effective regional cooperation and to help regional and subregional organizations fulfil their potential. Before I conclude, I want to note an important positive development in another regional organization devoted to maintaining international peace and security, namely, the Antarctic Treaty System, which is of Vital importance to my country and other members of the Organization.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“The Centre's support in facilitating dialogue, promoting cooperation on early warning and analysis, and helping to mobilize and coordinate the political will and resources necessary to take effective action should be greatly valued. History also teaches us that countries that trade together are less likely to take up arms against each other. Levels of intraregional trade in Central Asia remain very low. Increasing connectivity through economic linkages, the strengthening of cultural ties and greater mobility can be the building blocks for stronger diplomatic bonds. In the Asia-Pacific, for example, we have seen the growth of trade go hand-in-hand with closer regional cooperation led by regional organizations.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“It is Central Asia that will benefit most from a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Regional cooperation is clearly also essential for combating transnational criminal networks, including drug traffickers and the transborder flow of illicit money and arms. Effective cross-border cooperation will be vital for addressing terrorism and Violent extremism, the threat of which has been significantly exacerbated by the more than 2,000 foreign terrorist fighters thought to have travelled from Central Asia to battlefields in Iraq and Syria. As the Permanent Representative of Malaysia said, the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia can play an important part in facilitating international support for tackling those threats.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Despite the immense investments of the international community following the Council-endorsed action to free the country from the grip of Al-Qaida and the Taliban after the events of 9/11, peace and stability remain almost as elusive as ever there. Enduring instability will further exacerbate tensions, with cross-border implications for the wider region. As was again underlined to the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011) yesterday in the briefing by the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Taliban-controlled narcotics trade remains a serious threat to the stability of Afghanistan and its neighbours. We encourage regional players to continue coordinated efforts, including cooperation with United Nations bodies such as the 1988 Committee.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“As today's briefers have made clear, the peace and security challenges facing Central Asian countries cannot be met effectively without close cooperation among the countries of the region and strong partnerships with the international community. Ongoing tensions among Central Asian countries stemming from disputed borders, the management of cross-border resources, such as water, and the region's complex ethnic makeup will require sustained and patient management, as will increases in the cross- border flow of peoples, including refugees. As we are all so aware in the Council, Afghanistan has been involved in a succession of external and internal conflicts for many decades.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“That has also been the experience in my own region, the Pacific, where regional cooperation has been essential for meeting both security and sustainable development challenges for the past 40 years. The reasons for that are clear. Regional organizations are able to draw on local knowledge and perspectives that are essential for addressing the security challenges faced by their members. They provide a mechanism for mobilizing and sustaining the political will of their members behind conflict prevention and resolution efforts. They also provide a means for regions to interact with the United Nations and to leverage the capabilities that the global organization can bring to the table.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“I too thank Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General Bordyuzha, Secretary-General Alimov and Vice-Chair Ivanov for their briefings. New Zealand strongly supports active and regular cooperation between the Security Council and regional and subregional organizations in preventing and resolving conflict. The past 70 years have provided numerous demonstrations of the value of regional organizations and of their effectiveness as partners with the United Nations. The peace and stability currently enjoyed in much of Latin America, Europe and South- East Asia owe a great deal to the regional architecture that has been put in place there. In Africa, we have also seen welcome growth in the tempo and effectiveness of regional and subregional cooperation to address peace and security challenges over the past 20 years.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Sides with influence over the parties on the ground, and those directly involved in the conflict, bear responsibility for the ongoing slaughter. But Council members bear responsibility for how the Council responds, or fails to.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source
“But the problem we are looking to address has not gone away, and neither will we. We will continue to push for effective political action to halt the catastrophe that is unfolding, and our draft remains available as a basis for possible future action by the Council. But for any Council action to be effective, the Council has to come together and live up to its responsibilities under the Charter. We know that the divisions on the issue are acute and reflect the sad realities of today's international situation, but while we cannot escape those realities, the Council must be more than an echo chamber of developments elsewhere. We need to at least be willing to try to get past the current divisions and distrust. If we do not, the performance of the Council and its members in addressing the Syrian tragedy will be judged harshly by history.”
2016-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7795 (2016) · source