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

“As we have seen, the consequences of the Council's failure to act in preventive mode can have far more devastating consequences for a country's sovereignty. Part of this challenge lies in finding better and more collaborative ways of working with key regional partners such as the African Union. Thirdly, we need to sharpen the effectiveness of the tools available to the Council to discharge its mandate. The report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (see S/2015/446) represents an important opportunity in this regard. Over the balance of this year we will work with Council colleagues to implement key recommendations to improve the effectiveness of Council mandates, including through greater prioritization and sequencing of tasks and deployments.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“But it remains strangely reluctant to use them, with discussions on preventive action generally becoming hostage to national or bilateral interests, or bogged down in false dichotomies between intervention and deference to sovereignty. National sovereignty must be respected, but it is not the only or paramount principle in the Charter. We must not allow it to be used as a shield by those who brutalize their own populations and undermine regional and global security. Those that defend such perpetrators on this basis bring discredit upon themselves and the Council. It must be possible for the Council to conceive of ways of engaging early to de-escalate and resolve crises, ways that are effective, respectful of sovereignty and sensitive to regional leadership.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“For five years, the Council has remained almost completely passive in the face of the deepening conflict, paralysed by disagreements among its permanent members. The international community and the Syrian people are paying the price for that failure, and will continue to do so for decades to come. Seven years after its last resolution on the matter, the Council remains unable to agree a collective response to the growing instability in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and the steady erosion of a basis for a negotiated peace. The Council has a clear responsibility to act in such situations, and it has a range of tools at its disposal for doing so.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“As we set out during our presidency in July of last year, we will continue to push for more informal and unscripted conversations focused on agreeing on pragmatic and constructive solutions. Ultimately, what is required is a change of culture and of mindset. Secondly, the Council must live up to its rhetoric on conflict prevention. The Council currently finds it extraordinarily difficult to respond quickly and effectively to emerging crises. For example, despite growing evidence of a crisis, it took the Council almost six months to respond to the calls by New Zealand and some others for a Council visiting mission to Burundi. By the time the Council did respond, the scope for the mission to have a meaningful impact had shrunk dramatically. Syria presents an even starker example of thit failure.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“What we have seen instead are set-piece statements, rigid positioning and attempts to publicly embarrass and undermine other Council members, even within our so-called informal consultations. Put simply, few Council members appear to be coming to the Chamber or to the Consultations Room with ideas on how to solve problems or even to engage seriously on them. While we are all culpable, the worst offenders are those who bear the greatest responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations- the permanent members. That must change. New Zealand is focused on practical steps that can be taken to achieve even modest progress in improving the dynamics and performance of the Council.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“The Council has been slow to act to prevent clearly emerging crises. And political divisions within the Council have hamstrung its response to full blown crises - Syria being the most obvious recent example. We Council members can and must do better. New Zealand is focused on doing what it can to address those shortcomings. Today I wish to focus on five areas in which we believe the Council needs to improve its game. First, we need a more genuine focus on practical problem-solving. For permanent and elected members alike, Council membership brings with it the solemn responsibility for preventing and resolving conflict. Yet during our time in the Council, very few of the discussions in which we have participated could be characterized as genuine attempts at problem resolution.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“The Council has responded to those dynamic and evolving threats by adapting its response 4 for example, through the evolution of peacekeeping, the development of peacebuilding and of protection-of- civilians mandates, the deployment of political missions and innovative responses to the emergence of regional health emergencies. The Council can claim many achievements as a result, in terms of conflicts resolved and lives saved. But the Council needs to continue developing and evolving its approach ifit is to be effective in fulfilling its mandate. In recent years, its capacity to do so has been sorely tested. The Council did not create the complex conflicts that dominate the international landscape today. But its ability to act decisively to prevent, manage and, in some cases, even respond to those crises has often been found wanting.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“I welcome you, Foreign Minister Rodriguez Gomez, as our President, and I also welcome the presence of Ministers from Angola and Spain. We thank Venezuela for organizing today's open debate. We also thank the Secretary- General for his briefing, which we thoroughly endorse. The international community today faces more concurrent crises, and of greater complexity, than at any time since the creation of the United Nations. In that sense, the Security Council's mandate to maintain international peace and security is more relevant and necessary than ever. But the challenges we face - intractable civil wars, entrenched local and regional politics, sophisticated and well-resourced transnational terrorist networks - are very different from those envisaged at the time of the establishment of the United Nations.”
2016-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7621 (2016) · source
“Ultimately, as with broader working methods in the Council, such issues are unlikely to be resolved overnight, or via a resolution or presidential statement. Much of the practice of sanctions bodies is unwritten. The main reform that we would like to see is a change to the current culture of formality and exclusivity. That is a simple matter of behaviour, which can and must change.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“That would be fairer and more inclusive and would promote a more positive atmosphere in the Council. The change to the election of new members in July provides an opportunity for this to be done. Early appointment would also allow incoming members to better prepare for their new responsibilities. We also support convening regular informal meetings for experts who support the committee Chairs, in order to discuss cross-cutting issues and assist with the passing on of expertise to incoming members. That would help address the lack of institutional knowledge for elected members and would afford a smoother transition between Chairs. It would also provide a forum for achieving greater coherence among the subsidiary bodies and promote the use of best practices.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“Let us be frank: that does require the permanent members to change their approach and to stop trying to vet and censor everything a Chair says or does. Thirdly, we need to help elected members better prepare for their participation in subsidiary bodies. In my experience, it is the permanent members who participate most actively in sanctions committees, while it is the elected members who are saddled with the administrative tasks and frustrations of chairing them. Elected members do not campaign to be on the Council to simply to make up the numbers. We see two key ways to address the matter. For one, we believe the Council should appoint committee Chairs, including perhaps by spreading the burden to permanent members also, through a transparent process, well before their term commences.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“Sanctions are not imposed in isolation but, save for a few formulaic briefings, if we are lucky, we discuss them as if they were. That needs to change. We need to include sanctions in our conversations on country- specific situations. Ifnot, we lose sight oftheir purpose. Most of the committees have expert bodies that produce excellent reports. Too often, though, those reports are buried in the Committee and the valuable information they contain never reaches the decision makers. We need to find processes that enable those experts to present their information to the wider Council and which will allow for the Chair to provide honest assessments of the effectiveness and continuing purpose of the committees that they chair.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“That prescription of process and the archaic formalism of the committees frustrate efficiency and strangle innovation. It also needlessly takes up valuable time of ambassadors and experts. Process is important, we agree, but we should not allow it to obstruct our primary goal as a Council - maintaining international peace and security. We must remember that sanctions committees operate entirely in informal mode. There are no rules of procedure, no records. They operate under guidelines that have no formal status. Yet somehow we have allowed them to become so constrained by their working methods that they are in effect subject to 15 vetoes. That is nonsense. Secondly, there needs to be greater coherence between the work of the subsidiary bodies and the related discussions in the Council's broader work.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“Decisions that, 20 years ago, would have been within a Chair's ambit are now expected to be agreed by all committee members by consensus. As Chair of two sanctions committees, I am prevented from doing the simplest of tasks. I cannot invite someone to a committee meeting, send a letter or do due diligence on allegations of non-compliance without the agreement of all 15 members. Being unable to agree on the simplest of follow-up actions on allegations of non-compliance is, quite frankly, ridiculous. It is absurd that my predecessor, Sir Jim McLay, was told he could not convene an open briefing of the then Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee without the Committee's agreement, even though there was a Chapter VII resolution requesting him to hold such a briefing.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“For 10 of us around this table, chairing such bodies is part of our Council responsibilities. There are three times as many committees now as when New Zealand was last on the Council, in 1994, but there is no forum to discuss them in any comprehensive way. For that reason, New Zealand has welcomed the initiative of Venezuela in organizing this meeting. In our View, there are several questions we need to ask. Are the frameworks that administer sanctions committees working as effectively as they could be? Are they sufficiently integrated into the Council's wider work? Are we satisfied that their measures are being implemented properly and, if not, what should we do about it? I wish to make three main points. First, sanctions committees have allowed formal process to get in the way of outcomes.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“Intheareasofcounter-terrorismandnon-proliferation, United Nations sanctions form a central element of the international community's efforts to reduce the capacity of relevant parties to do harm. The implementation and overall effectiveness of these measures rely on the effective functioning of the sanctions committees. By that I mean timely and informed decision-making, clear strategic direction and flexibility to respond to changing circumstances. It also means transparency through engagement with key stakeholders to understand any unintended consequences of the sanctions measures. While, in our view, there is little evidence to suggest that unintended consequences are prevalent, we need to be prepared to respond to any such consequences in a flexible manner.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“New Zealand welcomes the opportunity today to discuss an important and often overlooked aspect of the Council's work. I thank the Permanent Representative of Sweden and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Chile for their very useful briefings. There are 25 subsidiary organs of the Security Council; more than half are sanctions committees. Sanctions are one of the few tools we have, short of force, to deal with situations that threaten international peace and security. They can and do have a useful impact, whether that is constraining the flow of arms into a conflict, incentivizing individuals to refrain from activities that jeopardize prospects for peace, or signalling to a belligerent State that its actions will not be tolerated.”
2016-02-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7620 (2016) · source
“But it was only when the cameras got to Goma and saw the refugee situation there that we actually got an international response. Again, it was months too late. We need to be much better at grabbing these issues, working with them and not just waiting for the television cameras to spur us into action. Those are the thoughts that I wanted to contribute today. I wish to thank the members of the Council for being such excellent colleagues.”
2016-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7616 (2016) · source
“First I want to pay tribute to Spain, our collaborator on the Syrian humanitarian file, as well as to welcome Egypt, which is joining us now on this very difficult set of issues. In this case we had another example where the world responded when something really graphically grim was put in front of us, that is, the starvation in Madaya - a little like the drowned boy on the Turkish beach. We all rushed to respond in a very dramatic way. But we should have been doing that much earlier. Again, this is a classic failure of the international community and of the Council in responding to information we knew was there but we had not grabbed the issue or acted quickly enough. I was reminded of being here in the Chamber 20 years ago when we knew what was happening in Rwanda.”
2016-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7616 (2016) · source
“I think that was a very important demonstration of the Council's concern. I was very pleased with the conversations in Addis Ababa, where I think we had a really good engagement with the African Peace and Security Council - a very frank discussion with them about the challenges we face. I came away from that meeting convinced that the only way we will make progress on this issue is if the Security Council and the African Peace and Security Council and the East African Community all work together. We cannot afford to be divided. I really welcome that engagement, which I think is something we should be making more of. The second issue I want to talk about today is Syria, which has dominated a lot of our time on the Council.”
2016-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7616 (2016) · source
“I would like to thank France and Egypt for their very accurate reports and summations (see S/PV.7615) of the conversations we had in Bujumbura and with the African Union Peace and Security Council in Ethiopia. It was a great relief to New Zealand that we finally managed to get the trip to Burundi under way. It was something we had asked for over six months ago. It was a disappointing trip in lots of ways. We found it very difficult to engage with the Government of Burundi on the issues because, as we heard from the representative of France, the perspectives of the Government, on the one side, and the opposition, on the other, were so very different. It is hard to have a conversation when you have such different views of life. On the other hand, it was very important that we went there.”
2016-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7616 (2016) · source
“Here in the Chamber we tend to speak from prepared texts because we are stating the positions of our Governments on the important issues of the day. But I am not using a prepared text, other than a few scrappy notes, because I want to focus on another aspect of our work here today. I think that the Council does very well in stating its positions nationally, but it does not do so well in what I see as its core business, which is problem-solving. We need to spend more time talking to each other about how we solve the problems on our agenda, and less time stating our positions for the record. I think that is an issue that New Zealand will continue to promote for the remainder of our time here on the Council. Taking that perspective, I want to address two issues that came up on our agenda this month. The first is the issue of Burundi.”
2016-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7616 (2016) · source
“I, too, want to begin by congratulating you, Mr. President, on the very efficient and effective manner in which you and your team have managed our work during the past month, which has been a very busy one. I also want to commend the new members. I was very impressed at the way that all of them immediately became very active, engaged and efficient in our work. It is very good to have this wrap-up session, two sessions, in fact, as the Ambassador of Japan has mentioned, as we are having a formal session here today - and there have been requests from the wider membership for more of these formal wrap-ups - and, I am pleased to note, we are also going to continue the recent tradition of an informal wrap-up, this afternoon.”
2016-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7616 (2016) · source
“We remain ready to take our proposed draft resolution forward. But we are also ready to support any other reasonable initiative aimed at generating momentum towards peace talks, and in that regard we have listened carefully to the statement just made by the Permanent Representative of Egypt. For the Council to do nothing is not an option. We hope that 2016 will be remembered as the year when we, as a Council, found the requisite political will and determination to affirm the two-State solution and set out a path towards a resumption of the Middle East peace process.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“For some, the Security Council and the United Nations system are too partisan to play a role. For others, any gesture of involvement is seen as rewarding intransigence. Let us change that perception by taking reasonable, meaningful action to encourage the parties to return to talks. Sadly, there was no agreement in 2014 on Jordan's draft resolution S/2014/916 (see S/PV.7354). In 2015, both France and New Zealand put forward proposals for Council action. Those proposals were met with mixed responses from Council members, and from the parties themselves. Some wanted more, some wanted less, some wanted nothing at all. Agreement will inevitably require compromise. It may well be that, after seven years of inaction, a Council contribution will have to begin with a single step. We have suggested what such a step might look like.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Given the levels of violence and mistrust and the entrenched positions, resuming negotiations seems improbable in the near future. Neither side seems willing or able to demonstrate the political vision necessary to broker peace. The vacuum is being filled with extremist voices, who will find an increasingly receptive audience the longer the stalemate continues. Israeli, Palestinian and influential world leaders must stand up and reverse that trend. The parties are not so far apart that no scope exists for a decisive role for the Council. That is why New Zealand has been consistent in its call for the Council to play its part. It must assume a role in reaffirming the fundamental importance of the two-State solution and in creating the necessary conditions for a resumption of talks. We know some disagree.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“For seven years, we have been largely silent - and, worse still, inactive - on the Middle East peace process. In the year that New Zealand has been a member of the Security Council, settlement activity has increased, as has violence affecting hundreds of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians. Shockingly, street-level violence has now become the new normal. Neither side has shown the necessary willingness to make the concessions essential for peace. Both have increased their unhelpful rhetoric and the blaming of each other. And moves such as Israel's intention to declare 385 acres of land in the West Bank as State land is deeply unhelpful and further hobbles the prospects for peace. The two-State solution is the only credible model we have for bringing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end. But its viability is slipping away.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We welcome the news from Special Representative De Mistura that invitations to the talks are being issued today and that the talks themselves are now scheduled to start on Friday. While we were concerned at the delayed start, we support Mr. De Mistura's determination to ensure that the talks start on the best possible and properly inclusive basis. We urge all parties to bring the necessary political will to find a solution to the conflict and salvage what is left of Syria. The Syrian people need leadership, relief from the fighting and starvation, and some reason to believe that a way out of their current nightmare exists. Amid the devastating and persistent conflicts in the Middle East, the Council has done too little to address the situation in Israel and the occupied territories.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We exhort Iran to continue on the path of engagement with the international community and to avoid acts that call into question its commitment to the agreement. It is notjust Iran and the P5+1 that want that agreement to succeed, all member States have a stake in its faithful implementation. We continue to hope that that example will be followed in Syria. The establishment of the International Syria Support Group and the adoption of resolution 2254 (2015) were promising signs after almost five years ofwar. But we need those involved - in Syria, in the region and beyond - to make the difficult political decisions necessary to come to a political solution. The bargaining must take place at the negotiating table, not beforehand nor on the battlefield.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“And the Israeli-Palestinian peace process remains dormant, while disaffected people on both sides resort to violence, threatening a renewed outbreak of serious fighting, and the parties themselves engage in mutual recrimination, sharing only their manifest failures to show leadership and engage. That bleak situation is the responsibility of the Middle East itself, of those who involve themselves in the region and of the Council. The conclusion of the Iran nuclear deal gives hope. It shows what can be achieved when States commit themselves to diplomacy, determined to find a solution. The confirmation by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has lived up to its undertakings and the resulting lifting of sanctions are highly encouraging next steps.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“I thank Foreign Minister Nin Novoa for his presence here and commend Uruguay for convening today's ministerial-level meeting. I thank also the Secretary-General for his briefing, which made for sobering listening. New Zealand has been an elected member of the Council for just over a year. During that time, the conflicts of the Middle East have taken up much of the Council's attention - sadly, to too little practical effect. The fighting and killing in Syria continue, with people dying of starvation and as a result of bombs and bullets. The conflict in Yemen persists with horrific consequences for the Yemeni people, despite the self- evident truth that neither side can win by military means. Peace in Libya remains elusive.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We are pleased that our partnership with Colombia and the burgeoning relationship with the Pacific Alliance will be further strengthened with the opening of a New Zealand embassy in Bogota in the near future. We wish Colombia well in advancing the peace process in the coming months. No one expects the road ahead to be easy, but as has been demonstrated today, the Council and the international community stand ready to help.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“New Zealand congratulates President Santos Calderon for the courage and determination that he and his country have demonstrated in pushing for a durable solution to a protracted conflict. We, too, commend the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia for taking the road to peace and for sticking with it through the long negotiations. We also congratulate and thank Cuba and Norway, as well as Chile and Venezuela, for their vital roles in shepherding the peace process, and we welcome the role that the region as a whole has played in the peace process. It represents a positive example of a regionally led solution to a long-standing conflict. New Zealand is committed to supporting Colombia's efforts to find lasting peace.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“I wish warmly to thank Foreign Minister Nin Novoa, and I welcome Foreign Minister Holguin Cuellar to the Council today. New Zealand was very pleased to co-sponsor resolution 2261 (2016) and welcomes its unanimous adoption. The Council's flexible and quick response to the request for a political mission is a welcome development. As others have noted, it is a welcome and somewhat unusual development that a country should come to the Council of its own accord for help, and even better that it is doing so in the context of a peace process. We hope that this mission, as the international component and coordinator of the tripartite monitoring and verification mechanism, will generate further confidence in the Colombian peace process.”
2016-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7609 (2016) · source
“The Council must be kept informed of the steps taken, both to prosecute alleged offenders and to require contributing countries to account for the performance of their personnel. Finally, I thank the Secretary- General for his annual report on the protection of civilians. New Zealand looks forward to discussing with Council members the next annual report later this year and how we can ensure that it is considered in a structured and timely manner and that we respond appropriately.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“New Zealand and Spain, together with Egypt, Uruguay and others, intend to take forward an initiative aimed at increasing practical protection for health care in situations of armed conflict. It is axiomatic that United Nations personnel cannot be a threat to the civilians they are mandated to protect. Yet we continue to hear reports of sexual abuse and exploitation against populations traumatized already by appalling conflict situations. We acknowledge the Secretary-General's zero- tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and abuse, and we commend him for making good on his undertaking to require the removal of contingents that continue to transgress and whose Governments fail to take effective enforcement and remedial action.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“We are encouraged that desperately needed access and aid have at last gotten through to these towns over the past week. It is imperative that they be allowed to continue and that similar unimpeded access is allowed to the 14 other Madayas across Syria. We are deeply disturbed by the reports of brutality on the part ofthe Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Deir ez-Zor, and would welcome further information on this episode from the Secretariat. In addition to access difficulties, as the Secretary-General has highlighted, attacks on health-care personnel, health-care facilities and medical vehicles are also occurring in many of the conflicts on the Council's agenda. These are further contraventions of international humanitarian law that demand attention.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“This is an obvious area for improvement and one in which we will continue to press for greater openness. Effective protection means ensuring civilians have access to essential humanitarian assistance as required by international humanitarian law. This has been the focus of efforts led first by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan, and then New Zealand, Jordan and Spain, to try to improve humanitarian access to civilians in Syria, particularly in besieged and hard-to-access areas. Resolution 2258 (2015), adopted unanimously last month, gave particular attention to this question. Regular reports from Madaya, Fu'ah and Kefraya have graphically shown the failures of the Syrian Government and armed opposition groups with respect to their people and their responsibilities under international law.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Last March, the Council adopted New Zealand's proposal for regular informal Secretariat briefings to keep the Council informed of key developments in the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That was a positive step that could usefully be applied to other high- risk situations on the Council's agenda, particularly those involving protection mandates. Current decision-making lacks the situational awareness that comes from real-time, high- quality information on emerging risks and ongoing implementation challenges. While the Council is not the body to make operational decisions about the disposition ofpeacekeeping forces, we do need a better appreciation ofthe risks and threats facing peacekeepers and the civilians they are seeking to protect.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Mandates need to be clear, realistic and adequately resourced. They need to be crafted and adjusted to changing circumstances. They need to take into account the views of troop- and police-contributing countries. Over the past year, New Zealand has promoted more meaningful engagement among the Council, the Secretariat and troop- and police-contributing countries on mandate formation and renewal, prefiguring the triangular consultations called for in the report (see S/2015/446) of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. In our view, such consultations should be a more consistent feature in Council practice. Their value was recognized in the December presidential statement adopted upon the initiative of Chad (S/PRST/2015/26).”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“A clear case in point is the Democratic Republic of Congo, where elections are scheduled later this year. We know that violence has accompanied past elections. We know the uncertainties around the coming elections and the tensions to which they are giving rise. The Council, in consultation with the African Union, needs to start thinking now about how to engage the Democratic Republic to address these risks and how to respond if the situation goes awry. In the area of peace operations, countless lives are saved by the presence and actions of United Nations peacekeepers, and we pay tribute to the skill and courage of United Nations personnel in carrying out this vital role. But, as others have noted, we can do more to ensure that protection-of-civilians mandates are implemented more effectively.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Yet this reality is recognized fitfully at best by the Council, which regularly resists taking action before real trouble starts, even when the warning signs are apparent. For over six months, New Zealand has been calling on the Council to address the growing risk of conflict in Burundi. We are pleased that agreement has at last been reached and that a Council mission is departing for Bujumbura tomorrow. It is important that the Council listen as well as speak to the Burundian parties. We need the Government and opposition to commit to reversing the current slide into conflict and to undertake inclusive and meaningful reconciliation efforts. We believe the Council can do much better in developing nimble and pragmatic responses to emerging and re-emerging conflict risks, in cooperation with regional partners.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“We recognize the normative value of this process and the significant effort invested in carrying the discussion forward. But after more than 15 years of reports, debates, thematic resolutions and presidential statements, we have to acknowledge that the on-the-ground conditions that bear on the real life circumstances of civilians in conflict zones are still dreadful. In New Zealand's view, the Council's focus on the protection of civilians must shift from words to actions towards making a meaningful improvement in the protection of real people in real life situations. I want to highlight three areas in which we consider that the Council needs to translate its rhetoric into reality. As we often say in the Chamber, preventing conflict is far preferable to dealing with its consequences.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“I welcome the President of the Security Council back to New York. We congratulate Uruguay on organizing today's debate. I also want to thank the Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Christine Beerli of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Ms. Eveline Rooijmans of Oxfam for their briefings. As others have said, the grim context for our discussions today is a world in which civilians in conflict are at greater risk now than at any time in the Organization's history. Today's meeting is a chance to talk frankly about the challenge of protecting civilians as well as how the Security Council is meeting that challenge. The protection of civilians has been included as a separate thematic item on the Council's agenda since 1999.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“In that respect, we would be interested in the view of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the feasibility of delivering assistance via airdrops. Lifting the sieges and parties abiding by their obligations under international humanitarian law would help build trust and momentum ahead of the upcoming talks in Geneva. We look forward to discussing such matters in more depth with Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura on Monday. We all know that only a political solution will end the suffering of the Syrian people. Let me conclude by commending the bravery and tireless work of the humanitarian workers working on the ground, including the United Nations, led by Humanitarian Coordinator Yacoub El Hillo, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent.”
2016-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7605 (2016) · source
“It is a conscious decision made by the besieging parties. It violates international humanitarian law. It violates Council resolutions. It may constitute a war crime. New Zealand and Spain intend to invite the World Food Programme to brief on access to food in besieged areas at the next humanitarian consultations on Syria, on 27 January. In the meantime, New Zealand demands that the Syrian Government and other parties to the conflict immediately lift all sieges in Syria and allow the free movement of civilians and lifesaving goods. We also call on countries with influence with responsible parties to use that influence to lift the sieges. If they stand by and do nothing, they too are complicit. The situation is so desperate that all forms of aid delivery should be considered.”
2016-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7605 (2016) · source
“We cannot accept that administrative delays continue to block humanitarian assistance from reaching those in need. As Ms. Kang said, the approval procedures must be simplified and carried out more quickly. Delivering aid in Syria is extremely complex and dangerous for the people delivering the aid. It would be unsafe to try to deliver aid without Government consent and risk attacks. Over 80 humanitarian workers have lost their lives since the conflict began. We do not want to see that number rise. Intentionally starving civilians as a method of warfare has happened repeatedly during the Syrian conflict. What we are seeing today in Madaya is an alarming echo of the siege and starvation of civilians in Homs in 2014. The deliberate starving of civilians is not a natural, collateral effect of conflict.”
2016-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7605 (2016) · source
“While we are pleased that humanitarian agencies have received approval for the entry of mobile clinics and medical teams to support treatment, we cannot understand the Syrian Government's unwillingness to grant permission for people to be evacuated. We call on the Syrian authorities to immediately grant requests for medical evacuations of the sick. New Zealand and many others, including the Secretary-General, have emphasized numerous times that the Syrian Government must approve, without delay, requests for inter-agency convoys. As my colleague from Spain has just said, in resolution 2258 (2015), adopted only last month, the Council expressed its concern at the decline in convoy approvals by the Syrian authorities and requested that they respond expeditiously and positively to all requests for cross- line deliveries.”
2016-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7605 (2016) · source
“The Syrian Government is responsible for besieging some areas, but others, such as various opposition groups and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), are also using siege tactics. We demand that all those using siege tactics immediately meet their international legal obligation to allow humanitarian access. Tit-for-tat granting of humanitarian access is unacceptable. Civilians should not be used as pawns, as has been happening in Madaya, Fu'ah and Kafraya. Only 25 kilometres outside of Damascus, people in Madaya have been waiting since Monday to be evacuated so they can receive the medical care they urgently need. It is a complex situation and the facts are still becoming clear. What is clear enough is that the need is urgent.”
2016-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7605 (2016) · source
“I, too, thank Assistant Secretary-General Kang for her briefing. New Zealand is pleased that, since the Council met on Monday, a second series of aid convoys were able to enter Madaya, Fu'ah and Kafraya yesterday and that a third series of convoys is planned in the next few days. However, as others have said, that is just scratching the surface: that gets aid through to about 62,000 people. Humanitarian workers need safe, unimpeded and sustained access to the nearly 400,000 people trapped in besieged areas throughout Syria. It has now been confirmed that many of those people are suffering through conditions as horrific as we have seen recently in Madaya and elsewhere.”
2016-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7605 (2016) · source