Today's Edition
NEW YORK CITY (ALETIHAD) - Ghasaq Shaheen, Political Coordinator, delivered the UAE statement during the United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine, urging the Council to work together to abstain from military solutions and focus on direct negotiations to resolve the conflict.
She started her address by reiterating the terrible consequences this “unrelenting” conflict had on civilians for the past 18 months.
“This conflict has had tremendous consequences for the civilian population. Eleven million people have been displaced and more than 9,500 people have been killed, 545 of them children,” she said, adding that the hostilities have intensified following the expiration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July and that Ukriane’s ports were damaged by repeated strikes.
“This reduces Ukraine’s ability to export grain and other food items, keeping prices stubbornly high around the world, and impacting the lives of the world’s poorest people. The expansion of conflict in the Black Sea poses risks to commerce and the livelihoods of people living around the Black Sea,” she added.
The conflict’s impacts extended to civilian communities near the frontlines, Shaheen said, noting that in recent weeks, villages in eastern Ukraine have been evacuated, with hundreds of children forced to leave their homes. She stressed that the recent situation adds to the two-thirds of Ukrainian children already displaced by the conflict and reminded that, as the conflict persists, civilian suffering continues to mount.
“The law is also clear about the imperative to protect civilians and humanitarian and medical workers. We express our condolences to families and loved ones of the six humanitarian workers who were killed in Ukraine in the last month and reiterate that humanitarian workers must be protected,” the Political Coordinator underlined.
Shaheen said that allowing this conflict to continue without a “just and lasting resolution” would only extend the humanitarian suffering of the Ukrainian people, reiterating that a military solution will not solve the conflict and that the international community should focus on direct negotiations that will produce a sustainable peace between Russia and Ukraine.
“In our region, we are deeply familiar with the cost of allowing these conflicts to fester. As we speak, another bloody chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is being written, with horrific and disproportionate impact on civilians. It is not nearly enough to have meetings and talk about terrible situations across the world. The Security Council has a duty and a responsibility to bring these conflicts to an end, and not just manage them,” Shaheen said, concluding her address.
