And I'll give the floor to Ms. Angelina Jolie. Ms., you have the floor.
Mr President, Foreign Ministers, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
it is an honor to brief the Council.
I thank His Excellency the Foreign Minister of Jordan,
the High Commissioner for Refugees,
and my colleagues from OCHA, and the World Food Programme.
Since the Syria conflict began in 2011,
I have made eleven visits to Syrian refugees
in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Malta.
I wish that some of the Syrians I have met
could be here today.
I think of the mother I met recently in a camp in Iraq.
She could tell you what it is like to try to live
after your young daughter was ripped
from your family by armed men,
and taken as a sex slave.
I think of Hala,
one of six orphaned children living in a tent in Lebanon.
She could tell you what it is like to share the responsibility
for feeding your family at the age of 11,
because your mother died in an air strike
and your father is missing.
I think of Dr Ayman, a Doctor from Aleppo,
who watched his wife and three year-old daughter
drown in the Mediterranean
when a smugglers’ boat collapsed
packed with hundreds of people.
He could tell you
what it is like to try to keep your loved ones safe in a warzone,
only to lose them in a desperate bid for safety
after all other options have failed.
Any one of the Syrians I have met
would speak more eloquently
about the conflict than I ever could.
Nearly four million Syrian refugees
are victims of a conflict they have no part in.
Yet they are stigmatized, unwanted, and regarded as a burden.
So I am here for them,
because this is their United Nations.
Here, all countries and all people are equal -
from the smallest and most broken member states
to the free and powerful.
The purpose of the UN
is to prevent and end conflict:
To bring countries together,
to find diplomatic solutions,
and to save lives.
We are failing to do this in Syria.
Responsibility for the conflict lies
with the warring parties inside Syria.
But the crisis is made worse
by division and indecision
within the international community -
preventing the Security Council
from fulfilling its responsibilities.
In 2011, the Syrian refugees I met were full of hope.
They said “please, tell people what is happening to us”,
trusting that the truth alone
would guarantee international action.
When I returned,
hope was turning into anger:
the anger of the man who held his baby up to me,
asking “is this a terrorist?
Is my son a terrorist?”
On my last visit in February,
anger had subsided into
resignation, misery, and the bitter question
“why are we, the Syrian people, not worth saving?”
To be a Syrian caught up in this conflict
is to be cut off from every law and principle
designed to protect innocent life:
International humanitarian law prohibits
torture, starvation, the targeting of schools and hospitals -
but these crimes are happening every day in Syria.
The Security Council has powers
to address these threats
to international peace and security -
but those powers lie unused.
The UN has adopted the Responsibility to Protect concept,
saying that when a State cannot protect its people,
the international community will not stand by -
but we are standing by, in Syria.
The problem is not lack of information -
we know in excruciating detail
what is happening in Yarmouk, in Aleppo, and in Homs.
The problem is lack of political will.
We cannot look at Syria,
and the evil that has arisen from the ashes of indecision,
and think this is not the lowest point in the world’s inability
to protect and defend the innocent.
And I say this as someone who is proud
to have been part of the UN system for 13 years.
I don’t think enough people realize
just how many people are
fed, sheltered, protected, and educated
by the United Nations every day of the year.
But all of this good
is undermined by the message being sent in Syria:
that laws can be flouted -
chemical weapons can be used,
hospitals can be bombed,
aid can be withheld,
and civilians starved -
with impunity.
So on behalf of Syrian refugees,
I make three pleas to the international community:
The first is an appeal for unity.
It is time for the Security Council
to work as one to end the conflict,
and reach a settlement
that also brings justice and accountability
for the Syrian people.
It is very encouraging
to see ministerial representation
from Jordan, Spain, and Malaysia here today.
But I think we would all like to see
the Foreign Ministers of all the Security Council Members here,
working on a political solution for Syria
as a matter of urgency.
In the last few months
we have seen intensive diplomacy
at work elsewhere in the region:
so now let us see
what is possible for the people of Syria.
And while these debates are important,
I also urge the Security Council
to visit Syrian refugees,
to see first hand their suffering
and the impact it is having on the region.
Those refugees cannot come to this Council,
so please, will you go to them.
Second, I echo what has been said
about supporting Syria’s neighbors,
who are making an extraordinary contribution.
It is sickening
to see thousands of refugees
drowning on the doorstep
of the world’s wealthiest continent.
No one risks the lives
of their children in this way
except out of utter desperation.
If we cannot end the conflict,
we have an inescapable moral duty
to help refugees
and provide legal avenues to safety.
And third, the barbarism
of those inflicting systematic sexual violence
demands a much greater response
from the international community.
We need to send a signal
that we are serious
about accountability for these crimes,
for that is the only hope of establishing any deterrence.
And I call on Member States to begin preparations now
so that Syrian women
are fully represented in future peace negotiations,
in accordance with multiple resolutions of the Security Council.
And if I may make a wider, final point
to conclude my remarks.
The crisis in Syria illustrates
that our inability to find diplomatic solutions
causes mass displacement,
and traps millions of people in exile,
statelessness, and displacement.
52 million people
are forcibly displaced today -
a sea of excluded humanity.
And while our priority
must be ending the Syrian conflict,
we must also broaden out the discussion
to this much wider problem.
Our times will be defined
not by the crises themselves,
but by the way we pull together
as an international community to address them.
Thank you.