TRT: 04:46
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 02 FEBRUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
SHOTLIST:
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations
02 FEBRUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI):
“Since 2003, too many opportunities to conduct meaningful and much-needed reform have been wasted, while stressing that pervasive corruption is a major root cause of Iraqi dysfunctionality. I made it clear that it is past time to act on several key issues, and that the window to do so is only brief.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI):
“Also, and there is no denying it, delays in much-needed and long-awaited economic, fiscal and financial reform are palpable throughout the country. Most recently, it has been concerning to see the increase in the exchange rate on the parallel market adding to the pressure on everyday Iraqi women and men.”
6. Med shot, briefers on screen
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI):
“Iraq remains one of the most explosive ordnance-contaminated countries in the world. Nationally-led clearance efforts, including national budget allocations, are truly commendable. However, the sector as a whole remains underfunded. Consequently, Iraqi civilians pay the price. In 2022, explosive remnants of war continued to be the leading cause of child casualties in Iraq and caused overall one third of civilian casualties. I can therefore only encourage the international community to continue its support.”
8. Med shot, Iraq’s Permanent Representative
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI):
“I would like to convey both a sense of hope, and a sense of urgency. The hope is that the confirmation of Iraq’s new government will provide an opportunity to structurally address the many pressing issues facing the country and its people. The urgency is for Iraq’s political class to seize the brief window of opportunity it is awarded, and to finally lift the country out of recurring cycles of instability and fragility.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Ahmed, Director of Donor and International Relations, Iraqi Health and Social Care Organization:
“Explosive ordnance contamination impedes normal daily life socio-economic activities, stabilisation efforts, reconstruction, development, and the safe return of IDPs to their homelands. Explosive hazard contamination blocks housing, roads, agriculture, irrigation, industry, and infrastructure.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Ahmed, Director of Donor and International Relations, Iraqi Health and Social Care Organization:
“According to the IOM Displacement Matrix, by the end of 2022, there is around 1.2 million people still displaced across the country and the return rate is at a very low pace. Around 13 percent of IDPs noted that they cannot return to their areas of origin due to the explosive ordnance contamination.”
14. Close up, Security Council president
15. SOUNDBITE (English) SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Mills, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“Thanks to the bravery of the Iraqi Security Forces, ISIS attacks in 2022 were significantly fewer than the year before. Nonetheless, the threat remains. The attacks near Kirkuk and Albu Bali in December provide a stark reminder that ISIS remains bent on death and destruction and it must be confronted. The United States remains committed to the global coalition to defeat ISIS, and working with our Iraqi partners to eliminate the terrorist group.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sarhad Sardar Abdulrahman Fatah, Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations:
“In regard to the Turkish and Iranian aggressions, we denounce, in the possible strongest terms, the aggression we suffered by Iran and turkey in our country’s territory, using the pretext of self-defense and the article 51 of the UN Charter. Iraq remembers that it respects our constitutional obligation to avoid all threats from our territory to neighboring states, and we considered that all internal problems of a country should be resolved within their borders, not outside.”
18. Zoom out, Security Council
STORYLINE:
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, told the Security Council she wanted to “convey both a sense of hope, and a sense of urgency” about the future of the country.
Addressing the Council on Thursday (02 Feb), Hennis-Plasschaert, who also acts as Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMI), explained that “the hope is that the confirmation of Iraq’s new government will provide an opportunity to structurally address the many pressing issues facing the country and its people.”
In terms of the urgency, the Special Representative continued, “is for Iraq’s political class to seize the brief window of opportunity it is awarded, and to finally lift the country out of recurring cycles of instability and fragility.”
According to Hennis-Plasschaert, “since 2003, too many opportunities to conduct meaningful and much-needed reform have been wasted, while stressing that pervasive corruption is a major root cause of Iraqi dysfunctionality.”
“I made it clear that it is past time to act on several key issues, and that the window to do so is only brief,” the head of UNAMI said.
Also, she continued, “there is no denying it, delays in much-needed and long-awaited economic, fiscal and financial reform are palpable throughout the country.”
For the Special Representative, “most recently, it has been concerning to see the increase in the exchange rate on the parallel market adding to the pressure on everyday Iraqi women and men.”
Hennis-Plasschaert informed that “Iraq remains one of the most explosive ordnance-contaminated countries in the world.”
According to her, “nationally-led clearance efforts, including national budget allocations, are truly commendable”, but “the sector as a whole remains underfunded.”
“Consequently, Iraqi civilians pay the price. In 2022, explosive remnants of war continued to be the leading cause of child casualties in Iraq and caused overall one third of civilian casualties. I can therefore only encourage the international community to continue its support,” explained the Special Representative.
Representing civil society, Dr. Ahmed, the Director of Donor and International Relations at Iraqi Health and Social Care Organization, explained that “explosive ordnance contamination impedes normal daily life socio-economic activities, stabilisation efforts, reconstruction, development, and the safe return of IDPs to their homelands.”
Dr. Ahmed also said that “explosive hazard contamination blocks housing, roads, agriculture, irrigation, industry, and infrastructure.”
“According to the IOM Displacement Matrix, by the end of 2022, there is around 1.2 million people still displaced across the country and the return rate is at a very low pace. Around 13 percent of IDPs noted that they cannot return to their areas of origin due to the explosive ordnance contamination,” said the civil society representative.
The Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN from the United States, Richard Mills, noted that “thanks to the bravery of the Iraqi Security Forces, ISIS attacks in 2022 were significantly fewer than the year before.”
For Mills, “nonetheless, the threat remains.”
The ambassador said that “the attacks near Kirkuk and Albu Bali in December provide a stark reminder that ISIS remains bent on death and destruction and it must be confronted” and “the United States remains committed to the global coalition to defeat ISIS, and working with our Iraqi partners to eliminate the terrorist group.”
Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Bahr AlUloom, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, denounced “in the possible strongest terms” the “aggression” it suffered “using the pretext of self-defense and the article 51 of the UN Charter.”
“Iraq remembers that it respects our constitutional obligation to avoid all threats from our territory to neighboring states, and we considered that all internal problems of a country should be resolved within their borders, not outside,” added the ambassador.
