UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : OSE Yemen - ICRC press conference & Interview of OSE Yemen Martin Griffiths on Prisoners’ Exchange Agreement

OSE Yemen - ICRC press conference 27 September 2020

9:04

MP4

658.7 MB

27-09-2020

Press Conferences | UNOG , UNITED NATIONS

OSE Yemen - ICRC press conference & Interview of OSE Yemen Martin Griffiths on Prisoners’ Exchange Agreement - 27 September 2020

ENG

Closing plenary of the fourth meeting of the Supervisory Committee on the Implementation of the Prisoners’ Exchange Agreement for Yemen which concluded today in Glion, near Montreux, in Switzerland where the largest prisoner release (1,081 conflict-related detainees and prisoners) in the history of the conflict was announced.

The continuity includes closing remarks from the week-long meeting, that started on 18 September 2020, by:

Martin Griffiths, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen
Fabrizio Carboni, Regional Director for the Near and Middle East, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Glion, Switzerland - 27 September 2020 - Delegates representing the Government of Yemen and Ansar Allah have agreed to immediately release a first group of 1,081 conflict-related detainees and prisoners, in accordance with the lists of agreed-upon names. This came today, in Switzerland, at the conclusion of the week-long fourth meeting of the Supervisory Committee on the Implementation of the Prisoners’ Exchange Agreement . It builds upon the release plan that the parties had reached in Amman last February.

The parties renewed their commitment, as per their agreement in Stockholm in 2018, to release all prisoners, detainees, missing persons, arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared persons, and those under house arrest. They also agreed to convene a subsequent meeting of the Supervisory Committee with the aim of implementing the remainder of the outcomes of the Amman meeting held in February. The Parties further committed to making all efforts to add new numbers for the purpose of releasing all prisoners and detainees including the four mentioned and covered by the UN Security Council’s resolutions in accordance with the Stockholm Agreement and through working with the Supervisory Committee.

“Today is an important day for over a thousand families who can expect to welcome back their loved ones hopefully very soon,” said the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, “I thank the parties for going beyond their differences and reaching an arrangement that will benefit Yemenis.”
“I urge the parties to move forward immediately with the release and to spare no effort in building upon this momentum to swiftly agree to releasing more detainees. In doing so, they will fulfil their commitments made in Stockholm and put an end to the misery of many more Yemeni families who are waiting for their loved ones”, Mr. Griffiths added.

The Special Envoy further expressed his gratitude to the Government of Switzerland for hosting the meeting in a safe and secure environment.

“The agreement signed today is a positive step for hundreds of detainees and their families back home who have been separated for years and will be reunited soon. However, it marks only the beginning of the process. We call on all parties to continue with the same urgency towards agreeing on a concrete implementation plan, so this operation can move from signatures on paper to reality on the ground’’, said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC regional director for near and middle east.

The Supervisory Committee on the Implementation of the Prisoners’ Exchange Agreement brings together delegations from the parties to the conflict, as well as representatives from the Arab Coalition.
The committee is co-chaired by the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen (OSESGY) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

More information: https://osesgy.unmissions.org/joint-press-statement-un-office-special-envoy-yemen-and-international-committee-red-cross-fourth

Teleprompter

My name is Martin Griffiths.

I'm the UN Envoy for Yemen.

Sheikh Hadi Abdullah.

Esteemed members of the delegations, Fabrizio by Co chair and our host, Mr Olivier Bouchard.

I would like to say thank you to all our Yemeni friends here for your efforts.

I personally am extremely pleased to be here, to announce and to announce now that you have reached a very important milestone here in Switzerland.

During the 4th meeting of the Supervisory Committee from 17 to 25 September, you have renewed your commitments to the full implementation of the Stockholm Agreement.

You have agreed to immediately release 1081 individuals and you have agreed to meet again to meet to to discuss more releases as part of your commitment to release all conflict related prisoners and detainees, including those covered by the Security Council resolutions.

So I'd like to thank you, I'd like to thank the Arab Coalition, and I'd like to thank your leaderships for your positive and for your constructive and your tireless engagement during these negotiations.

We all know that it's essential now to move swiftly and decisively towards implementation, and we have no time to waste.

Releasing the 1081 individuals would and indeed will represent the largest release operation during the history of the conflict in Yemen, and releasing those detainees will bring immense relief and comfort to more than 1000 families who will be reunited with their loved ones because of your acts and your decisions.

It will bring reassurance and hope to many more families still awaiting the release of their loved ones and their friends.

It will also send an important message about the conflict, and it will indicate that when you show good faith and willingness to compromise as you have, peaceful negotiations can succeed.

And they will succeed in bringing relief to the Yemeni people and building confidence for the peace process.

I call on you to build on this very important achievement and to move towards together a negotiated solution for lasting peace in Yemen.

Today is an important reminder to all of us and all those listening that all this is possible.

the United Nations stands ready to support the parties as well as the Yemeni people in achieving that.

I'd like to thank ICRC and Fabrizio Marco Chair.

It's an enormous privilege to work with ICRC.

It's a rare privilege to work with ICRC and this is an objective which we realise is exactly that, a privilege and a learning experience for us.

And I'd like to thank you for Brizio and your people, for the incredible amount of work that you are doing and will do.

Thank you.

And naturally, I'm grateful, as I'm sure we all are, to the Swiss government for your extraordinary efficiency and generous support for facilitating this meeting at a time when travel, as we all know, and face to face meetings, face so many restrictions.

Thank you, Switzerland, thank you, Switzerland.

We look forward finally, very soon to meeting again to hold further discussions about further releases, but also, of course, about making sure that this release happens quickly and effectively and completely.

Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, when when the talk opened just over 10 days ago, it was with the hope that the discussions and and decision taken here would improve the lives of of thousands of people, namely detainees and and their families.

That was the humanitarian goal and we are all one step closer to it now.

The International Committee of the the Red Cross welcomes the agreement on the list of 1081 individuals to be released as a neutral intermodary.

We are happy to bring our expertise and experience in facilitating detainees releases and repatriation to the table and are ready to assist with the release once the implementation plan has been agreed.

The agreement on the list is a very positive step but we call on all parties to continue this with the same urgency towards agreeing on phasing of legs as well as required security and logistical guarantees for this operation to move from signature to reality.

We are not involved in the political process.

Our organisation is, however extremely concerned by the United impact of the ongoing and escalating hostilities in Yemen.

This release will alleviate the suffering of many detainees and their family who have been waiting for so long to be reunited.

We also believe that it will give some hope to the people of Yemen that bring that solution can be reached to bring to bring about positive resolution that will bring them the change they so need.

What's more, we are convinced that this release operation being one of the confidence building measures from the agreement reaching Stockholm in 2018 will contribute to renewed solid grounded peace talks.

We, of course hope to see further similar agreements in the near future as there are many detainees and many families still waiting.

I would like to thank the United Nation and especially Martin Steam, who over the years show a, a level of of resilience and, and commitments which is very remarkable.

Obviously, we would like also to thank the Swiss government for hosting those talks.

And and most importantly, we would like also to thank the the parties to this conflict because at the end of the day, only parties to the conflict can bring long lasting positive change that Yemeni people so need.

I believe over the last days we have been reminded here again that small steps that can have big impact are possible and much needed in Yemen today.

So thank you.

Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I wonder if we would now just come here.

Will they be between us?

Sorry.

Is your man.