Thank you for listening to Depictures Media Radio. Welcome to Policy and Rights, the show about the government, policy and human rights. Welcome back to Policy and Rights here in de Pictures Media Radio. I'm your host, Michael Cloggs. There are globally there are several threats to international and security and peace, and we've been focused on over a year now with the Russian Federation and invasion
of Ukraine. We've also been focused on many years with things that have happened in Syria, and there are incidences in Hemen that trying to help the people of human build a stable government. There are of course issues that are still happening in other parts of the Middle East where global peace is at threat, and and well we must say that global peace doesn't actually really exist, that
there's still armed conflicts happening. There's still people fighting in in waves with with military actions and in some cases terrorisms and missile strikes, drone strikes, all these things happening around the world that are that are keeping us away from peace. That there are some organizations and countries out there that they make a mint
off of selling weapons into armed conflict areas. We have heard about drone strikes from the fresh Russian Federation against grain houses and ports in the Ukraine that grain can't can't freely move the way it needs to uh into different parts of the world from the Black Sea because of the Russian Federation either drone striking, missiling
or what have you. That there's they have issued other initiatives that quite simply they've been striking civilian sites and some of those l are simply to put fear into the Ukrainian people so that they will side with the Russian Federation over their own government. And yeah, and they're still trying to come up with a resolutions and and aid to help the people find a stable government. They're in
Central Africa. We've we've heard of coups and takeovers because of people wanting to have control over their own destiny and to avoid the ideas of colonialism and just simple corporate greed taking over their resources so that they can't have their own freedom and to choose their own destiny and choices. I want to listen to the United Nations as they address some of these issues and address what is happening in our world that is disturbing the peace that we need to have as a human
race. The nine thousand, four hundred and fifteen Meeting of the Security Council is called to order. At the outset of this meeting, I should like on behalf of the members of the Security Council to express our profound sadness over the devastating earthquake that hit Morocco last Friday and the deadly flooding that has affected Libya over the past days. These events have led to the laws of thousands of lives. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this heartbreaking disasters.
The Security Council expresses its heartfelt sympathy and indolences to the families of the victims, to the people and the governments of Libya and Morocco. I now invite the members of the Council to rise and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of the victims of these tragic events. Thank you. The
provisional agenda for this meeting is Threats to International Peace and Security. The agenda is adopted in accordance with Rule thirty seven of the Council's Visional Rules of Procedure. I invite the Representative of Ukraine to participate in this meeting. It is so decided, in accordance with Rule thirty nine of the Council's Provisional Rules of Procedure, I invite the following briefers to participate in this meeting, Miss Izumi
Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and mister George SAMUELI Journalist. It is so decided the Security Council will now begin its consideration of Item two of the agenda. I now give the floor to Miss Izumi Nakamitsu. Thank you very much, Madam present, notam present, Distinguished Members of the Security Council,
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen. Since my last briefing to the Security Council on this topic only weeks ago, the provision of defensive military assistance to the armed forces of Ukraine has continued in the context of the full scale invasion of Ukraine launched by the Russian Federation on twenty fourth of February twenty twenty two.
Environmation of the United Nations Charter and international law, much of the information on transfers of weapons systems and ammunition flows from governments is available through open sources. These transfers have reportedly included heavy conventional weapons such as battle tanks, armored conbat vehicles, combat aircraft, helicopters, large caliber arteriory systems, missile systems, and uncrewed combat area vehicles, as well as remotely operated munitions, small arms
and light weapons and their ammunition. Over the last months, reported transfers of arms and ammunition to the Ukrainian Defense Forces have expanded. There have also been reports of state transferring or planning to transfer weapons such as uncrewed aerial vehicles and ammunition to the Russian Armed Forces, including for possible use in Ukraine. Neatness to say any transfer of weapons must take place within the applicable international legal and
policy frameworks, including relevant Security Council resolutions. Any potential or suspected by nations of relevant Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions or restrictive measures if verified, are very concerning. Reports related to the transfer and use of Class dimunitions throughout the war
are also very con learning. The Sector General has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the use of Class dimunitions, in line with his long standing position these weapons must be consigned to history, most recently in his Policy Brief or New Agenda for Peace the Sector General has encouraged member states to commit to reducing the human cost of weapons, including by achieving universal participation in treaties banning in
humane and indiscriminate weapons, such as the Convention on Class Dimunitions. We also take note of reports related to the transfer of depleted uranium tank ammunition to the Ukrainian forces. The supply of weapons and ammunition into any armed conflict situations raises significant concerns about the potential escalation of violence and presents significant risks of diversion and
proiferation even after the conflict has ended. Measures to address the risk of diversion of weapons and ammunition to unauthorized end users and for unauthorized uses are essential for preventing further instability and insecurity in Ukraine, the region and beyond. Such measures include enforcement of marking practices, comprehensive pre transfer diversion risk assessments, end user certificates including non transfer clauses, effective legal and enforcement measures, and post shipment
verifications. To prevent the diversion of weapons supply chains, transparency and corporation and information exchange between importing, transit and exporting states is required, as well as concrete measures such as marking and tracing, effective accounting and comprehensive record record keeping practices, physical safeguarding of arms and ammunition, customs and border control measures,
and divergent monitoring and analysis. As I mentioned many times before, transparency in arms transfers is a crucial confidence building measure which can serve to reduce tensions and ambiguities between member states. The U and Register of Conventional Arms and ROCCA remains a key instrument in this regard. In its thirty years of operation, one hundred seventy eight member states of Submitttal Reporter and ROCKER, at at least once
I callable member states to participate in this mechanism. And ROCKER captures around ninety percent of global arms flows and can help in tracking the influx of weapons in
conflict zones. Moreover, the Arms Straight Treaty, the Firearms Protocol, the Program of Action on Small Arms in Light Weapons and its International Tracing Instrument are some of the arms control instruments established by states to prevent the diversion of conventional arms and regulate international Arms Straight. I welcome the conclusion of work of the Open Ended Working Group or WG on Conventional Ammunition and applaud the successful adoption of
its final report containing the new Global Framework for Through Life Conventional Ammunition Management. The framework is much needed instrument to more effectively counter the diversion of conventional ammunition of all types, which continued to fuel instability, insecurity and conflict across the
world. I retreate my call to all states to join relevant treaties and agreements and to fully implement their legal obligations under conventional arms control instruments to reach their party as well as their political commitments to minimize the risk of diversion of arms and ammunitions. Madame President, Beyond addressing arms transfers, all parties to the armed conflict of a duty to protect civilians in armed conflict and change shaw compliance
with applicable international law, including international humanitarian law. From twenty fourth of February twenty twenty two to twenty seventh of August this year, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded twenty six thousand, seven hundred seventeen civilian casualties in Ukraine, with nine thousand, five hundred eleven killed and seventeen thousand, two hundred six injured. The actual figures are likely to be considered considerably
higher. The vast majority of civilian casualties are the results of the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including by shelling from artillery tanks and multiple launch rocket systems, cruise and ballistic missiles, and by air strikes. The continued use of large numbers of armed uncrued aerial vehicles against civilians and civilian infrastructure is concerning Armed uncrued aerial vehicles must not be used in the manner inconsistent with
international humanitarian law. The Sector General has unequivocally urged all size to avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, as such use is highly likely to result in indiscriminate harm, including in Ukraine. I take this opportunity to invite all Member States to implement the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences arising from the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, adopted
in November twenty twenty two in abroad and meaning meaningful manner. The continued and intensified attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure and services in Ukraine, including energy, infrastructure, health and educational facilities, ports, roles, bridges and grain facilities
remain very much alarming. Under international humanitarian law, parties to an armed con it are prohibited from targeting civilians and civilian objects, including civilian infrastructure, and have the responsibility to take all feasible precautions in the conduct of military operations to avoid or at least minimize incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to civilian objects. The United Nations strongly condemned attacks against civilians and
civilian infrastructure and urges for their immediate cessation. Minds and explosive remnants of war have resulted in widespread land contamination, rendering land unusable for agriculture while impeding the movements of people. I retreate my core to all the relevant parties to avoid abide by their obligations under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and not to transfer
or use any minds inhibited by its amended protocol too. Madame President, Distinguished Members of the Security Council, the past eighteen months have seen death loss, unbearable suffering and devastation in Ukraine. The world cannot afford for this senseless war to continue. I appealed to all member states to make every effort for peace.
As the Sector General has repeatedly emphasized, the United Nations is committed to support all meaningful efforts to bring a just and sustainable peace to Ukraine, guided by the United Nations Charter, international Law and relevant General Assembly resolutions. I thank you very much for your attention. On eleventh September, the Members of
the Security Council met to discuss the situation in Yemen. They were breached by the UN Special Envoy Groundberg, alongside ocha Is Jim Suya and Major General Berry. The members of the Security Council expressed their support to the UN peace process based on the Greek references and reiterated the urgency for a Yemeni Yemeni dialogue and a national wide ceasefire. The members of the Security Council also reiterated the importance
of making rapid and tangible progress in the current discussions. The members of the Security Council stressed the need to maintain the prevailing calm and ensure unhindered humanitarian access.
The members of the Security Council welcomed the efforts by Saudi Arabia and Oman delegations and their ongoing support to the mediation efforts of the United Nations many of the process, because it seems to have really just stalled out the last few Well, he's working very hard and he asked for the support of the Council to his efforts in this regard, and this is exactly what the Council,
as I explained, now, thank you. You know, the need for housing and just the idea of having a safe an affordable place to live. In some reasons of the world, safe means means safe from gunfire, missile strikes, drone strikes, a baby, a tank running over your home because
you're in the path of what they consider to be a military objective. In other parts of the parts of the world, it means that you're in fear of some corporate developer wanting to take over your home, tear it down, displace you so that you wind up on the street, and then you not
being able to afford to find a new home another place to live. Either way, this the result is the same that the in a lot of in a lot of countries and a lot of areas, that the average person, working class person is having trouble finding it a home, having trouble affording a home without the worry of slipping back and losing their home the landlord evicting them or some developer buying up the whole area and having having an eviction handed to
the list way where they need to simply move. Even though oh okay, so say they did receive what a reasonable market value for their home. If the funding that they received for that sale of the house that they're currently and doesn't help them get a new place to live, then we good, what
did it do? There are economic reasons that are in existence due to inflation, due to corporate greed and everything that hinder some people from having the safety of a home, and having a safe home should be a human right. So we're actually gonna hear going bringing everything back to Canada. We're going to hear from jag Meats saying as he is talking about affordable housing, affordable rents for students, but the affordable rents reaches way further than just simply to students.
It also applies to families and how they can afford to have enough of a home to safely house them mom and dad and their children. How is that working out with the current rates of inflation and how rents are becoming unreachable for a lot of families. With that, of course, there was in British Columbia there was a cap put on renting increases that was actually below the
rate of inflation at three point five percent. That may help a little bit, But when we look at the overall rent in British Columbia, we have Vancouver, which was named recently by several surveys to be one of the top five most unaffordable places to live based on the cost of rent, food, and what the average income is. So a cap of three point five percent for a rent increase, how helpful is it when the rent for a one
bedroom home or a one bedroom apartment is still almost two thousand dollars a month. So why don't we listen to what Jack Meetingh has to say about housing for students in this next segment? The aster zoom should be demanded, Liz Lami, So I'll turn it over to you, Junete, Thanks so much, Alena. I just spoke with some graduate students here in the housy talking about how hard it is to find housing. We are hearing this across the
country, but students are particularly hard hit. There's simply nothing available. The cost of renting in place is through the roof. People are living multiple people to a single room just to be able to afford rents. Soon as should be worried about their school, they should be worried about their courses, worried about their careers, not worried about trying to find a place to live. And after eight years of a liberal government, they've not taken this seriously.
They've not built affordable housing, and we are in MSS where housing is more expensive than it's ever been before. And in response to this, Pierre Paulio is not who he says he is. They just had a conference convention in Quebec City and thousands of resolutions probably were vetted, made it to the floor, and not a single new idea on housing coming out of their convention, because in reality, this is not something that neither the Conservator or the liberals
care about. They don't care to build homes that people can afford. I can tell you this something I care deeply about. When I was in university a little bit younger than some of the folks behind me, I was twenty years old, my kid brother had to come live with me because things at home were really rough. My dad was struggling with an addiction. I had to bring my kid brother to come live with me, so a twenty year old taking care of a fifteen year old. I had to work multiple jobs
to keep food on the table. I had to take care of my kid brother to make sure he never went hungry. And I know how tough that is for a student to have to balance work, taking care of someone you love, and also pursuing your education. It was tough. Those are tough times, and I'm fighting to make sure people have affordable housing so no one
has to worry about that. And that's why we're committed to making sure the federal government uses the land that we have at the federal level, the power, the resources, the money to build homes that people can act shoually afford. We need to build student housing. We want to partner with provinces and educational institutions to build specifically student housing. There's a lot of commercial property, but there's now vacant. We need to partner with business using the federal powers
that we have to build housing to convert those units into dormitories. Students should be able to have affordable housing. There should not be something you have to worry about or stress about. We want to build homes that people can truly afford, and that's what I'm committed to doing. With that, I'm ready for any questions you might have. Thanks so much. Also say jig right, I'm gonna do that in French, and then I'll take your questions.
Give me one quick exact. Don't ample comes up on fasts said can defeat on that in uh you the regulars problem me affective more in in in apar
regularly shows on a dance at fies avancer on a concert party. Conserver INPA that constuted lodge able convence conference who constue plus to lodge mon Suvie Congetti at the University a j Two ponderswandermon on Petty Canzon at a Parkmouvia commod cityfbu the trab sasneuri ap garde apart SAP continued, thembat who contributes to lodge on for youtubly ze federal us lar Jean who constu plus to lodge more abu dhable is The exactsare next. See With that, I'm ready for any questions you might
have. We're gonna start with that one question. One follow up. We'll start on site. We'll start with that Frank for the Chronicle Herald. So has the Liberal government metics commitment of an unaffordable house and did you agreed upon in March twenty twenty two and your confidence and supply deal And if not, why do you continue to prop them out? So far, the Liberal government is not done enough to build affordable homes. We have forced the government to
do things that they would not have otherwise done. We are bringing in dental care for kids already, we brought in dental care for kids under twelve. By the end of this year, we'll have free dental care for seniors, kids eighteen and undred people living in disabilities. So we're forcing this government to do things that they would not have done for people. We're forcing this government
to act and we're going to continue to do that. Our goal is not to play games like the Conservatives, not to ignore the plight of people like the Liberals. We're using our power to deliver concrete results for people, and we've done that with dental care, and there's a lot more to be done. We're going to focus on housing now when we resume in September. Later on this month, in September more back in Parliament, our focus is going
to be on making this government build more homes that people can afford. Give a fall up. Yeah, So the NDP problems is five hundred thousand units of quality affordable housing in ten years if elected through a mixture of measures with pregnory problems as municipalities and community housing pregnership. So how would that point out? How how would you choose that? So so a big difference between our approach and that of the liberals and the Conservatives. The liberals and Conservatives want
to just let private developers do their thing. We know that that's not going to solve the problem. We have to be actively involved in this solution. I spoke with builders. They're saying that because of the high interest rates, it's not actually profitable at this point in time to build the type of homes that we need for people. So that's why we're saying we've got to use federal land, federal power, and federal resources to build homes that people can
afford. After the World Wars, Canada upon a mission of building homes that people could afford. Hundreds and thousands of homes were built after the World Wars for veterans that we're returning from the war. That's a type of effort that we need to do now. Mobilize the power that we have and build hundreds of thousands of homes that people can truly afford, so that young people don't have to worry about the cost of housing when they graduate, they can find
a place to call home. We can do that, but it's going to take actively using the power that we have at the federal level to build those affordable homes, and that's what we're proposing. We're also saying we need to look at a wide variety of options, getting the GST off of affordable builds to incentivize building homes that are affordable, looking at not for profit and cooperative housing, using all the tools we have to address student housing as well.
We've got to look at this as a is a broad problem because everyone is struggling with housing. We've got to look all the solutions. We're gonna go to Vanessa from Global Next. Okay, can you give us some insight into your meeting today. What were some of the things that the students talked about. We heard a lot of already stories students that were living in tense while they couldn't find housing because the vacancy rate is so low in Halifax right now.
We've heard about students really worried about finding a place and then not knowing if they could keep it because they've heard from people that their landlords end up renevicting them, they end up losing their place. Multiple people living in one room that's designed for one person, four people to a room. We've heard stories of twelve to fourteen people living in one apartment that's not designed for that many many people to live in. Many people are just saying that that.
We're even graduate students who have some income coming in that with the cost of living what it's at, cost of food, costs of groceries, and the rent going up, they just don't know how they're going to be able to make it all work. A lot of worry, a lot of fear, and a lot of anxiety, and that's something that students shouldn't have to be faced with. There's already enough anxiety worried about courses and exams to have to add on finding at home. On top of that, we also heard from
people that have to commute. The only affordable places to live are maybe an hour two hour commutes away, so people are all this time community to get to school. None of this is good for our students. None of this is good for the future of our country. If young people are more worried about biding at home and commuting rather than focusing on pursuing their dreams, that's
a problem, and that's a problem I want to fix. To a follow up, I do some people have suggested putting a cap on international students. Is that something that you would consider. I want to be really clear on
this point the topic of international students. International students are not to be blamed for the housing crisis we're in. What we know for sure is over the past number of years, past decades, both the liberal and conservative governments have just not built affordable homes, and we are in this crisis today because of
subsequent governments not making the sobriety. Under the Conservatives, when they were in power for ten years, they allowed eight hundred thousand affordable homes to be sold to rich developers to be turned into highly profitable rental units that no one can afford. And under the Liberals we lost another two hundred thousand and affordable homes and the housing prices have gone up. This is not by chance, this
is by design. They've chosen to make our housing market really great for investors, a great place to make a lot of money, but not a great place to find a home. That is a choice, and I want to change that. We can absolutely change the way our markets structured so it actually benefits people finding a home. That's never going to be fixed. If we think that the same market that got us in this problem, it's going to
get us out of this problem. We've got to change our approach and make housing about people finding a home, not about rich developers getting even richer. They don't need more help what people do, and that's what I'm focused on. We're gonna go to Martin from Coast Media next. That's just saying you mentioned commercial units being a possibility to free up vacant room. Are you looking
at other jurisdictions, other municipalities as a president for something like this. Yeah, So we've seen a lot of a lot of urban centers across the country. A lot of commercial buildings are going vacant now because businesses are changing their models. They're not using off the space the same way, and so we've got a lot of opportunity with those commercial properties that could be converted into student
dormitory. Specifically, we've seen a project like that in Toronto right beside the University of the University of Toronto on Spidna, a project where building was converted and it's now being turned into student housing. We need to do more of that. We need to see the federal government be more actively involved in using the opportunities that we have with vacant commercial properties, vacant federal land, and using that to build homes that people can actually afford, where students can actually
afford. That's something that we have to do. It's not an option. Right now, we're seeing how bad things are getting and without any action, it's just going to get worse. That's why we're pushing for this bold action that's really going to put people first. Give a fall up. Additionally, what do you say to those who voice concerns about your own stake and property
investment given your spouse spouse is holding up an investment property. But we have a home in Burnaby where we live and we only need one part of the home, so we rent out the basement. I think that's a reasonable thing to do. We don't need the whole space, and that gives someone else a home. Our tenet there is able to live a great life. He's got. It's two kids that come live with them, and we think that's an important thing. But I absolutely agree that for too long, the housing
market has been set up and been designed to make rich investors richer. That's something I want to take on. You're not gonna hear, Paul, You I've ever mentioned that, You're not gonna hear true to ever mentioned that. I'm saying it directly. There's a problem. If our housing market continues to make rich investors richer and people keep on falling behind. That is unsustainable.
That is not something that's going to work for our future. That's not working right now, and I'm very hopefully saying we've got to take that on. We've got to change our approach and make sure housing is designed for people to find at home, not for someone to get rich quick off of. And that's how it's been for a long time. If you look at Canada compared to other countries around the world, the increase in costs in Canada far exceed
other chie seven countries. Because our housing market is great for an investor to put money in and then see their profits go up. But it's not great for someone to find at home. I want to change that and we have to change that. Next questions from Radio Canada. Marjora still very mixplicate approach.
It is found conservatbero we lapros the liberty the conservator, I said, is the very exact one of the member shows the p and DCNY plus in d City and a Proschquina conly conserverarity on a perdue with some meal lodge more the pill to a purdue and plus the the some meal loge able set a portion of function on so condivo federal federal Asus la Jean who constricute to lodge at chan and Marcheki function bister making the function bappoli femi in policiton onto approach
function constitution. You do lodge and I will see vestvantage. Don't lodge more non locrative the cooperative on that this solution as neo democratic government, Yes, I asco large Marquis and the solution said met platforms and jette sat solution pasque set in Monte mont and mount the leadership amount of responsibility when it don't screa do lodge more, I caused this acciom with this in accition govern liberal a
avonsa do governorment concervat is on. Let's see lectionists and function pap miss madame to lemon to Femi police set up portion on avantage that clab joa federal who constitute sat option volunteer in the newly Okay, we're questions on zoom. Next. Okay, we'll move to questions on zoom. We're gonna take one question and one follow Please use the brace hand function of apprand and cast cv itzela function. Our first question comes from Julie and Lapointo Canada. We thing christ
for me politics plus or staff. So so for some final thoughts, how do we make our world a little more safer? How do we have an effect on our individual governments? And how do we build help those reasons that are without governments, without these sort sort of supervisions and systems. How do we help them build them so that they don't become so large that they forget about what they're about for the people, and that they stay within the control
and reach of the people so that they can have a safe home. See if medical systems and food systems so that they can just simply live. Thank you for listening to and please find a subscribe button wherever it may be. This show has been produced by Depictions Media. Please contact us at Depictions Media for more information.