This is a really important issue, and I want to thank all the briefers. Their presentations were very valuable indeed. One fascinating insight that I learned this morning is that 19 per cent of the police in the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur are women, inspiring Darfuri wom…
The United Kingdom welcomes the adoption of resolution 2317 (2016). This sanctions regime continues to play a vital role in promoting peace and stability in the Horn of Africa. In Somalia, it is preventing the flow of illicit arms and cutting off Al-Shabaab’s funding. It is preserving natural resour…
I would like to begin by welcoming the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) back to the Council and thanking her for her briefing today. The United Kingdom is grateful for her twelfth report, and I thank her and her Office for their continuing investigation of the situation in Libya.…
I would like to begin by welcoming Mr. Inzko back to the Security Council and by thanking him for his report (S/2016/911, annex) and for his briefing just now. As High Representative, he has the United Kingdom’s full and continuous support in his efforts to help Bosnian authorities overcome the chal…
I wish to thank you, Mr. Foreign Minister, for having convened this important debate.
In the light of the time, I am shortening my statement. I express my thanks to the Deputy Secretary- General and the other briefers, and I pay tribute to all United Nations peacekeepers, who do such vital work in …
The United Kingdom welcomes the unanimous adoption today of resolution 2314 (2016). Its short-term extension of the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons- United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) was needed to allow additional time for the Council to continue its consultati…
I wish to thank Ismail, Stephen and Muhannad for their very powerful briefings. They all are doing vital work on this issue, and, as Security Council penholder on Yemen, I want to reiterate at this meeting today our appreciation for their tireless efforts.
As they all have highlighted, the sheer sc…
I thank the Secretary-General and all our briefers for their remarks today. We welcome this chance to discuss the Central Asian region. It is a part of the world that we hear too rarely about in the Chamber, although the region faces many unique challenges that directly affect our core business, nam…
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of Western European and other States. On behalf of the Group, I wish to offer our sincere condolences to the royal family and people of Thailand on the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej earlier this month.
His Majesty guided the Kingdom o…
Given the pressure that you are under to defend the indefensible, Sir, your fantasy world has spread from Syria to Yemen. I just wanted to set the record straight and say that the United Kingdom did circulate a draft Security Council statement on Yemen, but its content was to strongly condemned the …
You said, Sir, that the United Nations should stick to facts. Today, Stephen O’Brien stuck religiously to facts. The problem for you, Mr. President, is that they are not facts that you like. Let me just repeat three of the facts that I wrote down from Stephen’s statement. They are all facts, reality…
As the penholder on women and peace and security, I want first to welcome all of our numerous guests today and to thank the Secretary-General and Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka for their briefings and all the work they do on this agenda.
I also want to pay tribute to Rita Lopidia for her briefing. Sha has given…
I join others in thanking our briefers, Nickolay Mladenov and Stephen O’Brien. I thought it was particularly interesting to hear the considered views of colleagues coming to the end of their two years as non-permanent members of the Security Council.
When we last met here in July (see S/PV.7736), w…
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of Western European and other States.
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary since the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were conceived and 40 years since th…
On behalf of the Group of Western European and other States, it is with great sadness that I address the General Assembly as we gather to remember Ambassador Girma Asmerom Tesfay, Permanent Representative of Eritrea. As others have said before, our thoughts are with Ambassador Girma’s family as well…
On behalf of the Group of Western European and other States, it is an honour and a privilege to address the Assembly as we welcome the appointment of Mr. António Guterres as the next Secretary-General. Today, Mr. Guterres, the former Prime Minister of Portugal and former United Nations High Commissi…
I am grateful to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for her briefing.
Our thoughts are with the people of Haiti and the region affected by Hurricane Matthew. Along with many partners in Haiti, the United Kingdom is working to establish the extent of the damage and the most pressing…
The lonely veto and four votes in favour of your draft resolution, Sir, were a double humiliation. This text was a cynical attempt to divert attention from Russia’s exercise of the veto today that once again denied any hope to the people of Aleppo. It failed because it failed to demand an immediate …
I normally begin my statements in the Council with the words “Thank you, Mr. President”. I cannot do that today, because today we have seen the fifth veto of a vote on Syria in five years from you, Mr. President — a veto that has once again stopped the Council from creating the unity needed to give…
The United Kingdom welcomes the adoption of resolution 2312 (2016), which renews the mandate of the European Union’s Operation SOPHIA for an additional 12 months. I am proud of the United Kingdom’s role as penholder, and I am grateful to those Security Council delegations that supported the resoluti…
