Today, Russia accused the majority of the Security Council of attempting to destabilize the region by supporting the United Kingdom’s draft resolution (S/2018/156). This is perverse, when in fact Russia’s veto today serves only to protect Iran’s efforts to destabilize the region and spread its malig…
I want to thank the penholders, Sweden and Kuwait, for their work, their sacrifice and their time in the negotiations. As we look at the negotiations, I think it is also important that we bring the Council some of the voices of the Syrian people in eastern Ghouta, who have suffered so much while wai…
I thank Under-Secretary-General Lowcock for his briefing, particularly his noting of the systematic targeting of civilians in eastern Ghouta and the toll that it is taking on the people there.
Yesterday, Russia’s Permanent Representative requested this meeting in order to “make sure that all partie…
I would like to personally thank the Secretary-General for being here a second day in a row, but, more important, for his comments on Syria. I think that it is time for us to realize that we cannot continue to look away. I very much appreciate him taking the time to make that personal plea. I think …
I wish to thank the Secretary-General for being with us today as well as Mr. Mladenov for his briefing.
We are meeting today in a forum that is very familiar to all of us. This meeting on the Middle East has been taking place each month for many, many years; its focus has been almost entirely on is…
I wish to thank Mr. Touré, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, for his briefing and Ambassador Vieira not only for his briefing but also for his leadership of the Guinea-Bissau configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission.
Recently, the Security Council has witnessed significant succe…
I thank Staffan de Mistura for his briefing and all his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria. The United States fully supports his initiative to bring the parties back to Geneva and begin work on a new constitutional committee in accordance with resolution 2254 (2015), but we…
I thank Mr. Grandi and Mr. Jenča for their briefings.
The news reports from Burma have long been brutal and heartbreaking. Because of the lack of access granted by the Burmese Government, few reports get out, but those that do are simply horrifying. The Associated Press recently told the story of K…
I thank Ambassador Meza-Cuadra for his briefing, as well as his leadership as the Chair of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter- terrorism. We very much appreciate his work.
Over the past year, deadly terrorist attacks have killed hundreds of innocent civi…
I thank Under-Secretary-General Voronkov for his briefing, especially because it is his first briefing on this threat since the Office of Counter-Terrorism was established last year. The United States looks forward to its continued cooperation with him and his team to help Member States fight terror…
Let me first thank Special Representative Tanin for his briefing. I also thank the representatives from Serbia and Kosovo.
There is always more progress to make, but the conditions in Kosovo have changed markedly since the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was established, in …
I thank Mr. Martin for his important briefing, which I believe will give us a great road map for our work in the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions.
It is easy to get bogged down in the details of working methods. Those details are important, without a doubt. We …
The news out of Syria this morning is following a troubling pattern. There are reports of yet another chemical-weapon attack on Sunday. Victims of what appears to be chlorine gas are pouring into hospitals. Few things have horrified my country and the world as much as the Al-Assad regime’s use of ch…
I offer many congratulations to Kazakhstan on its able leadership of the Council for the month of January. It has been a busy and productive month for the Security Council. Thanks to Kazakhstan’s sustained efforts, the Security Council travelled on its first mission to Afghanistan in seven years, wh…
The Security Council met only last week (see S/PV.8164) and heard the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs describe his visit to Syria and reiterate a series of requests that, in his estimation, would be a positive step towards improving the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Sadly, not o…
Since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the establishment in 2003 of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, 7 April has become a solemn day to commemorate the more than 800,000 men, women and children whose lives were lost during 100 days of unspeakable violence. The Unite…
I would first like to thank Mr. Mladenov for his briefing.
During the past year, as the representative of the United States I have most often taken the position that this monthly meeting on the Middle East is miscast. As I have pointed out many times, we spend far too much time in this meeting on I…
I thank the briefers for talking about this very important issue facing us.
The United States has been a supporter of South Sudan from the beginning. Since independence, we have invested well over $11 billion in South Sudan and the Government of President Kiir. What began with
so much promise has …
I thank Under-Secretary-General Lacroix for his briefing. I would like to welcome Foreign Minister Coulibaly and, on behalf of the United States, congratulate him on his re-appointment. We look forward to working closely with him.
As Ambassador Haley has said, it is our priority to see enduring pea…
Russia has convened us with almost no notice, and then put forth a proposal that it hopes will distract from the new French initiative to hold accountable those who use chemical weapons. Today, Russia is again doing what it does best with regard to chemical weapons. It is running from the facts. It …
