The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is an impressive, monumental achievement of lawmaking. It is therefore not surprising that it has been hailed as a constitution for the oceans and the framework within which all activities in the oceans are to be governed. Its momentous comprehensi…
South Africa has had the honour and privilege to serve as the Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa for the past two years. The Group was created pursuant to statement S/PRST/2002/2 by the President of the Security Council, in which the Council recognized …
South Africa wishes to extend our appreciation to the Principals of the Tribunals for their very useful briefings and for the important work that they are doing. We also express our appreciation to Ambassador Rosenthal and his delegation for their able chairing of the Informal Working Group on Inter…
Allow me to congratulate you and your delegation, Mr. President, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of December. Please be assured of our full support. We also commend the Indian delegation for its excellent stewardship of the Council during a very busy Novemb…
My delegation would like to explain its vote on resolution 67/60, entitled “Nuclear disarmament”.
South Africa remains a staunch supporter of the establishment and maintenance of a nuclear- weapon-free world and consequently supports international efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons by purs…
My delegation thanks all of the briefers for the insightful statements they delivered here today. We also thank you, Mr. President, for having convened this important debate.
South Africa is fully committed to pursuing an integrated, gender-oriented approach in the areas of conflict prevention, pea…
It is with great joy that we stand here today to congratulate the people of Palestine for attaining an enhanced observer State status in the United Nations. Although that is not what we would have ideally wanted, because we support full membership in the United Nations for the State of Palestine, it…
It is an honour and privilege for South Africa to participate in this important debate on sport as a means to promote education, health, development and peace, and we thank the Secretary-General for his latest report on sport for development and peace (A/67/282). We have noted the tremendous initiat…
South Africa thanks the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Farid Zarif, for his briefing today on the report of the activities of the United Nations Interim Mission in Kosovo (S/2012/818). We welcome Serbian Foreign Minister Mr. Ivan Mrkić to the Council and thank him for his state…
We thank you, Mr. President, for your excellent initiative in continuing this important debate and for jointly preparing the concept paper on working methods (see S/2012/853, annex) together with Portugal in its capacity as Chair of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Qu…
South Africa welcomes the adoption of resolution 2077 (2012). South Africa remains concerned about the scourge of piracy and its negative impact on the political, social, economic and humanitarian situation in Somalia. We applaud the efforts of various States and organizations,
such as the United N…
Mr. President, we would like to thank you for having organized this very important debate on piracy and also for having prepared the comprehensive concept note (S/2012/814, annex). We thank Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson for his useful and comprehensive briefing.
South Africa is concerned ab…
We commend the President of the Security Council for the month of November, Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri, Permanent Representative of India, for presenting the annual report of the Council (A/67/2) and the delegation of Colombia, under the leadership of Ambassador Néstor Osorio, for preparing it.
In Octo…
I thank the Council for the opportunity to provide a short summary of the work of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004), since our last joint meeting in May (see S/PV.6767), in order to complement the key points made by Ambassador Singh Puri in the joint state…
We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the people and the Government of Cuba on the adoption of resolution 67/4, “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”, with the support of almost all members of the Ge…
South Africa welcomes the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Valentin Inzko, back to the Council and thanks him for his comprehensive briefing.
The report which the High Representative has provided us presents a mixed bag of progress (see S/2012/813). The country has remained stabl…
My delegation wishes to welcome to the Security Council once again His Excellency Mr. José Luís Guterres, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Timor-Leste,. We welcome his insightful views on the progress attained by his country. We also wish to thank the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-Ge…
South Africa was honoured to lead the Security Council mission to Timor-Leste, which comprised six delegations, namely, Azerbaijan, India, Pakistan, Portugal, Togo and South Africa, and took place from 3 to 6 November 2012.
The purpose of the visit, as provided for the terms of reference agreed upo…
I would first like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of November. I would also like to thank the Permanent Representative of Guatemala and his delegation for the manner in which they steered the work of the Council in Octob…
South Africa welcomes the adoption of resolution 2073 (2012), which comes at a time when progress continues to be registered in the consolidation of Somalia’s post-transition phase, as witnessed by the appointment of the 10-member Cabinet on 4 November. The political progress is a tribute to the pol…