S/PV.7283 Security Council

The Security Council will now proceed to the consideration of its annual report to the General Assembly, for the period from 1 August 2013 to 31 July 2014. The draft report has been provided to members of the Council. The introduction to the draft report was prepared by the delegation of Rwanda, as President of the Council in July 2014, with the participation of the other members of the Council. The body of the report was prepared by the Secretariat. I should like to express my appreciation to Rwanda and the Secretariat for their respective contributions. I should like to point out that the draft report was prepared in accordance with the note by the President of 26 July 2010 (S/2010/507). I now give the floor to the representative of Rwanda, whose delegation was responsible for drafting the introduction to this year’s annual report.

I thank you, Madam President, for convening this meeting to consider the draft annual report of the Security Council, which will be issued as document A/69/2 and which covers the period from 1 August 2013 to 31 July 2014. I also thank you for giving Rwanda the floor as the delegation that coordinated the documentation of the Council’s business during the reporting period. The process towards consensus on the draft report is representative of how productive the Council could be if its members were willing to always work towards a common interest That was the expectation of States Members of the United Nations when they mandated this organ to deal with the maintenance of international peace and security — a united, hence effective, Council. It is on that note that I would like to express our gratitude to all Council members for their valuable collaboration in the process of drawing up the draft report. As confirmed by the Secretariat through the Director of the Security Council Affairs Division, this report goes down as one of the substantive reports of the Council agreed on in the shortest period. As stated in the introduction to the draft report, during the reporting period the Council held 238 formal meeting, of which 218 were public. The Council adopted 55 resolutions and 26 presidential statements, while also issuing 113 statements to the press. During the same period, the Security Council conducted two missions to the field, one to Africa in October 2013 — to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia — and another to Mali in February 2014. On 8 October 2013 in Ethiopia, the Security Council held one of its annual consultative meetings with the Peace and Security Council of the African Union; the second meeting was held in New York on 7 June 2014. As was the case in years past, most of the Council’s activities and efforts were focused on Africa. The continent registered some progress — in Sierra Leone, where the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office was successfully completed; in Somalia, where the national army, supported by the African Union Mission in Somalia, continued to make substantive territorial gains against Al-Shabaab; in Guinea-Bissau, where the constitutional order was restored, albeit still fragile; and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Force Intervention Brigade was deployed pursuant to resolution 2098 (2013) to neutralize all armed groups. The latter led to the defeat of the Mouvement du 23 mars in November 23, which ended its rebellion through the Kampala process and the Nairobi declarations. However, the Security Council continued to follow closely the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a number of other armed groups, including the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda and the Alliance Democratic Force, remain active in the eastern part of the country. Nonetheless, despite that progress in Africa, during the reporting period the Security Council had to deal with the outbreak of conflicts in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Libya, which led to widespread human rights and humanitarian consequences. It is in that context that the Council reinforced the protection-of-civilians mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan by adopting resolution 2155 (2014). The Council also decided to establish the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, which was created through resolution 2149 (2014) and deployed on 15 September 2014 to replace the African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic. On the Central African Republic as well, the Council adopted resolution 2127 (2013), which established the Committee mandated to oversee the arms embargo, travel ban and assests freeze imposed pursuant to the same resolution. The situation in the Middle East was also prominent on the Council’s agenda following the eruption of the conflicts in Gaza and Iraq, as well as the worsening security situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and in Yemen. On Syria, the Council adopted resolution 2118 (2013), relating to the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons programme, as well as resolutions 2139 (2014) and 2165 (2014), relating to the humanitarian situation in the country. On Yemen, the Council adopted resolution 2140 (2014), which established the Sanctions Committee mandated to oversee the travel ban and an assets freeze imposed on Yemen pursuant to the same resolution. In Europe, the Security Council continued to follow the situations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, and Kosovo, which remained generally calm and stable. However, in February 2014, the Council was seized with the conflict in Ukraine, which further escalated on 17 July with the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 in Donetsk oblast, resulting in the loss of 298 lives. In that regard, the Council adopted resolution 2166 (2014) to condemn, in the strongest terms, that tragic incident, demand a full, thorough and independent international investigation and to stress that those responsible should be held accountable. As for Asia and the Americas, the Council continued to monitor the situations in Afghanistan and Haiti. It also adopted relevant resolutions to extend the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Turning to thematic, general and cross-cutting issues, the Council continued to hold regular open debates and other public meetings on human rights- related issues, such as the protection of civilians in armed conflict, children and armed conflict and women and peace and security; on security-related issues, such as non-proliferation and peacekeeping; and on post- conflict-related issues, such as peacebuilding, security- sector reform and the rule of law; and on working methods, including through the wrap-up sessions. At the same time, the Council debated specific issues such as the prevention of genocide on the ocassion of the twentieth commemoration of the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda; the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal of Honour, named for the United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda peacekeeper who saved hundreds of people during the genocide; small arms; and war, its lessons and the search for permanent peace. During the reporting period, accountability for the most serious crimes was a permanent concern for the Security Council — through various country-specific debates and products, through meetings to discuss the work of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, and through meetings to consider reports of the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in accordance with the relevant resolutions concerning the situation in the Sudan and Libya. Unfortunately, during the reporting period, Council members could not agree on two draft resolutions on the work of the ICC in relation to the situations in Kenya and Syria. It is our hope that the important records of the Council’s business contained in this draft report will continue to be a guide to Council members, the larger United Nations membership, the Secretariat and to all actors serving the international community in the maintenance of international peace and security. Nevertheless, I do hope that in future the Council will consider how to improve its annual reports by assessing its effectiveness in the reporting period with concrete recommendations on how to act better and faster while maintaining international peace and security. In conclusion, allow me to express our satisfaction for the opportunity for Rwanda to document the Council’s work. My particular thanks go to my Security Council team at the Rwanda Mission, which worked hard to put together the draft report — of course, with the invaluable support and contributions of all Council members, to whom we extend our appreciation. We also express our gratitude to the Secretary-General and senior officials of his administration for their usual availablity to brief us, sometimes on very short notice. I also recognize the valuable support of members of the Security Council Affairs Divsion, mainly for the advice they accorded to us throghout the drafting process, including on Council statistics, as well as for ably servicing the meetings, which are the basis of the draft report.

It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the adoption of the draft annual report. May I take it that the draft report is adopted by the Council? There being no objection, it is so decided. This decision will be reflected in a note by the President of the Security Council to be issued as document S/2014/750. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.