S/PV.7538 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 2014 to 31 July 2015. The draft report has been provided to members of the Council. The introduction to the draft report was prepared by the delegation of New Zealand, as President of the Council in July 2015, 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 New Zealand and its team and to 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 New Zealand, whose delegation was responsible for drafting the introduction to this year’s annual report.

I would like to express our gratitude to all the members of the Security Council for their contributions, support and comments and for the confidence they placed in New Zealand during the process of preparing this report. At the request of Council members, this year we revised the approach that had been taken to the preparation of the report, in particular by providing an introduction that is half the length of the introductions in recent years. The introduction attempts to provide an accessible summary of the Council’s activities. That was quite an intensive process, which took place over nearly three months. At the same time, we acknowledge that negotiations have continued in the Working Group on documentation and procedure on the best approach to the report in the future. We support the efforts being led by Lithuania and the Russian Federation in that regard. We also knowledge those States Members of the United Nations that have called for transparency in the work of the Council and have expressed interest in increasing the quality of the dialogue with the Assembly, including through improvements in the introduction to the report. We recognize that what we have done this year will not go as far as some would wish. We too would have preferred a document that contained more self-reflection on the Council’s performance. However, by its nature, this report is a Council document and requires the support of all Council members.

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/2015/771.