S/PV.7568 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council has before it the text of a statement by the President on behalf of the Council on the subject of today’s meeting. I thank the Council members for their valuable contributions to this statement, which recognizes the contribution of the aide-memoire attached to the statement and looks forward to the next report of the Secretary-General on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. In accordance with the understanding reached among the members of the Council, I shall take it that the members of the Security Council agree to the statement, which will be issued as a document of the Security Council under the symbol S/PRST/2015/23. Before adjourning the meeting, as this is the last scheduled meeting of the Council for the month of November, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the members of the Council, their respective teams and, in particular, the secretariat of the Council for all the support they have given us throughout this month. It has been a really busy month, during which we have unanimously adopted five very important resolutions, including that brought to us by France last Friday. We have also adopted four presidential statements, and I hope that we might be able to adopt a fifth before the end of our presidency. This month is one in which we have rallied to consensus on a lot of issues, and we simply could not have done it without the hard work and support of every delegation around this table and behind it. I also want to particularly thank the interpreters. I know that it is sometimes tough for them when we enforce time limits, because that sometimes means that we speed up our delivery rather than cut back on what we were going to say. I therefore apologize to them for the extra work that we have given them, but I also want to thank members of the Council for observing those time limits and for conducting business in such a positive and interactive way. As we end our presidency, I know that I speak on behalf of the Council in wishing the delegation of the United States good luck in the month of December.