S/PV.8003 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2017/593, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the United States of America. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2017/592, which contains the report of the Secretary-General pursuant to resolution 2299 (2016), as well as to document S/2017/596, which contains the fifteenth report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 4 of Security Council resolution 2107 (2013). The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2367 (2017). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting.

The adoption of resolution 2367 (2017) comes at a milestone in Iraq’s fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). As Member States, we join the Iraqi people in celebrating the liberation of Mosul earlier this week. The Iraqi security forces have dealt ISIL a devastating loss, and the United States and the coalition will support Iraq as that momentum continues through the liberation of the remaining Iraqi territory still under ISIL control. Over the course of negotiations, Council members recognized that the need for reconciliation, at both the national and the local levels, would grow more acute as the ultimate defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham drew nearer. The United States salutes the role of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) in engaging the Government of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government and other stakeholders on national reconciliation. We would also urge UNAMI to invigorate its ongoing efforts, in coordination with Iraqi authorities, to increase transparency in the protection of Iraq’s most vulnerable groups, such as internally displaced persons in transit, and encourage Iraq to hold accountable those who committed atrocities against such groups. I would like to highlight an important addition to this year’s mandate, that is, the first-ever external review of a special political mission’s staffing and resources, whereby the Secretariat will engage a third- party consultancy to identify efficiencies and delineate responsibilities between UNAMI and the United Nations country team. While this is a new tool for the Security Council, that unbiased third-party review should set a gold standard for improving efficiency and accountability in the field, and will enable UNAMI to more effectively deliver on its mandate. The United States is proud to join the rest of the Council in supporting UNAMI’s work towards durable and sustainable peace for Iraq. We thank all of our counterparts on the Council for their productive engagement, discourse and consensus on this Mission.