S/PV.8597 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council will now proceed to the consideration of its annual report to the General Assembly, for the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. The draft report has been provided to the members of the Council. The introduction to the draft report was prepared by the delegation of the United Kingdom, as President of the Council in August 2018, 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 the United Kingdom 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 30 August 2017 (S/2017/507). I now give the floor to the representative of the United Kingdom, whose delegation was responsible for drafting the introduction to this year’s annual report.

The United Kingdom is honoured to present the draft annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly today. I hope the Council members will support its adoption. As the President of the Security Council for the month of August 2018, the United Kingdom was responsible for coordinating the drafting of the introduction to the report. The draft report provides a summary of the actions that the Security Council took in 2018 to maintain international peace and security. The Council carries out that responsibility on behalf of all States Members of the United Nations, as set out in Article 24 of the Charter, and the annual report is an important mechanism for keeping the wider membership informed of our activities. We look forward to hearing the reflections of Member States on the annual report during the forthcoming General Assembly debate. We encourage future presidencies to report to Council members on relevant suggestions and observations raised during the debate, in line with paragraph 138 of the note by the President of 30 August 2017 (S/2017/507). In drafting the introduction, the United Kingdom aimed to provide a brief description of the key activities and trends in the Council during the reporting period. I hope that the draft report offers a clear and readable account of the Council’s work in 2018 that will serve as a useful reference for Member States and other readers, such as academics, civil society and the general public. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made a contribution to the draft report. In particular, I would like to thank those delegations that were members of the Council in 2018 for their valuable input into successive drafts of the introduction. I would also like to thank the Secretariat for its support during the drafting process, in particular staff in the Security Council Affairs Division of the Department for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, who prepared the bulk of the report and offered useful guidance and suggestions during the drafting of the introduction.

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/2019/666.