On behalf of the Group of Western European and other States, it is an honour and a privilege to address the Assembly as we welcome the appointment of Mr. António Guterres as the next Secretary-General. Today, Mr. Guterres, the former Prime Minister of Portugal and former United Nations High Commissi…
I am grateful to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for her briefing.
Our thoughts are with the people of Haiti and the region affected by Hurricane Matthew. Along with many partners in Haiti, the United Kingdom is working to establish the extent of the damage and the most pressing…
The lonely veto and four votes in favour of your draft resolution, Sir, were a double humiliation. This text was a cynical attempt to divert attention from Russia’s exercise of the veto today that once again denied any hope to the people of Aleppo. It failed because it failed to demand an immediate …
I normally begin my statements in the Council with the words “Thank you, Mr. President”. I cannot do that today, because today we have seen the fifth veto of a vote on Syria in five years from you, Mr. President — a veto that has once again stopped the Council from creating the unity needed to give…
The United Kingdom welcomes the adoption of resolution 2312 (2016), which renews the mandate of the European Union’s Operation SOPHIA for an additional 12 months. I am proud of the United Kingdom’s role as penholder, and I am grateful to those Security Council delegations that supported the resoluti…
I thank you, Madam President, for convening this emergency meeting today at the request of the United Kingdom, the United States and France. I join others in thanking Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura for his briefing and for his relentless stamina.
The Al-Assad regime and Russia are reducing Aleppo…
I join others in welcoming today’s meeting and the briefing from the Secretary-General.
Since the Quartet’s report (S/2016/595, annex) issued in July, we have seen a worrying acceleration of some Israeli policies in the West Bank that are, as the report makes clear, eroding the viability of the two…
On behalf of the United Kingdom, I warmly welcome the unanimous adoption of resolution 2307 (2016) today, and I congratulate the Government of Colombia on the historic peace agreement reached with the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) last month.
“Historic” is a word that is somet…
I thank the President for convening this debate and Egypt for initiating it.
Peacekeepers at their best present the Organization at its best. They shield the oppressed. They provide hope to the hopeless. They help build a more peaceful future, often in the face of great personal danger. For all tha…
I congratulate you, Mr. President — Ramlan — and your team for everything you have done in the successful month of August. I think we have done a lot under your leadership. We have reacted to a lot going on in the world, and so I am glad that you have found time for this wrap-up session. I will keep…
I join others in thanking the Malaysian presidency for this opportunity to exchange views on resolution 1540 (2004). I also thank the Secretary-General and all the briefers for their fascinating insights.
The threat of toxic, poisonous or nuclear materials falling into the hands of non-State actors…
I would like to Stephen O’Brien and all the humanitarian workers who trying to do their jobs as best they can in Aleppo and the rest of Syria.
We gather in the Chamber every month, and we routinely reduce the situation in Syria to simple statistics — statistics such as 400,000 killed, over 2 milli…
I thank you, Sir, for convening this debate. I join others in thanking the Secretary-General, Ms. Amina Chawahir Mohamed and Mr. Smail Chergui for their briefings, and all the ministers for their presence.
As we have just heard, Africa is often associated with the scourge of war. In countries such …
I thank you, Mr. President, for agreeing to hold this meeting at our request. I also thank Mr. Feltman and Mr. O’Brien for their highly effective briefings today.
I would like to begin with the harrowing words of Stefan Heunis, a photographer working for Agence France-Presse who visited a camp for …
I thank you, Sir, for agreeing to hold this meeting in open session today. Enough is enough. We need to break with tradition and have this debate in public because it is vital that the world hear the reality of life in Syria. I therefore thank Under-Secretary O’Brien for his sobering briefing.
It i…
The working methods of the Security Council are absolutely key. Done well, they facilitate our work, provide a framework for our deliberations and allow us to take decisions that can help maintain international peace and security. Done less well, they prevent all that. Japan wrote the working method…
I thank the Secretary-General for his first report (S/2016/589) on the implementation of resolution 2231 (2015). It has been produced in challenging circumstances, but it is a strong
report that covers the full range of implementation. I also thank both briefers, and Ambassador Oyarzun Marchesi for…
I thank the Secretary-General for his briefing today.
I want to begin by welcoming the Quartet’s report on the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. I join others in thanking the Quartet Envoys and principals for all their hard work in producing
that important analysis on t…
Ten years ago we adopted by consensus the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. It was a major step forward for a coordinated, united, global response to the international terrorist threat. That strategy remains a vital reference point today. However, in the past decade terrorism has evo…
Like others, allow me to begin by expressing my sincere condolences to the Government and people of Turkey for the appalling attack on Istanbul International Airport.
Very briefly, with regard to Mali, I welcome the unanimous adoption of resolution 2295 (2016). It provides the United Nations Multid…
