Statement by the delegation of Ukraine at the Security Council briefing on the Implementation of the Note by the President of the Security Council (S/2010/507)

Statement by the delegation of Ukraine at the Security Council briefing on the Implementation of the Note by the President of the Security Council (S/2010/507)

(31 May 2016)

Mr. President,

Thank you personally and the whole Egyptian delegation for having succeeded in providing an environment for an effective and efficient work of the Council in the month of May. A highly professional work of your team was a hallmark of the Egyptian presidency deserving the highest praise.

At the outset, the Ukrainian delegation would like to welcome the return of formal wrap-up sessions at the end of the month. In our opinion, it is an important instrument in the Council’s tool-kit in ensuring transparency of its work, which is appreciated by the UN membership and the civil society.

May was not an easy month — full of difficult discussions, important negotiations, events requiring the Council’s urgent attention. It was a month of some historic decisions, one of those — on lifting sanctions on Liberia and termination of the relevant Security Council committee, which I the case when I feel very pleased with having lost my job as its Chairman. It was a month, in which from the very first day the Council members demonstrated the ability to reach agreements and find solutions to issues, on which very different and sometimes opposing views exist. This is not to say that the Council found a magic formula of resolving the differences but to point out that if and when political will is present, the Council is very likely to deliver a result.

Mr. President,

Exactly four weeks ago the Council adopted resolution 2286 on protection of medical and humanitarian personnel in armed conflicts. The fact that 85 UN member states have become cosponsors of the resolution emphasize in no obscure terms that the subject does require an urgent attention of the international community. Nowhere is it more apparent than in Syria, where medical facilities and health-care workers have been targeted repeatedly and systematically.

Over the past month, the Syrian issue has consistently stayed on the Council’s agenda. And this consistency is, in our opinion, a sure sign that things in the country are not moving in the right direction. The international community is eager to hear and welcome the news that humanitarian assistance has been delivered to one or another Syrian town or village and it appears that for the moment this is the best we can hope for. What a sorry state of affairs, especially if one is reminded that we are dealing with the conflict, which has already taken the lives of up to 500 thousand people.

In February, at the similar wrap-up session, my delegation spoke of “a glimmer of hope” that appeared for the Syrian people. Three months later we can say that this glimmer has been all but extinguished, with the last night’s bombings of Idlib being a gruesome proof to that. Here and now is not the occasion to point fingers. However, what I would like to point out is the issue of accountability.

The accountability is the point of reference in aforementioned resolution 2286, and it would be quite a challenge to find someone who’d oppose on the whole the importance of bringing to account those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law.

Being fully aware of political sensitivities surrounding the whole political negotiation process around Syria, we nonetheless are convinced that if accountability is not about to be achieved for now through proper legal processes, then transparency is the very least we can provide. In this regard, a very controversial picture emerged last Friday from the open briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria. The Council would do right to modify its approach to the methods of consideration of the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Mr. President,

I would be remiss if I fail to commend the Egyptian presidency for spearheading the open debates on such subjects as countering narratives and ideologies of terrorism, and on cooperation between the UN and the African Union, and for leading the Council’s visit to Somalia.

All-in-all, Ukraine welcomes a strong “regional”, Chapter VIII edge of the Egyptian presidency. Besides the meeting with the AU Peace and Security Council, this also relates to the first-ever joint consultative meeting with the League of Arab States. As a country with the European integration at the heart of its foreign and internal policy, Ukraine appreciates a lot a useful informal exchange held between the Council and EU Political and Security Committee. In the same light we also look forward to the EU briefing next month.

Since all these important topics have already been eloquently addressed by other speakers, I will not dwell on them, as well as on my last week visit as Chair of the 2127 Committee to the Central African Republic last week, which I’m planning to report to the Council later.

In keeping with your suggestion to focus the statements on just key subjects, I would like to touch upon the election of the next Secretary General.

Over the course of the month, there have been several discussions on this issue among the Council members at various levels. We believe that these deliberations were very useful, but maybe somewhat slow in terms of formulating the Council’s further steps. Given the importance of the matter, the high number of candidates and the ever present pressure of time, the Ukrainian delegation would like to underline that we strongly favor timely holding of the Council’s meetings with candidates, provided they express such an interest, and organizing initial rounds of straw polls without delays. We are of the opinion that postponing the Council’s action would only unnecessarily impose on the Council time constraints, which are better to be avoided.

Mr. President,

In closing — congratulations on a successful completion of your presidency and my words of assurances to the incoming French presidency of our full support.

I thank you.