Ministry Statements & Speeches:
We thank you, Mr. President, for convening this wrap-up session and for your revealing overview of this record-breaking month. We thank you and your colleagues for managing the extraordinary workload with considerable flare and efficiency. I will focus on three points that have struck our delegation in carrying out its work.
First, New Zealand continues to support wrap up sessions as tools with the potential to increase the Council’s transparency to the broader United Nations membership, on whose behalf we act. We thank the presidency for scheduling this opportunity for the Council to live up to its obligation to meet the needs of the broader membership. Given the frenetic pace of the Council’s work, wrap-up sessions can also provide an opportunity to reflect on cross-cutting items, but they are not the only opportunity for transparency provided by the presidency. The open debate on children and armed conflict (see S/PV.7414) was a great such example. It allowed all Members of the United Nations to contribute views as a basis for future action, and gave momentum to an important item on the Council’s agenda.
Secondly, the Council’s visiting mission to Burundi and the Central African Republic — its first — and to Addis Ababa to meet with our partners in the African Union Peace and Security Council was one of the highlights of the month. The three legs of the visit were important opportunities for engaging with people on the ground and getting a real-life perspective on the issues on our agenda today. Significantly, the visit fulfilled an important political function in visibly demonstrating that the Security Council is maintaining its engagement in those countries.
The visit to the Central African Republic was particularly timely, given the Council’s scheduled renewal of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic next month, under Jordan’s presidency. The visit to Addis Ababa and the broad subject matter discussed with our partners on the Peace and Security Council underscored the importance we attach to building that partnership. While such engagement is useful, it is no replacement for continuous engagement between the two Councils, which is something that New Zealand is committed to continuing to strengthen at the practical level. We extend our thanks to Angola, which, together with the Council presidency, led the visiting mission, and to the United States, which co-led the Burundi section.
Thirdly, allow me to again congratulate you, Sir, once again on the outstanding way in which you and your delegation have led the Council’s work in March, under particularly demanding circumstances. We consider that it is the manner in which the closed consultations are chaired and your decisive and responsive approach to the consultations and to members’ requests over the month that can truly make a positive improvement in the working methods. We also commend your commitment to engaging with the media after consultations so to increase the transparency of the Council’s work. Furthermore, we welcome the growing number of texts being initiated and developed by elected members of the Council and the functioning of the Council as a body made up of the 15.
We wish Jordan every success during its April presidency and stand ready to support it in every effort, as we continue our work across the Council’s agenda