Foreign and Commonwealth Office – 2019 Press Release on UK Security Council Presidency

Below is a press release issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 01/12/2019.

Press release as the UK takes over the presidency of the Security Council from South Africa on the 1 November 2019.

The UK will put ordinary citizens at the heart of its Presidency of the Security Council, as it takes over from South Africa as the President of the United Nations Security Council, today (1 November).

Key issues due to be discussed during the UK’s Presidency will include chemical weapons, Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Libya, and an open debate on reconciliation, which will include a focus on the role of civil society and religious leaders in reconciliation. In line with its focus on the importance of people, the UK will be inviting a number of members of civil society to brief the UN.

H.E. Karen Pierce DCMG, the Permanent Representative and Ambassador for the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York, said:

“During our Presidency, the UK wants to focus on the effect of problems in international peace and security on ordinary citizens. The issues before the Security Council include the targeting of hospitals, the use of chemical weapons and rape being used as a weapon of war. All too often the perpetrators walk free, and the leaders that let it happen remain in positions of power. We want to use our Presidency to promote practical steps to establish the facts of what is happening on the ground and address impunity, and highlight the costs of impunity, including the impact on millions of people around the world.

That’s why we will be giving a voice to those people affected by conflict, persecution and discrimination through those we invite to brief the Council. We will raise issues around the importance of respect for international law, religious persecution, attacks on media freedom and women, peace and security. We will also be looking at some of the components of sustainable solutions to conflict through our open debate on the role of the reconciliation processes and our support of the Rules Based International System with the UN at its heart.”