Wolff: Threats to International Peace and Security

Statement on Threats to International Peace and Security

Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, Acting U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN
Remarks to the Security Council
New York City
January 8, 2007

USUN PRESS RELEASE #001

Thank you, Mr. President. Let me congratulate you and your delegation on your assumption of the Presidency for January. We look forward to working closely with you. Welcome, also, to the new members of the Council, with whom we look forward to a productive, cooperative relationship over the next two years. I want also to thank Qatar for its chairmanship last month and to those members whose term on the Council ended in December.

I would like to join others, on behalf of my entire delegation, to welcome Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Council for the first time in his new capacity. Mr. Secretary-General, you will always be welcome here, and we look forward to working closely with you and your colleagues in the Secretariat as this Council attempts to address the most serious challenges facing the international community in the 21st Century.

Let me begin, Mr. Secretary-General, by complimenting you on a fast start in your first days on the job. Among your many early actions, we particularly note and welcome the selection of Foreign Minister Asha-Rose Migiro of Tanzania as Deputy-Secretary General. Tanzania served effectively on this body over the past two years. It was a privilege to work closely with its Government and its fine delegation over that period, and we look forward to working with Dr. Migiro -- as well as all the other members of your team in the time ahead.

Mr. President,

You have brought us together today to talk about the principal mission of the Security Council under the UN Charter: its responsibility to maintain international peace and security. As the work of this Council over the past years has demonstrated, the range of challenges facing the international community unfortunately grows only more complex and more challenging.

The Council must act not only to manage conflict, but also to prevent it. The disturbing reality is that a significant amount of this Council's time is spent dealing with conflict within States, rather than conflict between them. Not only does this Council need to act to protect civilian populations that are the target of their own government, but experience has demonstrated many times over that, in today's world, events occurring in one country affect the world beyond its boundaries. Internal conflicts create unstable borders, increase regional tensions, and create significant economic and social burdens. Our continued urgent focus on the situation in Darfur is just one such example.

The international community has long recognized, rightly, that a general breakdown of governance and political order, terrorism, cross-border activities of armed groups, widespread and systematic human rights violations, outflows of migrants and refugees represent a threat to international peace and security. The Council must be ready to identify and address these kinds of threats before they break out into open conflict or create unacceptable human or material costs.

We must also strive, together with the Secretariat, to ensure that traditional peacekeeping operations continue to benefit from more sophisticated approaches to assessment and planning. At a time of growing demand for peacekeeping, this Council needs to properly exercise its responsibilities, working with other bodies of the UN, to ensure sufficient oversight and effective management of peacekeeping operations.

In this regard, we are very troubled by the recent reports of sexual exploitation and abuse by personnel participating in some UN missions and urge the Secretariat to take appropriate action to ensure that these reports are fully investigated and that those responsible for any such abuses are held accountable.

It is also critical that this Council help countries emerging from crisis transition to a more stable, long-term path of economic and political development. We welcome the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission. However, we will measure the success of the Commission on the ground in Burundi, Sierra Leone, and other countries in which it will engage, in terms of visible results promoting sustained peace, stability, reconstruction and development.

Finally, we know -- with unfortunate certainty -- that this Council will continue to be seized with the issues of combating terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Last week, Al Qaida issued an explicit threat against the United Nations and its peacekeepers overseas. We know that terrorists still work to kill innocent civilians around the world, and this body has a responsibility to meet these threats with unity of purpose and clear resolve.

We also must continue to work to prevent the spread of the world's most dangerous weapons and the means of delivering them. This applies not only to terrorists that seek them, but also to states that pose a threat to international peace and security.

Mr. President,

In facing these challenges and the others on our agenda, this Council must be prepared to act quickly to respond to emerging threats or developing crises; but we must act in a way that improves the situation on the ground in the affected areas.

Our efforts must focus on improving the ability of the parties to the conflict to come to a solution, and not to make that solution more difficult or simply score political points for one side or the other.

We will continue to work closely with the other members of this Council and the Secretary-General to ensure that the actions of this Council result in tangible progress on the ground in addressing the most pressing challenges the world faces today.

We welcome ideas from the Secretary-General about how we might strengthen the exchange of information between the Secretariat and the Council. In conducting our business and generating the mandates that guide the Secretariat's work on our behalf, we still have work to do to make this body as effective as it should be. We need, as one example, to find better ways to anticipate crises and act to prevent the outbreak of - or relapse into - conflict.

Again, Mr. Secretary-General, I join others in welcoming you here today and hope you will be a frequent participant in the Council. Thank you, Mr. President.

Released on January 9, 2007

ENDS

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