Tag: Foreign Office

Thank you very much, Chair, Excellencies, colleagues – good afternoon.

Please note that the UK aligns with the statement delivered by Argentina on behalf of a group of cross-regional Member States.

Let me start by thanking you, Chair, your team, and the other Members of Bureau for your efforts to date. This Commission offers an invaluable opportunity to reaffirm our collective commitment to the ICPD Programme of Action, to recognise the important role that UNFPA plays in its implementation, and most importantly to increase our ambition to deliver on the Nairobi Summit commitments. All of that is crucial if we are to achieve the SDGs.

The UK welcomes the Commission’s focus this year on ‘Population, Education and Sustainable Development’. It comes at a key moment, as we build on the outcomes of the Secretary-General’s Transforming Education Summit and as we look ahead to the SDG Summit later this year.

Education, as others have said this morning, is a human right, a gateway to other rights, key to sustainable development, and one of the most effective and lasting investments that governments can make. But too many girls today continue to be denied this right.

We know that girls, in particular, face interlinked barriers to accessing and remaining in education – including adolescent pregnancy and parenthood. Indeed, in 2022, an estimated 50% of adolescent pregnancies in low- and middle-income countries were unintended, caused by a number of factors including early and forced child marriage, sexual abuse, and lack of access to contraceptives. That is a shocking statistic that should concern us all.

The UK is committed to working to address this – education, health and reproductive rights are at the heart of our new International Women and Girls Strategy. We want to see a world in which all adolescents and young people, in particular girls, have access to education that enables them to stay in school and protect their health, well-being, and their dignity.

But, in our view, the transformative impact of education can only be fully realised when adolescents and young people are empowered with the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and values to make appropriate and healthy choices in their sexual lives, including contraception, childbirth and responsible sexual behaviour. The evidence is clear: comprehensive sexuality education helps reduce unintended pregnancies, enhances gender-equitable norms, and decreases incidences of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Quite simply, it saves lives.

This fact should not be for debate.

Colleagues, we are one year away from the 30th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, a key moment for the international community to assess progress made since Cairo. And whilst the general global trend has been positive, we have, in recent years, seen backsliding on many of the gains we have made collectively over the last three decades – limiting women and girls’ lifesaving access to contraception, to quality education, to safe abortion, and to maternal health services.

As we look ahead to ICPD at 30, the UK will continue to listen to and amplify the voices of women, adolescents, and girls and those most marginalised and to empower them as decision-makers, advocates, and leaders to make informed choices – their choices –  over their lives and bodies, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.

Thank you very much.

The Executive Group of the Media Freedom Coalition strongly condemns the Russian Federation for the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The detention of journalists under the guise of espionage charges is very concerning and undermines the basic principles of democracy and rule of law.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that is protected by international law; it includes the right to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, irrespective of borders. Journalists play a crucial role in holding governments and powerful people and institutions to account, while informing the public about matters of public interest. It is imperative that they are able to work independently and without fear of being labeled as spies.

We condemn the Russian Federation’s move to silence journalists and use its authority to intimidate or harass them. Russia must comply with its international human rights commitments and not abuse its power to suppress critical reporting.

We call on the Russian Federation to release immediately Evan Gershkovich, along with all others it has unjustly detained.

Every year, the King awards honorary decorations to people who are neither British nor Commonwealth nationals but who have made a significant contribution to relations between the UK and their own country. The Order of the British Empire was established by King George V in 1817 to honour those who had served in a non-combative role and expanded the Order to reward contributions to the Arts, Sciences, Charitable work and Public Service.

Kazumasa Kuwahara MBE

Kazumasa Kuwahara has had a long and distinguished career dedicated to furthering the close collaboration between the UK and Japan in the civil nuclear industry. In his time with Marubeni Utility Services, he played a leading role in supporting British Nuclear Fuels Limited and Japanese Utility companies in the UK’s reprocessing of Japanese spent fuel. Since the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi, he has worked for the Japanese subsidiary of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, facilitating UK nuclear industry support to bring the best of British capability to Fukushima to help Japan in the clean-up effort. The UK-Japan relationship in civil nuclear continues to deepen and grow to our mutual benefit, and Mr. Kuwahara’s long service to the UK has played a significant part in making this possible.

I’d like to start by congratulating Mozambique on their Presidency in March and also thank you to Under-Secretary-General Nakamitsu for her briefing today.

As the perpetrator of a war of aggression against a sovereign nation, Russia has taken up the Security Council Presidency while it fails to meet the most basic obligations of a UN Member State.

Russia’s decision to unleash an illegal war of choice on an innocent people threatens the fundamental principles of the Security Council. And as it sources weapons for its war, Russia is violating the very UN sanctions it helped to draft, on states such as Iran and the DPRK.

The wider consequences of this war on food and commodity prices are severe, and are likely to drive further conflict. The UK calls on all other states to cease assistance to the Russian military and its affiliated forces. Arming the aggressor state is fuelling global instability.

To preserve the Charter principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, Member States should assist Ukraine to protect itself from this aggression, in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter. The UK has provided a wide range of equipment and support to Ukraine and will continue to do so, as a responsible UN Member State.

Colleagues, the diversion and misuse of conventional arms costs hundreds of thousands of lives every year across the world, undermines security and sustainable development, and fuels conflict, crime and terrorism.

The Security Council can play an important role on this issue, complementary to multilateral and national processes. Regrettably, it is Russia that has long sought to undermine this work – opposing new texts and consistently abstaining from resolutions on this issue, such as resolution 2117 in 2013, resolution 2220 in 2015, and resolution 2616 in 2021.

The UK operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. We are committed to full implementation and universalisation of the Arms Trade Treaty. And we remain committed to all related UN mechanisms, including the UN programme of action on small arms and light weapons. We will continue to support appropriate measures through the Security Council.

Colleagues, let me finish by restating one simple point. If Russia is serious about strengthening international peace and security its first action should be to end its illegal invasion, withdraw from Ukraine and uphold its responsibilities under the UN Charter.

The UK Minister for Development and Africa, Rt. Hon. Andrew Mitchell MP, has reaffirmed UK support to Cameroonian trade and infrastructure and discussed the devastating impacts of Cameroon’s conflicts, including the human rights situation, during a two-day visit.

The Minister saw the impacts of British investment in Cameroon, visiting a major road in the commercial capital, Douala, which is receiving £113 million in funding from UK Export Finance to support its expansion. Due to this important UK support, the critical transportation corridor between Douala and Yaounde, and on into central Africa, is being greatly improved, bringing more and quicker trade to more people.

The UK is committed to deepening its partnership with Cameroon to enhance economic prosperity, with leaders from the country invited to attend the UK-African Investment Summit to be held in London in April 2024.

The Minister met with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and discussed the most pressing challenges faced in providing humanitarian assistance to victims of the devastating conflict in the Northwest and Southwest.

Over the past five years, the UK has delivered more than £20 million of humanitarian life-saving assistance funding to Cameroon. Meeting with experts from the Education Cannot Wait programme, the Minister discussed how UK funding, through the UN, is supporting urgent education for children affected by conflict, helping those who cannot access school to get an education.

The UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell said:

“During my first visit to Cameroon, I was struck by the depth of our relationship and how our two countries are working together on a range of issues important to both nations.

“The long-term partnership between the UK and Cameroon is underpinned by focused development and security cooperation, as well as trade, investment and education and of course our ties in the Commonwealth. We remain concerned about the conflict in the predominantly Anglophone Northwest and Southwest Regions, and continue to urge all sides to engage in dialogue.”

High-level discussions were held with the Prime Minister Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, focussing on the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions, and the conflict in the Far North Region and Lake Chad area, where the UK military provides valuable training.

1. Exactly twenty five years ago, on 6th April 1998, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland jointly ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Our two countries signed the Treaty when it opened for signature on 26 September 1996
2. France and the United Kingdom were the first two nuclear-weapon States to ratify the CTBT. Through this ratification, we stipulated our firm commitment “not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosion at any place under its jurisdiction or control.”
3. This Treaty is a core element of the non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament international regime, even though it has yet to enter into force. In this regard, France and the United Kingdom express their concern over Russia’s announcement that it will ensure its preparedness to conduct a nuclear test. We reiterate the importance of the CTBT, which Russia has signed and ratified, and of Russia’s compliance with its moratorium on nuclear tests. We also recall that the DPRK is the only country to have performed explosive nuclear tests in the 21st century. We reiterate that it cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon State under the NPT, and demand that it refrains from conducting any further nuclear tests in violation of UNSCRs.
4. In this context, France and the United Kingdom wish to reaffirm their strong and constant support for the universalisation and the entry into force of the CTBT, with the aim to make legally binding the voluntary moratorium which is almost universally accepted, as evidenced by the 186 signatures and 174 ratifications of the Treaty. They recall that UNSC Resolution 2310, that they have co-sponsored, urges all States which have not yet done so to sign and ratify the CTBT. This unequivocal call of the Security Council must be heard.
5. France and the UK believe that presenting a record of tangible and robust actions toward nuclear disarmament would encourage other countries to sign, ratify and implement the CTBT. Therefore, over the past 25 years, France and the United Kingdom have provided political, technical and financial support to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), and supported the operation of the CTBTO’s International Monitoring System.
6. A quarter of a century after its opening for signature, the CTBT remains more relevant than ever. France and the United Kingdom remain determined to continue to protect and universalise the Treaty.