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Mr. President, I wish to congratulate you for your astute steering of the Council during the month of July. Let me extend our appreciation to you and your team for the patient, professional and diligent work during a demanding and difficult month, where multiple crises had to be tackled simultaneously. We appreciate the number of open events held during the month, including this open wrap-up session in the public briefing format, a first since 2005. Open debates and public briefings play a vital role in keeping UN membership abreast of deliberations in the Council. It is only right, given that the implementation of Council's decisions behooves the entire membership.

Sanctions, for example. This Council may adopt all the sanctions it wants, but if the wider membership is unaware of the decisions, unable or unwilling to engage, sanctions, no matter how well designed, will have no impact on the ground. Open briefings, direct engagement with a country’s neighbours and other interested states raises awareness of existing sanctions regimes and helps to advance their implementation.

As chair of CAR sanctions regime, during an open briefing in the month of July, I stressed the need- and stress it once again- for CAR neighbours and wider membership to co-operate on the implementation of UNSCR 2127. As the country is struggling to emerge out of the cycle of violence, we must turn up the pressure on those who persist in sowing division and lawlessness.

For sanctions to work, in this as in other cases, we need coherent and determined actions by all actors.To do so, the complexity of targeted sanctions, existing legal challenges, lack of enforcement capacity, and other relevant issues need to be addressed. In this regard, we found the informal discussion on sanctions with USG Jeff Feltman earlier this month very timely and thought provoking. Efforts by the Department of Political Affairs to streamline sanctions implementation and draw lessons from existing experience are commendable. We encourage the DPA and other relevant UN departments and entities to continue these efforts and to further engage with the Council on the matter. 

Peacekeeping is another area where Council decisions affect the wider membership, through assessed contributions as well as troop and material contributions, and at times by the loss of peacekeepers' lives. For some time now, the Council agenda has been expanding to unprecedented levels. The risk of peacekeeping overstretch may no longer be an issue of a distant future.

Unless we manage to reduce the conflicts, questions of how to make do with available limited resources, how to mobilise ever larger numbers of peacekeeping troops and handle the ever constant problem of critical enablers, among others, will become increasingly acute. We appreciate the Rwandan presidency organizing an open debate on UN partnerships with regional organizations in peacekeeping, which provided an opportunity to explore the advantages and existing shortcomings as well as ways forward in making best use of UN-regional organisations’ peacekeeping synergies.

As peacekeeping evolves into ever more complex, multifunctional, and robust operations, we appreciate the Secretary General’s initiative to conduct a wide ranging review of United Nations peacekeeping ahead of the 15th anniversary of the Brahimi report.

The multiplication of conflicts and the inevitable finiteness of available resources necessary to tackle them reaffirm the importance of early warning and prevention. In this respect, the mediation work undertaken by the DPA as well as the mediation and good offices of the Secretary General deserve our full support. Right now, efforts are required on multiple fronts.

In Afghanistan, the post-election power crisis needs to be carefully managed and resolved, and the UN and this Council have a critical role to play in supporting vote verification and helping the country steer towards a solution that would strengthen the political and democratic processes in the country.

In recent days, the Middle East has seen some of the most dramatic mediation efforts. My delegation commends the determined and tireless efforts by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry to find a solution to the crisis. The rapidly growing number of civilian casualties, many of whom are children, is heartbreaking. This Council spoke with one voice last Sunday night by adopting a relevant PRST calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. We urge the Secretary General, the US Secretary of State and all other actors with an influence on the parties to continue tirelessly their mediation efforts aimed at establishing a sustainable humanitarian ceasefire on the basis of the Egyptian proposal and addressing the legitimate concerns of the parties.

We welcome the Secretary General’s critical visit to Iraq whose unity and territorial integrity are being threatened by the spread of ISIS. The rare brutality and way of operation of this new breed of terrorists in our view requires some fresh thinking on how best to employ existing CT toolbox in combatting radical extremism and terrorist threats. 

My delegation welcomes the appointment of Staffan de Mistura as UN mediator for Syria and hopes that his appointment will reinvigorate the search for a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Implementation of USCR 2139 and UNSCR 2165, which was adopted unanimously on July 14, must remain high on the Council’s agenda. Although some humanitarian aid has recently entered Syria from Turkey, significant problems and obstacles remain, as we discussed this morning, are infinitely bigger. Continued failure to implement the two resolutions must bear consequences for those responsible.

An Arria formula meeting last week with the participation of representatives of the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria reminded once again of the scale and horror of crimes committed in Syria and the imperative of putting an end to impunity. The flexibility and informality of Arria formula meetings is a great asset in our work and must continue unrestricted to provide additional insights into the issues on the Council’s agenda.

Mr. President,

After 20 meetings on Ukraine, in July the Council finally managed to adopt Resolution 2166, cosponsored by 13 members of this Council, regarding the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which cost the lives of 298 passengers from 11 countries. My delegation stresses once again the urgency of a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the shooting down of MH17 as stipulated by Resolution 2166. The perpetrators of the downing of the plane must be identified and brought to account.

The tampering of evidence and obstruction of investigation by pro-Russian armed separatists, and the unspeakable treatment of the remains of the victims, leaving body parts for days lying in the fields, marauding, and theft of personal items of the victims, speaks loud and clear to the true nature of the separatists. Those who deny dignity to the dead, have also perpetrated countless abuses and crimes against the living. As the most recent OHCHR report testifies, "egregious" human rights violations continue to take place in territories controlled by pro-Russian militias, including intimidations, abductions, torture, and killings. In spite of all this, Russia is yet to disown and condemn the illegal armed separatist groups which bear full responsibility for the crisis and bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. To do any less is to give the illegal militants a carte blanche to continue their criminal acts.

To conclude, Mr. President, let me once again thank the Rwandan team for their dedicated work as presidency of the Council during the month of July and wish the incoming UK presidency best success.

I thank you.