S/PV.8306 Peace and Security in Africa 10/07/2018
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United Nations S/ PV.8306 Security Council Provisional Seventy-third year 8306th meeting Tuesday, 10 July 2018, 10 a.m. New York President: Ms. Wallström .................................. (Sweden) Members: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) ..................... Mrs. Cordova Soría China ......................................... Mr. Yao Shaojun Côte d’Ivoire ................................... Mr. Djedje Equatorial Guinea ............................... Mr. Ndong Mba Ethiopia ....................................... Ms. Guadey France ........................................ Mr. Delattre Kazakhstan .................................... Mr. Umarov Kuwait ........................................ Mr. Alotaibi Netherlands .................................... Mr. Van Oosterom Peru .......................................... Mr. Meza-Cuadra Poland ........................................ Mr. Radomski Russian Federation ............................... Mr. Polyanskiy United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .. Ms. Pierce United States of America .......................... Mrs. Haley Agenda Peace and security in Africa This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the translation of speeches delivered in other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the Security Council. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room U-0506 ([email protected]). Corrected records will be reissued electronically on the Official Document System of the United Nations (http://documents.un.org). 18-21810 (E) *1821810* S/PV.8306 Peace and security in Africa 10/07/2018 The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m. Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and representatives of the United Nations Regional Office Adoption of the agenda for Central Africa and the Sustainable Energy for All initiative. We were also joined by the Deputy Special The agenda was adopted. Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel and the Special Adviser on the Peace and security in Africa Sahel. I was very proud to lead a delegation in which The President: In accordance with rule 37 of the women made up the majority. Security Council’s provisional rules of procedure, Our purpose was to highlight issues of women I invite the representative of Chad to participate in and peace and security and development. Throughout this meeting. the trip, we met with women civil society leaders, In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s community representatives and religious and traditional provisional rules of procedure, I invite Ms. Bineta chiefs. We visited many development projects, and then Diop, African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace met with local authorities, senior Government officials and Security, to participate in this meeting. and Heads of State to discuss the key challenges and opportunities that exist and to convey the voices and The Security Council will now begin its messages that we had heard from women. Four issues consideration of the item on its agenda. resonated most dramatically. I wish to warmly welcome the Deputy Secretary- The first was the need to address the stark cost that General, Her Excellency Ms. Amina Mohammed, to women and girls pay for conflict. That was particularly whom I now give the floor. evident in South Sudan, where we visited women in The Deputy Secretary-General: Let me begin protection-of-civilian sites who spoke of the violence by thanking the President of the Security Council they face both inside and outside the camps. It was for convening today’s meeting on women and peace also borne out in the stories of women in rural areas of and security in the Sahel, as well as for Sweden’s Chad, where the impact of Boko Haram has resulted in leadership on this issue during the country’s time in the insecurity, loss of family members and the increased Security Council. use of female suicide bombers. Yesterday I returned from a joint United Nations- Secondly, we heard a universal and increasingly African Union mission to three countries — South frustrated call by women for greater inclusion, Sudan, the Niger and Chad. That mission was the representation and participation in all areas of society. second of its kind, following last year’s high-level visit They demand greater participation in decision-making. to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Juba in South Sudan, in Addis Ababa and in When I reported back to the Security Council at that time Khartoum they asked that their voices be heard in the (see S/PV.8022) — marking the first time the Security peace process. In Chad and the Niger they advocated Council heard a briefing on women and peace and for the implementation of legislation on a quota for security in relation to a country situation — members political participation and the recognition of their role of the Council requested further trips of this nature, a in the economy and in preventing violent extremism. request that I am pleased to report we took forward. I Greater representation at the community level is would like to thank the people and the Governments of a further imperative. The women religious leaders we South Sudan, Chad and the Niger. met in Chad are a very powerful voice against gender We were joined in the Niger and Chad by Foreign inequality and against the attacks on women’s rights that are such a core part of terrorist groups’ strategy Minister Wallström in her capacity as President of and identity. By teaching the Qur’an, they are sending a the Security Council for July. At various points on message that the Qur’an and Islam are for both men and the trip, we were also joined by senior United Nations women and that Islam is a religion of peace. colleagues, including the Executive Directors of UN- Women and the United Nations Fund for Population Women are also seeking greater inclusion in the Activities, the Special Representative of the Secretary- economy. In the Bol region of the Lake Chad basin General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and his Special we saw the multiple roles fisherwomen were playing 2/25 18-21810 10/07/2018 Peace and security in Africa S/PV.8306 in maintaining livelihoods in the absence of men who peace and security in annual thematic debates. Once a had been killed and in building community resilience year we assert that gender equality is foundational to in the face of environmental degradation and insecurity stability and peace. But rarely have we moved beyond caused by the Boko Haram insurgency. Such models, the principles. We believe that now is the time to move if scaled up, have the potential to generate economic from frameworks to action. Investing in peace now in dividends for the country. We reminded leaders that this region will bring lasting global dividends for all. inclusion is not a woman’s issue; it is, rather, a whole-of- With resolution 1325 (2000) and the seven society issue. resolutions that build on it we have the necessary Thirdly, there is a clear need to keep countries commitments. We have tools such as a recalibrated experiencing fragility today from becoming failed United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel. We States tomorrow. Chad and the Niger are dealing must now bring these tools and commitments to life, with challenges that are largely not of their making, while encouraging further alignment among the United including insecurity that originated beyond their Nations Support Plan for the Sahel, the 2030 Agenda borders and climate change, which respects no borders for Sustainable Development, Agenda 2063 and, most at all. Despite their own constraints, they are among important, national plans. the world’s most generous hosts of refugees. But the The cost of inaction is high. Poverty, weak impact on their economies and development aspirations institutions and gender inequality, including the has been profound. The President of the Niger, for abhorrent practices such as child marriage, are creating example, presented to us his renaissance plan to meet an environment ripe for extremism. I thank members of the basic needs of the country’s population, but it has the Council again for supporting such joint missions, been hampered by the fall in uranium and oil prices which we believe contribute greatly to advancing the and the expenditures on security. Security therefore work of the Council. We look forward to working comes at a price; all too often it comes at the expense together to draw the appropriate lessons towards of development. building lives of peace, security and equality for all. In that context, it is critical that we all step up, The President: I thank the Deputy Secretary- which means urgently increasing our budget support General for her briefing. for development in those and other fragile countries. It is a matter, first and foremost, of human dignity. But I now give the floor to Ms. Diop. it is also a matter of peace and security. Investment in Ms. Diop (spoke in French): Allow me to echo development must be transformative: it must support Ms. Amina Mohammed in congratulating you, Madam scaled-up, integrated projects such as we saw in the Minister, on Sweden’s assumption of the presidency of Niger when we visited the United Nations programme the Security Council. I wish you every success during that brought together health, nutrition, agriculture, your term. water and sanitation, alongside women’s empowerment, recognizing the context of climate change. I am I would also like to seize this opportunity to confident that the reforms that we are pursuing in the thank His Excellency Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, United Nations will provide the necessary space to Chairperson of the African Union Commission, who scale up such interventions. wholeheartedly lent his support to the joint mission of the United Nations, the African Union and Sweden that With today’s conflicts being greater in both number has just concluded under the leadership of Ms.