The Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox QC MP, has today given consent for the family of Elsie Frost to apply to the High Court for a fresh inquest into the circumstances surrounding her death.
Thank you very much Mr President. Like others, I pay tribute to our good friend and colleague Staffan. It was a sad day when we learned you would step down. You have given the most enormous service to the United Nations. I personally have worked with you on Afghanistan and other issues and your track record in that country, in Iraq, in Lebanon speaks for itself. You have tried harder than anyone to try and bring a resolution to this truly terrible conflict in Syria. And as you yourself said Staffan, you have worked on it longer than the First World War, exceeding that of your predecessors, Mr Brahimi and Kofi Annan. And I think as the tribute to you showed, there isn’t a person in the United Nations who doesn’t feel very deeply the amount of commitment and energy and resolve and passion that you have brought to this most difficult of all UN Envoy tasks and through you can we also salute your wonderful team who have supported you – both the members sitting behind you but also some of those who we’ve seen on the VTC and who I know also personally from previous incarnations. I’d like to welcome Geir Pedersen but I will save that for another time when Geir is in your shoes but I hope you know that we are very indebted to you and we recognise how much we owe to you.
I think as other speakers have said it’s deeply regrettable that there hasn’t been more progress on the constitutional committee. It’s unfathomable that – for an idea that was set up to advance the political process at Sochi – that there hasn’t been more progress because it ought to have been possible to have made progress in this area. There are just a handful of days left within which to meet President Putin’s self-imposed deadline but even with just a few days to go, if progress can be made then we absolutely urge the Syrian authorities and their supporters to take it. But when all is said and done, the United Nations can only join a process that is balanced. That is the fundamental tenet on which the United Nations assists governments and assists the international community. And we will support the Secretary-General and the Under-Secretary-General to the hilt in upholding that very central tenet.
I think it was the French representative who made the point that the Astana guarantors had submitted at the moment an unbalanced and unworkable list, and we would absolutely agree with him. Again even in these last few days, if there can be a genuine consultation process then there should be one in order to achieve a meaningful reconciliation.
But I’d also like to say Mr President that we we meet almost on the third anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 2254 and it remains the best agreement we have made and the closest we have come to managing to work to an end to this crisis. It is a huge failure of the international community – not of the United Nations – but of the international community that collectively we have not been able to advance this more. But above all Mr President and very obviously, it is a huge failure of the Syrian government to protect their people that has led us to this position and the Syrian government’s refusal to work towards implementation of Resolution 2254 is at the absolute heart of all the horrors and all the awful things that have been inflicted on Syria and her people.
Mr President, the central problem in the whole Syria conflict has always been the Syrian authorities’ refusal to address the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people. That’s how the conflict came about in the first place. It remains a central tenet, an essential element of what has to be done if anything is ever to move forward. The Special Envoy has often come to this Council but been unable to record any positive movement by the regime in this direction.
And I just want to stress again Mr President, without movement in that direction whatever happens militarily; Syria will not see reconstruction. She will not see rehabilitation into the international community. Her people will not see representative government and whatever interim arrangement comes into force in Syria, it will not help the Syrian authorities hold their territory and it will not help them govern that territory and it certainly won’t do anything to address the aspiration,s the legitimate aspirations of all of Syria’s people from whichever religious or ethnic community they come. That’s such a central point. Rehabilitation means being able to stop a reversion to the tensions and the situation that existed before the conflict without addressing those aspirations of all of Syria’s people. Without genuine representative government, there will never be an end to the suffering of the Syrian people. And I really think that the Council should look ahead and focus, keep that question of what will most help the Syrian people in the future right at the forefront of its of its plans and of its thinking.
Finally Mr President if I may I’d like to say a word about Da’esh. The United Kingdom has been a leading member of the Global Coalition. We’re proud of our role alongside other partners in the fight against Da’esh since military operations began. The Coalition and its partners in Syria and Iraq have captured the vast majority of Da’esh territory and important advances have been made even in recent days. In the last area of eastern Syria which Daish has occupied the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom was active just in the last 24 hours. Much remains to be done in the global campaign Mr President but we must not lose sight of the threat that Da’esh continue to pose even when they continue no longer to hold territory.
Thank you Mr. President.
The UK and Poland have today (20 December) pledged to ramp up defence and security to face emerging threats such as cyber attacks and hostile Russian activity.
The two countries’ Prime Ministers and senior ministerial teams agreed key areas of progress at the third annual UK-Poland Inter-Governmental Consultations and celebrated an historic relationship that has delivered so much for the people of both countries.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:
The UK and Poland’s relationship continues to go from strength to strength, and Poland is a vital partner as negotiations on our withdrawal from the EU continue.
Today we have agreed progress in a number of key areas, including the beginning of joint consultations on cyber and Russia early next year, and a mutual desire to push ever harder for the reforms necessary to make NATO an effective deterrent against these challenges.
Together, this marks one of the first and most significant international partnerships aimed at curbing Russian malign activity across the continent.
Domestically, we already confront serious organised crime together and we have reduced Polish victims of modern slavery in the UK by a third, but we all know this progress must continue.
We are committed to deepening our partnership in the realms of security and prosperity, and a real flourishing of the links between our populations beyond Brexit.
Today’s Consultations came as the UK and Poland prepared to mark 100 years since our countries re-established diplomatic relations and began building the broad, vibrant and diverse partnership that we enjoy today.
Following meetings at Downing Street and Lancaster House, the two countries agreed:
View the joint communique, agreed by both Prime Ministers.
We, the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Poland, chaired the third round of our Inter-Governmental Consultations in London today.
The UK and Poland are key strategic allies and have a relationship that is broad, vibrant and diverse. This year, we have witnessed that relationship deliver on our shared priorities. We took note of our achievements across three broad areas: security; prosperity; and people and ideas. We have made good progress – implementing the Defence and Security Cooperation Treaty signed at our last consultations; agreeing jointly funded strategic communication projects in Eastern Partnership Countries worth £5m; and working together internationally including in NATO and the UN Security Council. We brought together over 150 UK and Polish companies for the first UK-Poland Business Trade and Investment Forum and supported closer collaboration between innovators and academics through the 2018 Year of Entrepreneurship Science and Innovation.
Together, we have today set the course for even closer and deeper collaboration in these areas in the coming year and beyond.
To protect our shared security we have agreed to:
continue to work side by side in countering aggression and malign activity, while strengthening our strategic communications and our collaboration on sanctions policy and cyber security: our work to combat hostile state activity will include new annual cross-government consultations on Russia.
strengthen collaboration in NATO, the bedrock of our security, with our respective forces continuing to operate side by side – in particular on the Eastern flank; underline our shared leadership on burden-sharing in NATO by continuing to meet NATO’s Defence Investment Pledge; and maintain the momentum of defence cooperation activities under the 2017 Defence and Security Cooperation Treaty;
foster EU/NATO cooperation in accordance with the Joint Declarations made in 2016 and 2018;
continue to build a more stable and secure European Neighbourhood, with the UK passing the baton to Poland to organise the next Western Balkans Summit in Poznań in July 2019, working together to address the region’s pressing priorities;
enhance our operational cooperation to enable us to fight modern slavery and serious and organised crime more effectively through closer working between our respective police and prosecutors, and improving the effectiveness of interdiction at emerging UK and Polish ports.
To build our shared prosperity, we have agreed to establish:
a UK/Poland Tech Partnership, including a pilot tech hub programme, supported by the Prosperity Fund, as a platform dedicated to forming innovation partnerships between start-ups in both countries, scouting for entrepreneurial talent, forging links with corporates and boosting trade, investment and productivity;
a Clean Growth Partnership, supporting economic growth while reducing emissions, including a second UK/Poland Business Trade and Investment Forum focused on Clean Growth and implementing our joint UK-Poland Driving Change Together initiative from COP24 in Katowice.
Under the people and ideas pillar we have agreed to organise:
an exhibition in the UK and Poland about our political, economic and cultural links, celebrating the centenary of re-establishing diplomatic relations;
a second UK/Poland Science Forum in 2019, focused on women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Today we have met representatives of the Polish community in the UK and celebrated their immense contribution to the UK’s economic and social development, particularly in the public sector. These strong people-to-people links are the cornerstone of our bilateral partnership.
Today’s Intergovernmental Consultations have demonstrated the depth and breadth of that relationship. As we celebrate the centenary of Poland re-gaining independence, we believe that the close ties between our two governments will serve as a model for what is possible after the UK has left the European Union. Ours is a partnership that stands on the strongest possible foundations and on which we are determined to build further in the coming year.