United Kingdom and the UN Security Council How will they get things done?

Announcing priorities of the United Kingdom for its presidency of the Security Council for the month of July, Permanent Representative Barbara Woodward said, “we'll be bringing artificial intelligence to the Security Council for the very first time with our signature event this month.”

Speaking to journalists on Monday (3 July), Barbara Woodward, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of July, said, “A second pressing issue of today, of course, is conflict related sexual violence, and this will be the subject of our second signature event, our ministerial level open debate.”

She continued, “We've talked a lot about it and you know that sexual violence has been recognized as an international war crime for over a hundred years.” Woodward noted, “Yet we've seen this appalling crime repeatedly in recent conflicts, including in Myanmar, in Syria, in the DRC and now in Ukraine by Russian forces.”

The Ambassador also noted that this Friday (7 July) the Security Council will talk about the question of cross border humanitarian aid to Syria. She said, “As some of you know, last month, I went to visit the border myself. I saw the overwhelming level of humanitarian need, and that is, of course, since the earthquake in February, it has intensified and the resolution on this was in January in the Council.”

The Permanent Representative said, “On the 17th of July, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, will chair the Council's regular briefing on Ukraine as Russia's illegal invasion enters its 17 month. We've said it several times in the Council, but Russia's invasion is clearly also a calculated assault on the UN Charter and the values and principles it stands for.”

She continued, “Many of you have seen that in the past 17 months, Russia has sought to abuse its position on the Council to legitimise the war and disrupt Council’s activity as a distraction.”

Woodward added, “So as President of the Council, we will consult closely with Council members to ensure the Council's time is used productively.”

Speaking about Security Council reform, the Permanent Representative added, “We want to see expansion of the Council's permanent seats to include India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, and African representation.”

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