Виступ делегації України на засіданні РБ ООН щодо співпраці між ООН та Африканським Союзом

Mr. President,

I want to thank you for convening this briefing to discuss UN-AU cooperation. It is important to maintain a high level of engagement of the Council into the discussion of the role of the African Union and sub-regional organizations in promoting peace and sustainable development among the African States. The outcomes of the joint consultations between members of Security Council and Peace and Security Council of African Union just held in Addis Ababa will certainly contribute to this end. Here I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Ethiopian Presidency for this initiative and well — organized visit.

In addition, I would like to welcome briefers and thank them for their comprehensive presentations, which unveiled a broad and dynamic cooperation of between two organizations.

Mr. President,

No one can deny that the African Union has demonstrated its ability to take lead in prevention and resolution of conflicts.

During our membership at the Council we witnessed on numerous occasions how the African Union can adopt both itself to the ongoing and emerging changes in the African Continent.

It relates specifically to the ability of the African Union to stand united and to reach consensus on multifaceted issues. The recent AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silence the Guns in Africa by 2020 serves as one of vivid examples.

Such effort should go hand in hand with the elimination of root causes of conflicts on the continent, and here the UN should continue to serve as AU’s indispensable partner.

The United Nations should continue building and enhancing its strategic partnership with the African Continent, working in concert with the AU and using comparative advantages of each actor in peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict management. In this light, we are encouraged by the increased efforts of the Secretary-General aimed at strengthening the cooperation between the UN and AU, particularly by signing the joint UN — AU Framework for Enhancing Partnership in Peace and Security. We hope that such tendency will establish a new chapter of mutually beneficial collaboration between the UN Secretariat and the AU Commission, and the United Nations Office to the African Union will continue to provide its strategic and operational support.

Mr. President,

Let me highlight several issues of the current UN-AU cooperation that, in our view worth priority attention.

First, the UN is yet to succeed in taking timely and effective preventive measures in response to situations or tensions that could possibly transform into a full-scale conflict or where civilian population is endangered and urgently requires protection.

In this regard, we commend the efforts of the African Union in this area, which should continue to act as a first responder to crises with the authorization by the Security Council. We are encouraged that the AU and relevant regional economic communities and mechanisms continue strengthening the operational readiness of the African Standby Force. Operationalization of such Force will ensure robust and swift regional reaction will extinguish sparks of conflict before they become flames of crises.

In this light, it is important to continue efforts to eliminate shortcomings of the AU peace support operations, in particular capability gaps. We believe that ensuring deployment readiness and increased performance requires collective and coordinated actions by the UN, AU and other key partners such as the European Union. We are looking forward for the establishment of the relevant trilateral collaborative mechanisms.

Second, it is crucial to ensure sustainable and predictable financing of the AU operations authorized by this Council. In this respect, the Secretary-General’s proposals on options of financing AU peace support operations provided a range of viable choices for consideration. Given the complexity of the peacekeeping endeavor, we are convinced that there can be no uniform approach that will fit all situations and missions. We, therefore, support preserving maximum degree of flexibility while considering this issue for every single mission.

Third.In keeping with thepeople-centered approach to the UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities, we believe thatprotection of civilians is a decisive factor for the success of the AU operations endorsed by this Council. It is clear also that there can be no peace without human rights. Thus, this component should become an indispensable element of all AU operations authorized by the Security Council, with proper adherence to the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

And the last but not least. In the context of the latest joint consultations between two Councils and further enhancement of their cooperation, Ukraine underlines the merit of joint UN-AU field missions which we see as an important conflict prevention tool.

Thank you Mr. President.