Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoSecurity Council
7402nd Security Council meeting on Cooperation between the UN and Regional organizations
Multilateral Cooperation Vital to Meeting Complex Challenges of Modern World, Senior European Union Official Tells Security Council
Describing a deep partnership between the United Nations and the European Union, speakers at the Security Council this morning called for strengthening the relationship further in a range of critical areas.
“At a time when we face multiple crises, strengthening this partnership for peace, human rights and sustainable development is more necessary than ever,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the meeting, which also heard a briefing by Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Mr. Ban pointed to the importance of partnership with Europe in diplomacy, particularly in the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran, the Middle East Peace Process, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, promotion of talks in Libya and support for United Nations mediation efforts. In all such efforts, early diplomatic action needed to be better mobilized for conflict prevention.
He also described cooperation in counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism, as well as peacekeeping, for which he noted that European operations had tremendous potential as “bridging mechanisms” for United Nations missions.
For Europe to engage in all such international work, he stressed the importance of the region’s transcending whatever internal frictions it was experiencing, noting as well the need for collective work towards a political resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Ms. Mogherini agreed that multilateral cooperation was critical to meet the complex challenges of the modern world. “The new global order will be multilateral, or it will not be,” she said. Affirming that the partnership with the United Nations was key, she underlined the importance of regional partners, notably the Arab League, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the African Union and interlocutors in Asia and Latin America.
With that in mind, she discussed necessary collective action to assist Libya, to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant/Sham (ISIL/ISIS), to counter extremism, to bring about accountability for grave violations committed against civilian populations and to build respect for international humanitarian and human rights law and democracy.
Noting that war, terror and poverty forced millions to leave their home countries, she acknowledged the need to face the phenomenon of migration under many perspectives: international aid, crisis management, border control, integration and social inclusion. “But there is one thing we should never forget: this is a matter of human lives — saving lives,” she stressed, referring to incidents of migrants drowning in their attempts to reach Europe. “We cannot let the Mediterranean, the cradle of millennial civilizations, turn into a grave for tens of thousands of innocent people.”
To find political and operational solutions, she said that deeper cooperation among Union Member States was being forged. At the same time, support for the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) were being stepped up. Europe was doing its part, but all countries must stand up to the challenge.
Describing European cooperation with United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Mali and elsewhere in Africa, she affirmed that the Union was committed to supporting Africa’s efforts to manage its own security, providing over €1.2 billion to support African-led peace operations through the Africa Peace Facilities.
In Africa and elsewhere, she stressed the importance for preventing crises and United Nations and European efforts to support good governance, the fight against corruption and the full respect for constitutional rule. She also noted European work, under the lead of the United Nations, in fighting Ebola.
In Europe’s neighbourhood itself, she said that the Ukraine crisis was the most serious since the Balkans conflict, work on which had borne fruit in the past 20 years. She reiterated the European condemnation the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol that aligned with the General Assembly resolution on the matter, and underlined the importance of the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
All such current crises, she said, must not distract from the need to resume the Middle East peace process and protect the viability of the two-State solution. Regional turmoil reinforced the urgency. In that context, she stressed the importance of taking advantage of what she called a “historical opportunity” to reach an agreement with Iran that guaranteed the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.
Finally, she spoke of communality of goals between the Union and the United Nations in formulation of a post-2015 development agenda, in women’s empowerment and in making peacekeeping more effective through updating available tools to meet new challenges. Holding the same values that led to the founding of the United Nations 70 years ago, Europe, she said, was confident it had a key role in all those areas. “We will only succeed if we all do our part,” she concluded.
Following Ms. Mogherini’s briefing, Security Council members took the floor to welcome the synergies between the United Nations and the European Union. Most supported the High Representative’s priorities and several affirmed the need to strengthen the relationship between the world Organization and regional organizations in joint rapid response to emerging crises.
Angola’s representative, among others, welcomed European support for capacity-building for African security efforts, while Jordan’s representative commended extensive Union efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. France’s representative said “decisive” actions of the Union were often complementary to those of the Security Council.
The representative of the Russian Federation enumerated many areas of cooperation between his country and Europe, despite differences in areas such as Ukraine. He stressed the importance of ensuring all that cooperation with regional organizations was conducted under the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Charter.
Also speaking in that discussion were the representatives of Spain, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, United States, Venezuela, Nigeria, China, Chad and France.
The meeting began at 11:05 a.m. and ended at 1:30 p.m.
