Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at a Press Conference on the Conclusion of the U.S. Presidency of the UN Security Council & More News Here

AMBASSADOR LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  It’s actually an honor to be with you at the conclusion of the United States presidency of the Security Council to replicate again on the previous month.

I’ll begin with a few reflections on my presidency at the Council. For the second time in a row, the United States presidency has shined a gentle – a highlight on the hyperlink between armed battle and meals insecurity. The signature occasion we convened on the nineteenth of May got here at a second when the world is experiencing a dire starvation disaster. I wish to thank Secretary Blinken and the ministers and different officers from round the world who got here to take part in that assembly.

The Security Council additionally addressed an pressing difficulty that hasn’t drawn sufficient focus up to now, and that’s the function of the use of digital applied sciences in sustaining worldwide peace and safety.

We additionally carried out the necessary month-to-month work of the Security Council, adopted the yearly report of the work of the Security Council for the General Assembly, and we adopted resolutions and made statements which responded to world occasions in actual time. Regarding the state of affairs in Afghanistan, for instance, we convened the session and subsequently issued a unanimous assertion calling on the Taliban to swiftly reverse the insurance policies and practices limiting the human rights and basic freedoms of Afghan ladies and women and to stick to their dedication to reopen colleges for all feminine college students with out additional delay. The Council was additionally capable of categorical robust help for the Secretary-General’s efforts in search of a peaceable resolution to the battle in Ukraine in a presidential Statement.

We had been happy to see the Council undertake a decision renewing South Sudan sanctions, and we additionally led an effort renewing UNAMI’s mandate with full Council consensus. UNAMI’s new mandate offers strengthened language on local weather change, authorizing UNAMI to help with addressing the opposed results of local weather change in Iraq, specifically desertification and drought.

Throughout the month, we made a level of making certain that the ladies, peace, and safety agenda was totally built-in in our work, together with country-specific discussions. And we confirmed our dedication to this by our actions, ensuring civil society briefers, notably ladies civil society briefers, had been included in each related assembly and capable of take part.

In my nationwide capability, I wish to add that our focus on meals safety give the previous month – throughout the previous month got here at a notably essential time. Russia’s battle on Ukraine had made worse a international disaster spiraling throughout the globe. And I used to be terribly proud that the UN and the Security Council had been a central venue for addressing this difficulty.

As you understand, the United States led a week of motion on international meals insecurity throughout the week of the Security Council’s open debate. On the eve of that assembly, the United States hosted a “Global Food Security Call to Action” ministerial assembly with officers from 40 regionally various international locations. There, Secretary Blinken introduced a further $215 million in emergency meals help, and we issued a Roadmap for Global Food Security Call to Action. Over 80 international locations have now aligned with that roadmap.

The roadmap requires UN Member States to offer extra humanitarian funding and in-kind donations of meals from nationwide stockpiles, preserve meals and agricultural markets open, improve fertilizer manufacturing, help sustainable meals programs, and monitor and share knowledge on international meals market developments. We have invited all Member States to signal onto this roadmap and stay up for persevering with to convene discussions on this pressing international disaster in the coming months.

And a phrase on the digital applied sciences: this marked the starting, not the finish, of this necessary dialog. As our three briefers made clear, digital applied sciences are already reshaping worldwide peace and safety, and all of us should do our half to make sure these applied sciences function a power for constructive change, and never a instrument misused to perpetrate human rights abuses, gas hatred, and exacerbate battle.

To successfully keep peace and safety in the twenty first century, we have to reply to twenty first century threats and deploy twenty first century instruments. And we’re dedicated to doing precisely that in the months and years to come back.

I wish to observe that Russia’s ongoing, unprovoked, unjustified battle in opposition to Ukraine was a focus of many conferences throughout the month – as a result of it’s not solely affecting Ukraine, however fueling and contributing to broader threats to international peace and safety, like meals insecurity, abuses of know-how, and the safety of civilians.

Separately, we held an necessary vote final week, the place the United States launched a decision to carry the DPRK accountable for its continued, illegal ballistic missile launches that violate a number of, a number of Security Council resolutions.

And as you noticed and we weren’t shocked to see, China and Russia each selected to veto that decision. This was an unthinkable abdication of their tasks to the Council and to defending worldwide peace and safety. What is necessary is that 13 Council Members supported the decision. As per the latest decision handed by consensus in the General Assembly, now they should clarify their harmful option to the General Assembly.

Finally, I emphasised at the starting of this month that we meant to maintain the highlight on the state of affairs in Syria, with three conferences this month. I additionally traveled to Brussels in early May to announce over $800 million in U.S. humanitarian funding to the Syrian individuals, and I quickly will journey to Turkey for briefings and conferences with humanitarian companions and UN officers in the area.

We should – and I say that once more – we should renew and develop the mandate that permits important meals, clear water, vaccines, and medicines to circulation to hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of individuals in Syria forward of July tenth.

Before I shut, I notably wish to thank everybody who joined us to honor Madeleine Albright in the General Assembly – together with the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, former Secretary Hillary Clinton, Alice Albright and her grandsons, and lots of others who paid tribute to her reminiscence. It meant a lot to me specifically to listen to from her former college students, and it was so highly effective to listen to from everybody in the General Assembly who joined the legendary Judy Collins as she sang “Amazing Grace.”

This was a busy and productive month in the Council – and I’m wanting ahead to passing the baton over to my Albanian colleague tomorrow. And I wish to thank all of you. And with that, I stay up for taking a few questions from you.

MS. OLIVIA DALTON:  Thank you, Ambassador. We’re going to start out over right here with Valeria Robecco.

QUESTION:  Thank you, Ambassador, on behalf of UNCA for doing this. Valeria Robecco from ANSA News Agency. So my query is on Ukraine, for those who had the alternative to see the peace plan proposed by Italian Foreign Minister Di Maio, and what’s your response, and for those who had the probability to speak about it right here at the UN with Italy? Thank you a lot.

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  Thank you for that query. And I’ve not seen the precise peace plan, however I’m conscious of the peace plan. And I’ll say that we help all efforts made by everybody to search out a peaceable resolution for the Ukrainian individuals that’s acceptable to the Ukrainian individuals, and the Italian initiative is one of these initiatives that we definitely would like to see deliver a conclusion to this horrific battle and the horrific assaults on the Ukrainian individuals.

MS. DALTON:  Francesco.

QUESTION:  Yes. Thank you, Madam Ambassador. My query is on Russian oil. Russia is discovering extra consumers throughout Asia to offset the Western sanctions. Do you suppose that we want, like, stronger secondary sanctions on Russian oil in an effort to cease this?

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  Look, we’ve robust sanctions on Russian oil already, and international locations contemplating buying Russian oil, notably given the resolution that’s been made by the Europeans that they may now work to lower the quantity of dependence on Russian oil – these international locations are breaking – they’re breaking these sanctions. And in the event that they break these sanctions, they definitely can be held accountable for that. We’re hoping that they be part of all of us in ensuring that Russia doesn’t use them to interrupt sanctions that we’ve put in place to encourage Russia to – and urge Russia to – cease this horrific battle in opposition to the Ukrainian individuals.

MS. DALTON:  Talal.

QUESTION:  Thank you, Olivia. Thank you, Ambassador. The matter I want to – my identify is Talal Al-Haj from Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath. The matter I’d like to lift with you is Yemen. We noticed Saturday the talks in Amman breaking with out an settlement between the Houthis, the insurgent Houthis and the legit Government of Yemen. And Secretary Blinken has known as, or there was a telephone name between him and the overseas minister of Saudi Arabia, the place they mentioned many subjects; amongst them was Yemen and the query of extending the truce that’s expiring on the 2nd of this – of June, to a longer truce to permit for a lot of issues to occur, humanitarian and in any other case and political, and likewise the query of the tanker Safer.

On the truce, one of the circumstances of the truce from the starting, as you understand, was the lifting of the siege on Taiz, opening the roads, which has by no means occurred regardless that the Special Envoy Grundberg has provided a gradual opening of the roads to Taiz, which the Houthis additionally declined, whereas the Houthis obtained all they wished – opened Sana’a airport, oil provides by Hodeidah, et cetera, et cetera. How do you see this transferring on and lengthening if individuals don’t adjust to the circumstances of the truce?

And secondly, on Safer, we perceive it’s a menace, and the State Department issued on Friday a assertion warning about this, that this oil spill can be twice the measurement of the Exxon Valdez in 1989. They say they’re brief 80 million. Is the worldwide group unable to pay, to lift $80 million to avoid wasting the area from – with hundreds of thousands of life and hundreds of thousands of livelihoods and environmental, hundreds of miles on the Red Sea, particularly in the north, from destruction for $80 million?

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  Well, first on the truce, we had been very inspired early on by the efforts to maneuver the truce ahead, to give you some confidence‑constructing measures that may permit for humanitarian help to maneuver to the individuals of Yemen. And so the undeniable fact that these talks appear to have come not – they haven’t ended but however appeared to be a bit in hassle is troublesome to us. We encourage the events on each side to proceed these efforts and discover a peaceable approach to offer wanted humanitarian help to the individuals of Yemen.

On the Safer, we’ve been a robust, robust supporter to discovering a resolution to the Safer. We know what the penalties are. We know the hazard that’s there. And we’ve inspired others to contribute funding to this – to this effort. But let’s be clear. The drawback with the Safer is the Houthis who haven’t allowed even the UN or others to have entry to this. And we’ve to maintain the stress on them as a result of we will get all the cash in the world, and in the event that they don’t permit entry, then we’re nonetheless in the identical place that we began. So it’s going to be a two‑prong effort to get this carried out.

MS. DALTON:  Paolo, did you’ve got one thing?  Did you’ve got one thing?

QUESTION:  Thank you for the briefing. Paolo Mastrolilli with the Italian every day La Repubblica.  I don’t know for those who might make clear the place of the administration regarding the weapons to Ukraine after the declaration that President Biden mentioned yesterday about the lengthy‑vary missiles.

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  Okay. I’m undecided I heard.

QUESTION:  Take your masks off.

MS. DALTON:  Could you converse a little bit louder?

QUESTION:  Yeah.

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  Okay.

QUESTION:  If you can make clear the place of the administration regarding the weapon supplied to Ukraine after the declaration that President Biden acknowledged yesterday.

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  Look, it’s very, quite simple. We have been clear from day one that we are going to present Ukraine with weapons to defend itself from Russian aggression, to defend itself inside its borders to combat in opposition to Russia. We will not be offering any weapons that may permit the Ukrainians to assault Russia from inside of Ukraine, and President Biden has been very clear on that, that we’re not – we’re not going to turn out to be a occasion to the battle, however we’ll help Ukraine’s efforts to defend its personal sovereignty and territorial integrity.

MS. DALTON:  Go to the proper facet. Pam?

QUESTION:  Thanks a lot. Thank you, Olivia. Thank you, Ambassador, for the entire month, and thanks for this briefing. It’s Pamela Falk from CBS News. My query is about the demining of the Black Sea ports. There has been a bundle proposal. There have been all kinds of back-and-forth, many international locations. What’s – for those who might converse in your nationwide capability, what’s the U.S. place on what it could take to get that sort of a ceasefire and a demining of the port? Thank you.

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  Well, initially, it’s going to take – it’s going to take agreements from all sides. That means the Russians will comply with cease attacking Ukraine. It means the Ukrainians will comply with have these mines eliminated. We are supportive of all efforts that may permit for Ukrainian wheat to get out into the open market. There are 84 Ukrainian ships which have been blocked in the Black Sea. There are different ships which can be ready to get in to get entry to Ukrainian grain to get out. I’m instructed that there’s about 25 million tons of grain that’s out there to be transported and supplied to humanitarian applications in addition to to those that are dependent on Ukrainian wheat.

So all of the efforts which can be being led by the Secretary-General and others to determine how one can present for humanitarian quarters, how one can present for the elimination of mines and how one can transfer ahead on a ceasefire that may permit this important meals to get out to individuals in want goes to be a gargantuan effort, nevertheless it’s one which we help.

QUESTION:  Thank you.

MS. DALTON:  Maggie?

QUESTION:  Kristen.

MS. DALTON:  Oh, I’m sorry.

QUESTION:  Thank you. Kristen Saloomey from Al Jazeera English. Thanks for the briefing.  I’m questioning for those who might remark on the timing of the vote on the DPRK given some allies had been contemplating or in favor of possibly suspending. Given Secretary Blinken’s remarks on these days, are you able to speak about what was in – behind the U.S. resolution to go ahead with that decision?

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  That decision has been out for dialogue and consideration for over 9 weeks. And over 9 weeks, the DPRK continued to check weapons of – that clearly break Security Council resolutions. So we spent 9 weeks negotiating with our allies, negotiating with China to do what the Security Council is chargeable for, and that’s maintain the DPRK accountable for breaking quite a few Security Council resolutions.

And whereas there was some dialogue of a PRST, the Chinese by no means put a PRST on the desk, and we tried beforehand when the DPRK did assessments – we tried to get easy press statements and PRSTs, and we had been by no means capable of get these. And the silence of the Council, we imagine, continued to encourage the DPRK to check the will of the Council. So they heard very loudly and clearly that 13 members of the Council stand robust in condemning what they’re doing, and they’re being protected by each the Russian and the Chinese veto. But now they know that – that the Russians and the Chinese will not be being supported by different members of the Council.

MS. DALTON:  Okay. And final one for Michelle.

QUESTION:  Thanks, Ambassador. A fast follow-up on North Korea. If there’s a nuclear check, as you’ve warned that there might be, will you attempt once more for extra sanctions?

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD:  We completely will. First of all, we have to implement the sanctions that we’ve already authority to implement. And we definitely, as we tried on this final decision, will push for added sanctions.