国連と地域機関・準地域機関の協力に関する安保理会合における石兼大使ステートメント
令和4年10月11日
(As delivered)
Mr. President,
I thank you for convening this important meeting, and I am grateful to all the speakers for their insightful remarks.
I would like to begin by congratulating the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the African Union (AU). The AU has made great progress in the past two decades in their efforts to promote peace and development across Africa in collaboration with subregional organizations.
Despite these efforts, Africa has not been spared from increasing global human security crises caused by multiple factors such as conflict, terrorism, food insecurity, and energy shortages, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Such trends have made it all the more important for the United Nations and regional arrangements, particularly the AU, to enhance their cooperation to tackle the root causes of crisis. We need to make the best use of the comparative advantages of each organization. The coming annual consultation between the Security Council and AU Peace and Security Council will serve as a platform to further cultivate the vast potential for closer and deeper cooperation between the two organizations.
With this in mind, I would like to highlight the following three points:
First, effective approaches require strong regional, national, and local leadership and ownership in close coordination with international partners. In other words, international support needs to focus on building and strengthening institutions and human capacities at every level. With the aim to invest in people and spur quality growth, Japan announced the investment of US$30 billion as the sum of public and private financial contribution over the next three years at the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8). Also, we will work towards human capacity development for 300,000 professionals in a wide range of fields. Japan aspires to be “a partner growing together with Africa.”
Second, we should continue to pursue a holistic approach based on the Humanitarian-Peace-Development Nexus to synergize and mutually reinforce the efforts of all actors. The UN system in particular should make further efforts to integrate the work of its own Agencies, Funds, and Programs, so that they can more effectively support the efforts of the AU and other regional arrangements. The UN system should also enhance cooperation with other partners, such as the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), the private sector, and civil society. The UN peacebuilding architecture, among all, the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund, should continue to play a key role to this end.
Finally, given the vital role of peace support operations by regional organizations such as the AU, the issues related to various funding and assistance options for such operations should be thoroughly discussed from a broad perspective. For our part, Japan has been contributing to the African Union Peace Fund since 1996. Our contributions have supported AU-led peacebuilding activities such as conflict prevention and mediation.
Mr. President,
Increasing threats to the rules-based international order are a stark reminder of the urgent need to reform the UN system, particularly the Security Council. Increasing the legitimacy and effectiveness of this body with more balanced geopolitical representation, including from Africa, is a critical task which should not be put off any longer. In this context, Japan strongly supports the Common African Position (CAP) as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.
Japan, as an incoming member of the Security Council, remains committed to further supporting effective collaboration between regional arrangements and the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I thank you for convening this important meeting, and I am grateful to all the speakers for their insightful remarks.
I would like to begin by congratulating the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the African Union (AU). The AU has made great progress in the past two decades in their efforts to promote peace and development across Africa in collaboration with subregional organizations.
Despite these efforts, Africa has not been spared from increasing global human security crises caused by multiple factors such as conflict, terrorism, food insecurity, and energy shortages, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Such trends have made it all the more important for the United Nations and regional arrangements, particularly the AU, to enhance their cooperation to tackle the root causes of crisis. We need to make the best use of the comparative advantages of each organization. The coming annual consultation between the Security Council and AU Peace and Security Council will serve as a platform to further cultivate the vast potential for closer and deeper cooperation between the two organizations.
With this in mind, I would like to highlight the following three points:
First, effective approaches require strong regional, national, and local leadership and ownership in close coordination with international partners. In other words, international support needs to focus on building and strengthening institutions and human capacities at every level. With the aim to invest in people and spur quality growth, Japan announced the investment of US$30 billion as the sum of public and private financial contribution over the next three years at the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8). Also, we will work towards human capacity development for 300,000 professionals in a wide range of fields. Japan aspires to be “a partner growing together with Africa.”
Second, we should continue to pursue a holistic approach based on the Humanitarian-Peace-Development Nexus to synergize and mutually reinforce the efforts of all actors. The UN system in particular should make further efforts to integrate the work of its own Agencies, Funds, and Programs, so that they can more effectively support the efforts of the AU and other regional arrangements. The UN system should also enhance cooperation with other partners, such as the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), the private sector, and civil society. The UN peacebuilding architecture, among all, the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund, should continue to play a key role to this end.
Finally, given the vital role of peace support operations by regional organizations such as the AU, the issues related to various funding and assistance options for such operations should be thoroughly discussed from a broad perspective. For our part, Japan has been contributing to the African Union Peace Fund since 1996. Our contributions have supported AU-led peacebuilding activities such as conflict prevention and mediation.
Mr. President,
Increasing threats to the rules-based international order are a stark reminder of the urgent need to reform the UN system, particularly the Security Council. Increasing the legitimacy and effectiveness of this body with more balanced geopolitical representation, including from Africa, is a critical task which should not be put off any longer. In this context, Japan strongly supports the Common African Position (CAP) as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.
Japan, as an incoming member of the Security Council, remains committed to further supporting effective collaboration between regional arrangements and the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Thank you, Mr. President.