Statement by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobuo Kishi
at the Security Council Open Debate on
Conflict Prevention and Sustaining Peace
10 January 2017
Madam President,
I would like to begin by thanking you for organizing and personally presiding over this open debate with a very timely subject. I would also like to welcome Secretary General Guterres to the Security Council. Mr. Secretary General, we thank you for sharing with us your determination today. We are very happy to have you as Secretary General of the United Nations. You have our full support.
During the last two years, various review processes brought to our attention the importance of conflict prevention. Conflicts in Syria, Yemen and many parts of Africa demonstrate the cost of insufficient efforts in conflict prevention. The Security Council has a key responsibility to deal with immediate conflicts. However, it should also demonstrate results in conflict prevention - a far less costly endeavor – by making the best use of such tools as Security Council missions to the field. We would like to see a Security Council that is a leader not only in resolving conflicts but also in preventing them. We must weave the concept of sustaining peace into every aspect of the UN’s activities.
Madam President,
Japan fully embraces this challenge. We believe that peace is a long-term process, and our emphasis has always been on the comprehensiveness and seamlessness of our assistance.
Human security is an important pillar of Japan’s foreign policy. Based on this concept, Japan has consistently provided human-centered, comprehensive and preventive assistance through harmonized efforts with various aid bodies. In Mindanao, the Philippines, we have provided assistance to Track Two dialogues as well as Track One peace negotiations based on this principle. Our ODA assistance provided peace dividends by addressing poverty, high youth unemployment, and social injustice on a preventive basis.
We have also contributed four hundred and ten million dollars to the UN Trust Fund for Human Security since its establishment in 1999. Japan has been consistently committed to peacebuilding, and in particular to capacity and institution building. In Timor-Leste, Japan has supported state-building efforts through development assistance as well as the dispatch of our Self-Defense Forces and civilian police personnel. We have also exerted leadership as the Chair of the Working Group on Lessons Learned at the Peacebuilding Commission. Japan will continue to be a leader in institution building - the backbone of sustainable peacebuilding.
Mr. Secretary-General,
We listened to your statement carefully. We welcome your serious plan of action and look forward to discussing your initiatives further. We will provide our utmost support.
We hope you will actively employ your good offices to address conflicts and disputes, including those in the Middle-East region. We look forward to working closely with you in the Security Council. We also encourage your proactive use of situational awareness and horizon scanning briefings as means to reinforce conflict prevention. Please make full use of your power to bring matters to the attention of the Security Council pursuant to Article 99 of the Charter. We look forward to your frequent presence at the Council’s informal consultations.
Japan would like to underline that UN reform is needed to sustain peace effectively. Institutional silos must be removed and coordination must be reinforced
for a seamless and holistic approach to sustain peace. This will involve not only increased efficiency and cohesion between DPA, DPKO and PBSO,
but far greater coordination among actors across all three pillars of UN engagement. We are encouraged by your track record of reform at UNHCR and your promotion of the Humanitarian-Development Nexus. We welcome your initiative to reform the Secretariat so that you can better perform your functions particularly in conflict prevention and sustaining peace.
Madam President,
Japanese diplomacy centers on being a proactive contributor to peace. As a member of the Security Council, we will work closely with the Secretary-General and Council members through a proactive and results-oriented approach. Japan pledges to serve as a responsible Council member and a dependable partner to the new Secretary-General in promoting international peace and stability.
I thank you.
