New York, 31 August 2020. Cuba participated today in the presentation of the Security Council Annual Report, where it took the opportunity to join the voice of those demanding an exhaustive and analytical report, that allows assessing the causes and implications of the decisions made by the Council, rather than a mere account of meetings, activities and decisions.
Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, Deputy Permanent Representative and Chargé d´Affaires a.i. of Cuba to the United Nations presented some examples of serious omissions in the Council´s report, including violations of its own resolutions, particularly resolution 2334 (2016). She explained that this occurs when Israel, with impunity, consolidates its expansion policy of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and threatens to annex the Palestinian territories of the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The diplomat expressed that in accordance with Article 24 of the UN Charter, the Member States recognize that the Security Council, in discharging its functions, acts on their behalf and that, consequently, the work of the Council is a collective responsibility of all Member States. Therefore, she affirmed, greater transparency in the work of the organ will contribute to the effective exercise of such collective responsibility.
Rodríguez Abascal reiterated Cuba support to a comprehensive reform of the Security Council, including its working methods, with a view to making it a transparent, democratic and representative organ, in line with the evolution of the United Nations and international relations.
In addition, she rejected the selective manipulation of the Council's methods and practices on the basis of political and domination agendas, in particular, interference in matters outside its competence, especially those that concern the mandate of the General Assembly; as well as the politicization in the review of others, subject to the organ´s consideration. She stressed that the instrumentalization of the Security Council as a tool of political pressure against sovereign States must end.
(Cubaminrex- Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations)