Remarks at a UN
Security Council Briefing on the Situation in
Lebanon (via VTC)
Home | | Remarks
at a UN Security Council Briefing on the Situation in Lebanon
(via VTC)
Ambassador Kelly Craft
Permanent Representative
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
New York, New York
May 4, 2020
AS DELIVERED
It’s hard to believe we’re
already in May now. We’re looking forward to a really robust schedule and
hopefully all returning back to New York. And also, thank you, Special
Coordinator and Under Secretary, for your briefings. I’d also like to express
our gratitude to UNIFIL, Observer Group Lebanon, and all troop-contributing
countries.
The United
States is closely following the situation in Lebanon, which finds
itself in an unprecedented crisis. The need for reform – reform that provides
economic opportunity and ends corruption – is especially acute given the
extraordinary economic and public health challenges now facing the country. The Trump Administration
remains committed to its partnership with Lebanon, and it is because of our
commitment that we want to see UNIFIL operate as an effective force.
But to make
the Mission effective, we must be clear-eyed about what is really happening in
southern Lebanon. The truth is that Hizballah openly flaunts its weaponry;
flagrantly disregards Resolution 1701; and, for all intents and purposes,
dictates to UNIFIL where and when it can patrol. Instead of working with the UN
and the Security Council to address these manifest problems, the Government of
Lebanon is preventing the Mission from fulfilling its mandate by denying it
access to sites inside its area of operations.
For example,
UNIFIL is still being kept out of sites associated with the September 1, 2019
attack and tunnel sites discovered over a year ago. Lest we forget, Resolution
1701’s primary purpose was to ensure that the area south of the Litani River
would be kept free of any armed personnel, assets, and weapons. But now, we see
UNIFIL barred from the places it used to patrol and prevented from inspecting
sites clearly used for military activity. Often, the explanation given is that
these areas are “private property.” This pretext is absurd, and prevents UNIFIL
from discharging its mandate.
Moreover, it
is appalling that during the most recent reporting period, there were 13
incidents where UNIFIL was prevented – often violently – from carrying out its
mandate. It is clear enough to anyone willing to look that this Mission is not
working as intended.
Hizballah has
been able to arm itself and expand operations despite UNIFIL’s presence. It
puts the Lebanese people at risk by stockpiling munitions, digging tunnels for
terrorist fighters, building factories to upgrade its rockets, and using women
and children as shields in assaults on UNIFIL peacekeepers. Hizballah is no
friend of peace.
We should
have taken decisive action long ago to protect the integrity of Resolution
1701. Instead, the Council has never called out Hizballah for its activities.
We should not measure UNIFIL’s
success solely in the terms of the quantity or frequency of operational
activities. To be sure, the Tripartite Mechanism, Maritime Task Force, and
troop presence along the Blue Line help maintain stability. But patrols and
checkpoints are of plainly limited use when offending parties can simply hide
weapons and tunnel entrances on so-called “private property.”
It is not
acceptable for the Council to simply push off its collective responsibility in this
matter.
The time has come to either pursue serious change to empower UNIFIL, or to
realign UNIFIL’s staffing and resources with tasks it can actually accomplish.
As agreed by all Member States in our Declaration on Action for Peacekeeping,
we must seek measures to improve coherence between mandates and resources.
Further,
despite Resolution 2485’s request for an enhanced annex on the implementation
of the arms embargo, the annex doesn’t appear to have changed at all. Accurate
reporting is critical to efforts to ensure implementation of the arms embargo.
We remind all Member States that, pursuant to Resolution 1701, they are
obligated to prevent the sale or supply, to any entity or individual in
Lebanon, of arms and related materiel of all types, with the exception of those
authorized by the Government of Lebanon or by UNIFIL.
As we approach the UNIFIL
mandate renewal this summer, we hope that this Council takes seriously its
responsibility to ensure that mission can be most effective and efficient. The United
States also looks forward to the Secretary General’s assessment of the
mission. We expect that it will provide an honest account of the challenges the
Mission faces, and that it will provide proposals for what can be done to
improve the force.
Thank you.
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