Explanation of vote by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva after the UNSC vote on draft resolutions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mme.President,
Russia supported the draft UNSC resolution on renewal of the mandate of MONUSCO put forward by France. We note the work done by the penholders of this file, first of all in terms of accounting for the priorities of the host country – the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
We welcome the reduction of the text and its more appropriate focus on the existing problems. We consider it important that at this key moment for the DR Congo, when the situation in the east of the country is really difficult, the Security Council unanimously reaffirms its support for the efforts of Kinshasa and MONUSCO.
At the same time, the resolution that we adopted today has a few drawbacks. To a large extent, those are characteristic not only of the DRC, but also of the other country cases where UN peacekeeping operations are deployed.
I mean the practice of paying increased attention of the Council to the secondary tasks of the peacekeeping missions, which unfortunately is rather persistent. In situations, when some states live through a dramatic escalation of the armed conflict, when civilians die, and when the central question is what the Security Council can do to help, our essential discussions narrow down to the powers of the Blue Helmets in the area of human rights monitoring, gender analysis, and other non-core aspects. Those may be also very important per se, but such discussions obscure the main task of the Security Council as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations, which is maintenance of the international peace and security and elaboration of political decisions for conflict settlement.
We call on the colleagues to give this a thought, i.a. with regard to the DRC, where we have been trying to find some lasting solutions and protect civilians from violence for the past 20 years.
Mme.President,
Russia also supported draft UNSC resolution on the cancellation of DRC’s notifications regime. We congratulate our Congolese colleagues on this important development.
The Russian position has been and remains consistent both with regard to the DRC and other similar country situations. UNSC sanctions must always remain reflective of the situation on the ground and promote stabilization. They must be subjected to review and modification on a regular basis until the moment they are fully lifted.
By our estimates, many of the current UNSC sanctions regimes no longer correspond to the de facto situations in respective states, and impede plans of national authorities in the area of state building and establishing efficient armed forces and law enforcement. This was the case with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In June 2022 we were ready to vote in favor of adapting the sanctions regime and abolishing the notifications, so that all restrictions remained effective only against armed groups.
We welcome that the Council was able to adopt this resolution today and that despite the doubts of some delegations, the Council did not further delay the adoption of this decision.
Thank you.
