Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas announced the Dominican Republic would use its two years (2019-2020) at the United Nations Security Council to call global attention to the impacts of natural disasters on the environment, peace and security. Vargas spoke during the ceremony held in New York at the UN headquarters to welcome the new non-permanent members of the council. Vargas spoke of the high vulnerability of small insular states to natural disasters.
Vargas said for the Dominican Republic, the spotlight will be on climate change, but also promoting Caribbean and Latin American interests, as well on human rights, women’s rights, food security and environmental protection.
He highlighted the Dominican Republic was a founder of the United Nations charter but this was the first time it held a seat in the United Nations Security Council. He said the country would use its seat to directly collaborate in the management and solution of major global issues. He defended the importance of multilateralism as an efficient way to achieve global stability and peaceful coexistence among states.
The Dominican Republic is holding the Security Council presidency for the month of January. Jose Singer, special envoy to the United Nations, has called a high-level open debate on the subject for 25 January. This will be presided over by President Danilo Medina.
Also speaking at the event was José Singer Weisinger, the special envoy for the Dominican Republic who will represent the country at the Security Council. “We do hope to, from within the Security Council, provide a modest contribution to fostering better understanding of new risks to peace and security — these are risks which differ from the traditional risks we face: they are more complex and more global in nature. This issue (of climate change) is of particular relevance to our country, and to the Caribbean and Central America in general. It is also the case for many Pacific islands,” said Singer when speaking at the ceremony. The country’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Francisco Cortorreal, will handle General Assembly affairs.
The Dominican Republic was chosen in June 2018 together with new representatives from Germany, Belgium, South Africa and Indonesia. The Security Council members also include in 2019 non-permanent members Peru, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait and Poland. The permanent members are United States, Russia, China, France, Great Britain that have veto votes.
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CGTN
7 January 2019
