Pulse.Assent

Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on North Korea on 15 December, Foreign & Commonwealth Minister for Asia Mark Field MP said:

Thank you Mr Foreign Minister for bringing us together for this important meeting under the Japanese presidency of the Security Council.

And thank you too, for the Secretary-General Guterres for your comprehensive briefing on the clear global threats and the challenges that destabilising conduct of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea present to us all.

I should like to start by discussing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It was, it is, a great diplomatic achievement and remains the cornerstone of our international security.

As signatories, we have all benefited from its protections. It is our collective responsibility, and it is in our collective interests, to ensure that all nations stand by their commitments and obligations under the Treaty and its associated agreements.

It is also our duty as members of this Council and as responsible international actors.

We must abide by our collective rules, we must defend our values and we must work together in this Council, to safeguard a system of international security that benefits the whole of humanity.

North Korea repeatedly and wilfully rebuffs these systems and our collective values.

Earlier this week, members of the Council heard appalling and harrowing accounts of the regime’s brutal treatment of its own people. Of women forced to drown their newborn babies as the regime didn’t consider them to be racially pure. They heard multiple examples of violations of foreign citizens’ rights, including of course Mr President, of those of your own country, Japan.

Today, we meet yet again to condemn North Korea’s illegal and dangerous nuclear weapons programme.
Kim Jong-Un claims that he wants to be a responsible actor, and that he wishes to bring security and prosperity to his people. The regime’s actions, exemplified by their systematic violation of human rights and their nuclear weapons programme, demonstrate precisely the opposite intent.

North Korea’s pursuit of an intercontinental nuclear weapon is increasingly destabilising for us all. North Korea has fired some 20 ballistic missiles this year. We have seen three intercontinental ballistic missile launches and two missiles launched across and over the territory of Northern Japan.

Now, in response to these actions this Council has unanimously, and appropriately, decided to impose the strictest sanctions in a generation upon North Korea.

Our community of nations has shown its deep condemnation of the regime by taking these sanctions seriously. This has of course started to have an impact. We all have the responsibility of ensuring these sanctions are fully and properly implemented so that they have the desired effect.

Now that North Korea’s arms dealers are discovering that their usual routes to clients are closed, their diplomats are struggling to process bank transactions for contraband goods. Their exporters of manual labour are finding their contracts are not being renewed.

We must not just keep this pressure up, but we must increase it. We must share information and expertise to prevent North Korea from using front companies or illicit channels to evade sanctions.

We must all co-operate fully with the UN’s highly competent and professional Panel of Experts on North Korea sanctions and we strongly commend their work and will continue actively to support them.

But we should be clear that the reason we enforce sanctions is to force Kim Jong-Un to see that he has the choice of two paths.

His current path will lead his country to greater poverty and isolation, and threatens not just North Korea’s but the global security.

He can, he must, choose to change course. He can choose to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions and to join the community of law-abiding nations. He can choose to let his people express themselves through debate and commerce.

This is the real path to security and prosperity for the North Korean people. Only Kim can now make this choice and we must all work together here to persuade him to make the right choice.

Our message to Kim Jong-Un and his regime must be clear and united: for the wellbeing of your countrymen and the safety of your neighbours and the wider world, you must change course. I hope the North Korean representative here today conveys these strong messages back to Pyongyang.

Mr President, we must all work together and use all the diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal to deliver this uncompromising message.

Let us stand firm. Let us stand fast to our values.

The world looks to all of us here to defend our system of international security. For the sake of future generations of humankind, we must now rise to this challenge.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Mark Field @MarkFieldUK
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Speaking at the UN Security Council Arria on climate security, Foreign Office Minister Mark Field MP said:

Thank you Mr. President.

And thank you to our briefers, H.E. Halbe Zijlstra, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Ms. Caitlin Werrel.

Climate change presents an urgent threat to us all and the planet we inhabit. I am grateful to address the Council on this crucial topic. A topic that is so important to the UK – the first Security Council debate on the relationship between climate and security was convened by the United Kingdom ten years ago.

Since then, climate-related security threats have become more pressing.

Understandably a core focus of this Council is conflict resolution and prevention, however it is striking that in 2016, three times as many people were displaced by natural disasters as by conflict.

This year we have also seen many extreme weather events and climate-related disasters – droughts in Somalia, hurricanes in the Caribbean, flooding in India and Bangladesh.

As the 13th Sustainable Development Goal makes clear, climate change has a direct impact on development. Goal 16 makes clear that development and peace are inexplicitly linked.

Therefore it is irrefutable that climate change needs to be considered by this Council to promote peace, security and development for all.

Without concerted global action to limit and manage the impact of climate change, we could reverse the huge gains in global poverty reduction which we have achieved over the last three decades.

Part of this action must be a quick response to climate related disasters to minimise impact and preserve life.
The UK works closely with countries in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa to build resilience. We are providing an additional $71 million funding to extend this work.

We have provided $40 million to set up the London based Centre for Global Disaster Protection, in partnership with the World Bank, to ensure an earlier and more rapid response to disasters.

This will not only save lives, but also allow countries to recover more quickly, reducing the long-run impacts on poverty alleviation and economic growth.

However we recognise that prevention is always better than the cure. If we are to avoid the worst impacts on the most vulnerable, the answer to this is not to react to climate change after the fact but invest now to manage the risk. Helping vulnerable countries to build their resilience to natural disasters and adapt to the impacts of climate change is crucial.

It is for this reason that we have consistently encouraged robust international action on climate security, including by launching the G7’s work on climate and fragility in 2013. As my Prime Minister stated this in Paris week, “we stand firmly with those who find themselves on the frontline of rising sea levels and extreme weather”.

Together with our partners, we have committed to jointly mobilise $100bn per year in climate finance to developing countries from public and private sources.

This was instrumental in securing the landmark Paris Agreement, which is crucial for ensuring global economic security and sustainable development.

As part of this commitment, we pledged to provide at least $7.5 billion of International Climate Finance between 2016 and 2020. We are aiming to support mitigation and adaptation equally. This places us amongst the world’s leading providers of climate finance.

We must look at actions to promote climate security in a holistic way. We must recognise that causes and responses are interlinked. Individually sensible actions can miss opportunities or have unintended consequences. We need coherent planning that considers opportunities and risks across sectors and over time.

Doing so is vital to build sustainable peace in conflict areas, to promote sustainable development and to build livelihoods that are resilient to the impacts of climate change. And ultimately create a future that is more secure and more prosperous for us all.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Mark Field @MarkFieldUK

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Huge hydraulic arms that will operate Ipswich’s new tidal flood gate have been installed, taking the vital £70 million project 1 step closer to completion.

VIPs, including the Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan, attended an open day to see the latest work on the flood defence scheme, which will significantly reduce the risk of flooding for 2,000 homes and businesses in the town.

The 200 tonne tidal gate was manufactured in the Netherlands and arrived in Suffolk in October, a significant milestone in the 4 year project. The gate is 22 metres wide and will stand 9 metres tall when in its “closed position”. It is finished with 5 tonnes of special paint that will help protect it, as it spends most of its life under water.

It was lowered into place by a specially constructed 1,000 tonne crane and the operating mechanism and
control building are now being installed.

The project is being undertaken by Environment Agency contractor VBA – a joint venture between VolkerStevin, Boskalis Westminster and Atkins – and is due to be completed next year.

Sir James Bevan, chief executive at the Environment Agency, said:

Its been fantastic to visit the Ipswich tidal barrier gate and see this incredible feat of engineering. The £70 million barrier will not only help reduce the threat of flooding for 2,000 homes and businesses but also be a boost for the area’s economy. Working with partners has been key to the scheme’s success and I look forward to seeing the finished scheme.

Floods Minister, Thérèse Coffey, said:

Suffolk is no stranger to flooding and the devastating impacts it can have. That is why I am really pleased that we have made progress with this scheme which is a key part of the regeneration of our county town.

This new £70 million barrier is brilliant news for Ipswich and is just 1 example of our investment across Suffolk to better protect communities across the county from flooding.

The Ipswich Flood Defence Management Strategy (IFDMS) will increase the standard of protection and takes into account current climate change predictions.

The final element of the scheme involves building a tidal barrier across the New Cut River in Ipswich with associated works to tie it into the new east and west bank walls and gates.

The flood defence scheme, which will reduce the risk of flooding to 1,608 homes and 422 businesses and support key infrastructure, has been partnership funded by: the Environment Agency, Ipswich Borough Council, Department for Communities and Local Government, the Haven Gateway Partnership, and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership.

The barrier gate is expected to be operational in the spring of 2018.

We are delighted to announce a new partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organisation that aims to extensively improve the safety monitoring of medicines in low and middle-income countries (LMIC).

New medicines and vaccines, for diseases such as malaria and HIV, may be introduced for the first time in LMIC’s where there are weak or no regulatory systems in place for effective safety monitoring. These new treatments have been developed with urgent public health needs in mind and therefore the need to gather and analyse information quickly on their safety and effectiveness is important. The healthcare and regulatory systems in these settings may often lack the tools, training and capacity to operate a robust safety monitoring system. Whilst great progress has been made with many of LMIC’s now involved as members of the World Health Organization Program for International Drug Monitoring, the experience in collecting, assessing and acting on adverse reaction data, and risk management planning is limited.

Without an effective system, public health programs are at risk and patients may be affected, should they suffer from adverse drug reactions (ADRs) which are not promptly identified and treated. This can consequently undermine the program and result in a loss of trust in the product or a vaccine. Ultimately, this may lead to lower uptake and therefore, the disease not being effectively treated.

WHO and the Gates Foundation have launched ‘Project Smart Safety Surveillance’ (also known as Project 3-S) to help LMIC’s identify, assess, and adequately manage the risks associated with new products. MHRA will be joining this initiative to bring regulatory expertise to the project. This will be for a 3-year period where it is intended to run three pilot exercises in different LMIC settings.

Dr Ian Hudson, Chief Executive Officer at MHRA said:

We are delighted to be involved in such an important global initiative. New drugs and vaccines are being brought to the market for the first time in public health programmes in settings where the safety monitoring and regulatory systems need strengthening. The expertise we can bring to the project will help national safety monitoring centres identify risks and benefits early and take appropriate regulatory action to support global heath.

Dr Dan Hartman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said:

The Triple S project is vitally important to the success of public health programmes to combat some of the world’s major diseases. When a new medicine or vaccine is being used it is critical that potential risks are identified early and well understood. The involvement of MHRA in this project will ensure scientific and regulatory expertise are developed within the national centres.

Dr Ian Hudson discusses a new partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organisation