Ambassador Jennifer Locetta
Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs
New York, New York
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, Senior Representative Yamashita, for your briefing.
Last year, the United States voted in favor of Resolution 2792 to maintain momentum on humanitarian legacy files after the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq closed.
We note the various confidence-building measures described in the Secretary-General’s update. However, there were no new identifications during this period and no progress on Kuwaiti property, including the national archives.
Building confidence matters, but it is not sufficient on its own. Resolution 2792 mandated a specific focus for the senior representative, notably: “promoting, supporting and facilitating efforts regarding the repatriation or return of all Kuwaiti and third-country nationals or their remains, and the return of Kuwaiti property, including the national archives.”
Success in this regard must be measured against meaningful progress towards these objectives.
We urge the parties to promptly complete the action points they have agreed. This includes locating and interviewing known witnesses. We encourage the Tripartite Commission to finish its monitoring framework, with clear key performance indicators, so that this Council can assess progress ahead of its review by June 2028.
As the United States indicated, we expect all stakeholders to make serious, good-faith efforts to allow this new mechanism to finish its work as quickly as possible.
We encourage the parties to cooperate in order to resolve the issues related to missing persons and property.
The United States hopes the Secretary-General’s next update, and our next briefing, will show concrete progress and a clear focus on benchmarks for success.
Thank you.
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