December 3, 2024
MODERATOR: Well, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the New York Foreign Press Center. We’re glad you’re here. My name is Melissa Waheibi; I’m the acting director. And the purpose of this briefing is to discuss the United States priorities during the presidency of the UN Security Council, which will focus on AI, the role of women in peace and security, combatting food insecurity, and addressing global challenges.
It’s my pleasure to introduce our briefer today, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. representative to the United Nations. She’ll start with opening remarks, and then we’ll have a time of Q&A which I will moderate.
Ma’am, thank you.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you very much, and good afternoon, everyone. I’m really thrilled to speak with you today about the United States presidency of the UN Security Council, which began earlier this week. Over the next month we’ll be holding, as you heard, two signature events in the council, as well as a number of equally critical side events that focus on key priorities for the U.S.
So we kicked off this morning, so we went straight to immediately with our first – our first signature event. We hosted a briefing this morning on women, peace, and security, focusing on the transformative power of intergenerational dialogue between young and senior women peace-builders. Second, on December 19th, we’ll convene to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on international peace and security, building on our work the past four years, including through our landmark General Assembly resolution to govern AI with a focus on human rights, sustainable development, and capacity building.
In the days between, we’ll be covering all manner of issues, like any other month in the Security Council – from Russia’s ongoing assault on the Ukrainian people, to the ongoing security crisis in Haiti, to the conflict in the Middle East, including a meeting that we will be having this afternoon on Syria and one tomorrow to discuss the Lebanese ceasefire deal.
Finally, as you’ll recall, during my first presidency back in March of 2021, just after I arrived in New York, the United States called a meeting on the link between armed conflict and food security. We spotlighted food insecurity once again during my second as well as my third presidencies. And now as we enter my fourth and final presidency as the U.S. ambassador, we’ll once again be focusing on this issue.
As many of you know, this is something that is very personal to me. I’ve seen starvation up close. Today this challenge is more urgent than ever before as millions of people face hunger, even famine, across the world. To address this crisis, the United States will convene a high-level meeting on food security on December 9th, focused on galvanizing action toward achieving SDG 2: Zero Hunger. We’ll be bringing together experts from across the international community to discuss where we’ve been, where we are, and most importantly, where we’re going in the collective fight to end food security*.
Before I turn to your questions and because this is the last I’ll be seeing of many of you before the end of the year, I’ll end with just a note of gratitude to all of you for the work that you do every single day. I want to thank you for sharing the work we’re doing in New York with the world, helping raise our collective attention to the issues that matter.
And with that, I turn it over to you.
MODERATOR: Thank you, ma’am, for those remarks. Now is the time for Q&A; I’ll moderate that. For those in the room, please state your name and organization, and same for those online. If you have a question on Zoom, please click your digital hand and I’ll call on you, and if necessary, you can type that into the chat and I can ask that on your behalf. But here’s – any questions in the room? Manik?
QUESTION: My name is Manik —
MODERATOR: Sorry, the microphone is for the transcript. Please use it.
QUESTION: My name is Manik Mehta. I’m a syndicated journalist. Some weeks ago you spoke at the CFR, and the subject was, of course, the Security Council. At the time, you singled out three G4 members as potential permanent members of the Security Council, but I don’t know, you did not mention Brazil. Was it an omission or an exclusion?
And secondly, my question is relating to the future of the Security Council reforms. How do you envisage the next administration implementing the reform process? Thank you.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Good. On the issue of the G4, we have consistently supported Japan, Germany, and India to be permanent members of the Security Council. Connected to that, we have supported Latin America, but we have not identified a country just as we’ve not identified in Africa. While we support two permanent seats for Africans, we’re not telling Africans and we’re not telling Latin Americans who they should choose to fill their permanent seats.
And then in terms of the future, I think we will continue to see the process evolve. One of our other announcements was that we discuss – that we support text-based negotiations, which means the negotiations will be and the agreements will be codified. That’s something that will take place in the UN system, and hopefully will lead to a process that will get us further than we’ve gotten in past years. I can’t speak for the Trump administration; I can only speak for the
process that takes place here in the UN. And I think that process will continue, and I think eventually we will see some movement on this issue. We’ve heard from some of our colleagues that our statement on Security Council reform actually moved the needle significantly, and I think that will continue.
MODERATOR: Go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador. Stephanie Fillion, from Asahi Shimbun. Whether it’s in the Security Council or outside the Security Council, is there any files or any issue that you intend to push this month before the next administration takes over? Anything really important to you?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: No, we – the President has said to us he wants us to run through the tape. I’ve said I’m going to run to the tape. That means we’re going to continue to do the work that we’ve been doing since the beginning. So just to give you an example, the negotiations leading to a ceasefire in Lebanon continued, and they have come to fruition. And we’ll be discussing that in the Council tomorrow. We are still working around the clock to find a path forward to end the conflict in Gaza. We’re not stopping because the administration ends on January 20th. Secretary Blinken is in the region. Others are in the region. Those negotiations are continuing, and we hope that they lead to some agreement that will end the suffering of the Palestinian people and bring home the hostages to their families.
QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador. Robert Poredos, Slovene Press Agency. I would like to ask you – I don’t know how much you can say or not, but what is the biggest change in the U.S. foreign policy here at the UN that you might envision with the new administration comparing to yours? I don’t know how much you can say about it, but —
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I mean, what I can say is I can’t predict what the policies of the new administration will be. I think, like you, we all read the press. We know what the President-Elect has said are his priorities. But what their policies will be ultimately, we won’t know until they are on seat and moving forward with those policies.
QUESTION: Since I have the mike, I would love to ask you a country-specific question. Slovenia has been a member of Security Council. It was elected with the support of the Western countries. And specifically on the Middle East, I saw that there was different policy stances comparing to the United States. How would you evaluate the work of Slovenia at the Security Council?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I think Slovenia has been an extraordinarily important contributor to the work of the Security Council. We have appreciated their sharing their views. We don’t always agree, but that’s the case in any country on any issue. But they have worked very closely with us. They’ve been – we’ve been very closely linked on issues related to Ukraine. And we have listened to them and negotiated with them on issues related to Gaza. So I find that they have been a strong partner for us on the Security Council.
MODERATOR: Go ahead.
QUESTION: It’s Boris Herrmann for Germany’s newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. Ambassador, you said you – you’re committed obviously to working until the very last day of your administration, but obviously we are in a very special moment of your fourth presidency and a transition to another administration. So is your work in any way different from the other three presidencies in that sense, that you’re already in the transition? Do you have to do anything differently, or do you have to push harder on certain issues, or be more —
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We have one president at a time, and the President and Commander-in-Chief is President Biden. And so we are working to pursue the policies that have been defined by this administration by President Biden and Vice President Harris. We’ve not changed our approach because of the election.
QUESTION: I guess it was – I guess it was yesterday when he said one of the goals of your – as an ambassador was also to repair alliances within the world. So does – do you expect someone has to do that again in four years from now?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Again, I can’t predict. I can say that over the course of the past four years we have worked diligently to rebuild alliances and reassert our leadership here at the UN and around the world, and I think we have succeeded. What comes next – and particularly what comes even after the next administration is not something that I’m privy to or that I can predict.
MODERATOR: Okay. We’ll go to Silva on Zoom. Silva, please unmute your microphone, ask your question, state your name and organization.
QUESTION: Hi, good afternoon, Ambassador. Juan Silva from W Radio, Colombia. As you know, my country is making total efforts towards peace and addressing issues such as inequality. How do you view this specific case, not only in Colombia but in the Western Hemisphere as a whole? And how do you assess the fight against hunger, inequality, peace in the region? Thank you so much.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Look, we are very, very supportive of the process taking place in Colombia that eventually will bring peace and security to the people of Colombia, who’ve suffered for so many years. So the most recent agreements have been warmly welcomed by us.
On the issue of hunger around the world, we are seeing hunger poke its ugly head all over the world, even here in the United States. So when I deal with issues related to hunger, I also visit and work with inner cities, where we’re seeing basically food deserts where people are – have not gotten access to healthy food. I’m looking at countries that have been impacted by Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine that has led to grain not being available in countries around the world or becoming more expensive in countries around the world. I’m hearing from people in Africa how the cost of food has gone up significantly because of the war.
So I think hunger is a global issue that is – it’s seen in developed countries as well countries in the Global South, and certainly in Latin America.
MODERATOR: Ma’am, we’ve received several pre-submitted questions. Let me ask one from Pearl Matibe, Premium Times Nigeria on Africa: “What are your specific priorities on the enduring and escalating security challenges in the DRC, Somalia, and the Sahel countries?”
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I have been working diligently not just since I came to New York and the Security Council, but as you know I was assistant secretary for Africa in the Obama administration. And we have been focused on conflicts that are taking place around the continent very, very aggressively.
So looking at the situation in DRC, we have been very engaged in supporting the Luanda Process, supporting the Nairobi Process, supporting the regional countries who have been involved in trying to find a solution for the situation in DRC.
Similarly in Somalia, we’ve been actively engaged. I actually visited Somalia early in my tenure to get a sense of the situation on the ground there so that we were in a better place to address those issues in the Security Council.
And I have been a very strong, active, loud voice on ensuring that the world pays attention to what is happening in Sudan, where we see tens of thousands of people who’ve been forced from their home – in fact, millions have been forced from their homes – in a war that is being carried out by two generals who were brothers in arms and now they’re tearing their countries apart. And I was really very upset that nobody was paying attention to what was happening in Sudan. And fortunately, we’re beginning to see more attention being paid to that, but more important than paying attention to it is finding a solution that will end this horrific war and the suffering of the Sudanese people.
QUESTION: My name is Uchenna Ekwo. I belong to the Center for Media and Peace Initiatives. We publish the Journal of Media and Public Policy and The Solutions News. I actually sent a question earlier, but I’m glad I was able to make it in person.
So when I came in you were addressing some of the issues I wanted to ask. However, one thing I want to ask specifically is on the issue of climate change. So when Clinton was the president, we had this Kyoto Protocol. Then it didn’t go anywhere because Bush stepped in. Then we have this climate – this Paris Agreement again. Obviously, the incoming administration is going to pull out of it, like they did previously.
My question is: This zigzag movement on this critical issue of our time, what are the advantages to the world? Both side – both of them, what are disadvantages and the advantages of this zigzag movement of U.S. in the issue of climate change and what it portends to the world? Thank you.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I think that the Paris Agreement continued without us and became stronger, and people became more committed to ensuring that it moved forward when we were not in the room. And we felt during – when President Biden was elected, very first appointment along with me and the Secretary of State was appointing secretary – former Secretary Kerry to continue those efforts. And we saw American companies, we saw American cities continuing to engage on this issue.
So I think the advantage, as difficult as that is to see, is that people have realized that they can do it with or without us. And certainly, it’s better for us to be in the room, to be part of it. But the process continued without us, and it’s stronger with us.
MODERATOR: Great. We have time for one more question.
QUESTION: I just wanted to also ask you about the issue of the day. I know the Korean ambassador was in the Security Council this morning. Did you —
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: He was there.
QUESTION: Did you get a chance to talk to him? Did you get any reaction from him? But also – I know the White House reacted, but did you also convey a message?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: No, we didn’t. This was happening just this morning as we were coming into the Security Council. And as you heard from Washington, we are concerned about the situation on the ground there, but watching it very closely. The Republic of Korea is a close ally and partner, and so we want to see the political situation there resolved as quickly as possible. But again, this is not – it has not come up as a Security Council issue, and I’ve not spoken to my Korean counterpart about this.
MODERATOR: Great. Thank you. Madam Ambassador, thank you for being here today. Thank you all for coming, for those online. There will be a transcript; as soon as it’s done we’ll post it at fpc.state.gov. Thank you.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you all.