Excellencies, colleagues,

I am glad to see so many of us here today discussing this important issue on World Ocean Day – and I’m delighted that the UK is a founding member of such an important Group of Friends on Combatting Marine Plastic Pollution.

We are here today because marine pollution is a truly international problem. Research estimates that up to 12 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean globally each year. Stopping it at the source is key.

Marine pollution is a transboundary issue. We need to work together through Groups like this one to forge the way forward. This is why, in 2018, we launched the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance together with Vanuatu, which now has 34 members – over half the Commonwealth – who have pledged to take action on plastic pollution.

I’d like to pay tribute to the founders of this group on their work on these issues – and particularly (if I may) the world leading role of Antigua and Barbuda. I hope this group is an opportunity for us all to share lessons learned and best practice, so we can collectively demonstrate both what is achievable but, importantly, why urgent action is so critical.

This is an issue that really matters to the UK government. For our part, we have published a Resources and Waste Strategy that sets out how we will preserve our stock of material resources by minimising waste, promoting resource efficiency and moving towards a less wasteful, more circular economy – where we reuse, repair and recycle.

We have also banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, placed a levy on plastic bags on the high street and will introduce a ban on the supply of plastic straws, drink stirrers, and other single-use plastics in October.

The UK is committed to leading on marine conservation.

As custodians of the fifth largest marine estate globally, we are on track to have more than half of all UK waters protected through our Blue Belt programme.

We know we cannot go it alone, which is why we are calling others to join the Global Ocean Alliance for a global target to protect at least 30% of our ocean by 2030 and are currently building a new fund – the Blue Planet Fund – to help restore and protect ocean ecosystems around the world.

Thank you and we look forward to working with you all.

• Adult care homes for under-65s, including those with learning disabilities or mental health problems will be offered testing, regardless of whether residents have symptoms
• New social care sector COVID-19 support taskforce set up to continue supporting the care sector and prevent further transmission
• New taskforce to be headed up by newly appointed Chair, David Pearson CBE

The government is extending whole care home testing to all adult care homes after meeting the target of offering a test to every care home for over-65s and those with dementia in England by 6 June.

Since the launch of whole care home testing, the government has provided 1,071,103 test kits to 8,984 care homes, and we are now able to send out over 50,000 test kits a day.

To continue providing support for the sector and to tackle the further spread of the virus in social care the government has set up a new taskforce, with representatives from across government and the care sector.

The new taskforce will help oversee the implementation of the government’s social care action plan and care home support package to help end transmission in the community and advise on a plan to support the sector through the next year.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock said:

From today all remaining adult care homes in England will be able to order the whole care home testing service for residents and staff. This service will benefit residents and staff in over 6,000 more care homes.

It will mean that right across the care home sector everyone will have the certainty and confidence of a high quality coronavirus test, whether symptomatic or not, certainty about whether or not they’re carrying the virus and confidence that they are doing the right thing both to protect themselves and others.

During the first phase care homes for the over-65s and those caring for people with dementia were prioritised for whole care home testing to target those with the greatest need. The government is now able to offer testing to every adult care home in England, including specialist learning disability and mental health care homes.

Minister for Care, Helen Whately said:

Care homes are on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19 and we are determined that staff have everything they need to keep themselves and their residents safe.

Opening up whole care home testing to the whole social care sector, regardless of symptoms, means we can prevent and control outbreaks and protect the most vulnerable.

Former president of ADASS and Director of Adult Social Care of DHSC, David Pearson has been appointed independent Chair of the Social Care Sector COVID-19 support taskforce which will oversee delivery of infection control measures as set out by the care home support package, backed by £600 million from the government, delivery of testing programmes and effective deployment of the workforce.

David Pearson CBE, Chair of the Social Care Sector COVID-19 Support Taskforce said:

The social care sector is on the frontline of our coronavirus response. This taskforce will support the service by overseeing the delivery of the Social Care Action Plan and the Care Homes Intensive Support Package.

This will play an important part in ensuring we are doing everything we can to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the sector, both for those who rely on care and support and the social care workforce.

David Pearson CBE is the former President of ADASS and the social care COVID-19 lead for the NHS.

It is made up of representatives from PHE, CQC, Care Providers Alliance LGA, ADASS, Healthwatch England, MHCLG, Cabinet Office and DHSC.

Vic Rayner, Executive Director, National Care Forum:

Testing of all those receiving care and the staff delivering it has been recognised as an absolute priority. It is very positive the government is today moving forward with plans to extend the testing across all care homes, and it is vital that we set out a timeline to ensure that everyone who receives care gets access to regular and repeat testing as it is proving to be an absolutely essential tool in the fight against COVID-19.

I welcome the announcement of a Social Care Taskforce that will bring together the multiple strands of work that have been developed to address the impact of COVID-19 on those receiving social care. This taskforce will provide a real opportunity for all partners to work together to ensure a coordinated focus on the core essential of managing this virus, and bring energy and attention to the way in which Covid is impacting social care now – and critically in planning and preparation for the future.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive, Care England:

Care England welcomes the announcement of whole home testing which will help care provides to identify who is COVID-19 positive and we will be able to support people appropriately.

Care home providers are now able to access our online portal to order tests for their residents or staff regardless of symptoms. In addition, DHSC is contacting all care homes to highlight this service and encourage tests to be ordered.

Testing asymptomatic workers helps prevent and control outbreaks. It means those who test positive can be isolated, reducing the number of people who can spread the virus and protecting the most vulnerable. It also helps to build up a strategic understanding of the prevalence of the virus in local areas and the sector as a whole.  

Test results for residents will be communicated to the care home managers. This is in addition to the new Test and Trace service which has an important role in limiting the spread of the virus, and thousands of those who have tested positive have already been contacted and their close contacts traced.

• All adult care home providers can access our online portal to register to receive test kits to care out whole care home testing
• Approximately 6,250 care homes are now able to access whole care home testing thanks to this extension
• Care worker staff who are self-isolating, either because they or a member of their household has symptoms, should continue to use the self-referral website to book a home test or an appointment at a test site
• Domiciliary care staff who need a test should also continue to use the self-referral website to request a home test or book an appointment at a test site
• This programme is for England only and supplements the local systems already in place. We are working with the devolved administrations to support their needs around adult social care testing.

Merci Madame la Presidente.

I will start by offering my condolences on behalf of the United Kingdom for the deaths of the two security guards at the Arusha branch of the Residual Mechanism.

Madame President, Thank you to the President, Judge Carmel Agius, and Prosecutor Brammertz for their briefings to the Security Council today.

I would like to reiterate the UK’s unwavering commitment to the Mechanism and reaffirm our willingness to assist it wherever possible in fulfilling its mandate, as extended after 30 June, and implementing its vision of being a small, temporary and efficient structure. Most recently, in February this year, we were pleased with Lord Iain Bonomy’s appointment to the roster of judges of the Mechanism.

Madame President, much has happened in this reporting period. Firstly, the recent report of the OIOS found that the Mechanism had successfully implemented most of the OIOS’s previous recommendations, which has further improved working practices, and it has set two new recommendations, which we fully support, for the Mechanism to work towards. We are pleased that work has already started to implement these. Secondly, the Mechanism has ensured that its work has continued despite the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, and I would like to support the President’s call not to lose sight of the importance of international justice during this period. Thirdly, with latest developments in the Kabuga case, the Mechanism has taken a huge step in showing that impunity is not allowed to prevail.

We congratulate the Office of the Prosecutor and the French authorities for the arrest last month of Félicien Kabuga in France. The UK is proud that it was among the states and entities that cooperated in the investigation leading to the arrest. As noted in the report, this arrest again demonstrates that international justice can succeed when it has the international community’s support, even decades after the events. In this spirit, we welcome the preparations underway to establish an international investigative task force focusing on Rwandan genocide suspects present in Europe.

We welcome the progress made on the first major contempt case of Turinabo et al. The United Kingdom notes the work of the Prosecutor’s office, assisted by the international community in confirming the death of the indicted Augustin Bizimana. Six fugitives now remain, and a number of cases require specific actions by certain states. It is disappointing that a lack of cooperation from some Member States has hindered the Prosecutor’s efforts. We call on all Member States to assist the Mechanism; it is our collective responsibility to seek justice for victims and our obligation under the Charter of the United Nations to cooperate with the Mechanism.

The United Kingdom is among the States which are assisting the Mechanism with enforcing sentences and hopes that other States will also assist the mechanism as needed. We note the positive steps that the President has taken through the revised practice direction to ensure greater transparency and efficiency on conditional release. We are disappointed that no progress has been made on relocating the nine acquitted and released persons still in the safe-house in Arusha, despite efforts by the President and Registrar to resolve this untenable situation. We appeal to States which are in a position to do so, to help resolve this problem.

We are pleased with the Mechanism’s progress in The Hague on the Mladić and Stanišić & Simatović cases, and note the Mechanism’s efforts to minimise delays to these trials caused by COVID 19. We also commend the Mechanism for its work to build capacity with state prosecutors in the Western Balkans. However, despite some progress, we are disappointed that regional judicial cooperation still remains inadequate. It should not be possible to evade justice simply by residing in a neighbouring country. We call upon the countries of the Western Balkans region to ensure they honour the commitments they made when they signed the Joint Declaration on War Crimes at the 2018 London Western Balkans Summit and committed themselves to supporting, and removing impediments to, effective regional cooperation in the field of justice.

In relation to both the events in the Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia, it is deeply concerning that the glorification of war criminals continues on all sides, making reconciliation elusive. It is unacceptable that individuals and sections of society continue to deny what happened in Rwanda and in the Western Balkans, and the UK will continue to condemn instances of denial in its all forms.

Madame President, it is almost 25 years ago in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, that 8,000 men and boys were massacred, and over 20,000 women and children were forcibly deported. On behalf of the United Kingdom, I would like to pay tribute to all the victims of Srebrenica, who remain at the forefront of our thoughts. The ICTY, and now the Mechanism, have pursued justice for the victims and their families for the heinous acts committed against them. This, of course, would not be possible without the survivors and witnesses who have so bravely testified, and without whom there could be no justice. We must ensure that nothing like it ever happens again. It is vital that we all recognise the events at Srebrenica for what they were, a genocide.

There is still more work to be done by the Mechanism in relation to the awful events which took place in Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia, and States must continue to support it as it completes its work.

I thank you Madame President.

Caroline Cole

Caroline Cole read architecture at the University of Cambridge and during her professional life has worked both as a design consultant and as a client, commissioning design professionals for the built environment.

She is Founder of Colander Associates, a business that has advised many of the UK’s most acclaimed architectural and engineering practices, and works with building owners, developers and government agencies, helping to formulate their approach to architecture.

Caroline regularly publishes articles and speaks at conferences to promote good design to clients, and good business to the professions. She is committed to integrated design and gender diversity, establishing Equilibrium Network, to promote gender diversity within the built environment. She also sits on the Steering Group of the climate emergency network, Architects Declare.

She is Chair of the Industry Advisors to IDBE at the University of Cambridge; Trustee of the Ove Arup Foundation; Chair of SPACE Studios; Honorary Fellow of the RIBA; a Professor at IE University, Madrid; Fellow of the RSA, and sits on the Design Review Panel for HS2. She is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects and has received the Freedom of the City of London.

In her spare time, she is a ceramicist.

Surojit Ghosh

Surojit Ghosh has a background in finance and is currently a Senior Advisor for CQS Fund Management.

He has previously worked for organisations including Credit Suisse and CS First Boston. Surojit is a Governor for Dulwich College (independent school) and a Non-Executive Director for Dulwich College Management International.

Nico Lacuzzi

Nico is an investment professional with considerable experience in fund management, structured finance, and strategy consulting. He is currently an Investment Director at Inter Fund Management SA, the independent investment arm of a large European corporate, where he is responsible for sourcing, executing and managing private equity investments on a global basis. He was previously a Managing Director at Change Capital Partners, a private equity fund focused on consumer and retail investments in Europe. Prior to this, Nico worked in the Leveraged Finance team at JP Morgan and the Strategy and Operations group at Deloitte. A graduate of the London School of Economics and Harvard Business School, Nico lives with his wife and three sons in Dulwich.

These roles are not remunerated. These reappointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments, the process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Caroline Cole, Surojit Ghosh, and Nico Lacuzzi have not declared any activity.