Lloyds Banking Group has been fully returned to private ownership.

Thank you Mr President and thank you Special Representative Tanin for your briefing.

Let me join others in welcoming Ambassador Citaku and Minister Kuburović to the Council.

It’s been less than three months since this Council met to discuss the situation in Kosovo. As the Secretary-General’s report makes clear, it has been a comparatively quiet period; one that doesn’t warrant this Council’s attention so soon after our last session.

This period of calm is welcome; a de-escalation in tension between Kosovo and Serbia, whether in this Chamber or in the region, is something I’m sure we’d all like to see sustained.

We particularly welcome the withdrawal of the proposal to transform the Kosovo Security Force into an army. We encourage the Government of Kosovo to continue to engage with communities in Kosovo and NATO partners on any such moves.

Despite the stability of the reporting period, we are concerned by the slow progress in the EU-facilitated dialogue. We all know that the future of Kosovo will be determined in Brussels, and not in this Chamber in New York. So it’s vital that both sides re-engage and live up to their commitment to the Dialogue following elections in Serbia and forthcoming elections in Kosovo in June.

As Kosovo prepares to go to the polls, let me say that we look forward to free and fair elections and to a government that reflects the will of the people. Once formed, there is plenty to do; including continuing efforts on issues such as the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities. In that effort, they will have the UK’s fullest support.

Mr President,

While not captured in the report from UNMIK, it’s important to recognise in this Chamber the progress Kosovo has made internationally since we last met. Diplomatic relations were established with Brunei and Samoa, and Kosovo opened its first Embassy in Africa, in Senegal. And in a further sign of ever increasing international integration, Kosovo became the 181st member of the Worlds Customs Union; a move that will bring economic benefits for all who call Kosovo home.

This is progress that we rarely hear about in this Council. Instead, every three months, we are transported back nearly twenty years to a time of ethnic division; a time of fluid lines on maps. But in truth, these lines have long since been set. These sessions do not reflect Kosovo as it is, but Kosovo as it was. So let me reiterate that it is long past time for the Council to decrease the frequency of these sessions.

And just as these sessions must adapt, so too must UNMIK, so that it better reflects the present situation. We recognise the important work that UNMIK has done over many years for the benefit of Kosovo, and we welcome its activism on the Women, Peace, and Security agenda during the reporting period. But it’s time for the Mission to take a step back. As such, we are disappointed at moves to increase the budget of UNMIK this year, particularly after numerous calls in the past two sessions for a downscaling of the Mission, and especially given that additional funds are earmarked for projects that focus on issues on which EULEX is already engaged.

Mr President, given the pressures placed on the peacekeeping budget, and given Kosovo’s continued move away from instability and insecurity, the United Kingdom thinks it is long past time for UNMIK to undergo some form of reconfiguration. We look forward to receiving proposals from the Secretariat in due course.

Thank you Mr President.

In England, the March data shows an annual price increase of 4.4% which takes the average property value to £232,530. Monthly house prices have fallen by 0.6% since February 2017.

Wales shows an annual price increase of 4.3% which takes the average property value to £147,746. Monthly house prices have risen by 1.4% since February 2017.

London shows an annual price increase of 1.5% which takes the average property value to £471,742. Monthly house prices have fallen by 1.5% since February 2017.

UK Property Transaction statistics showed that in March 2017 the total number of seasonally adjusted property transactions completed in the UK with a value of £40,000 or above has remained at a similar level for the last 3 months. See the economic statement.

Sales during January 2017, the most up-to-date HM Land Registry figures available, show that:

Thank you Minister, Mr President, for convening this important open debate.

And I would like to begin by welcoming both Amina and Adama back to the Council and to thank them for their very important briefings this morning. And I would like to pay particular tribute to Mina Jaf for sharing her powerful testimony with us, and for bringing the unique and valuable perspective of civil society into this Security Council Chamber.

It’s a perspective that we need to hear more of, more often. This Council works best when we are informed by the women and men most affected by the issues we discuss in this room. And sexual violence in conflict is no exception to that.

As we’ve heard today, ending sexual violence in conflict is central to peace building, conflict prevention and reconciliation. This is a message that should not need repeating in this Council. We’ve heard it many times before on our visits to South Sudan, Lake Chad, most recently Colombia.

We cannot forget the stories we heard in that dusty IDP camp in northern Nigeria. Stories of women whose daughters had been abducted by Boko Haram, likely forced into marriage and sexual slavery.

And yet, as the Secretary-General’s report clearly shows, those messages are not getting through. Not enough is being done. Women and girls, men and boys are still being subjected to sexual violence every day. In Mali, where survivors are forced to withdraw complaints so that the perpetrators can escape justice. In Syria, where not a single person has been prosecuted for Da’esh’s vile acts. In South Sudan, where we see the continuing abhorrent use of rape as a sickening means of punishing communities.

We know what needs to happen. We need to make ending sexual violence a key part of ceasefire deals. We need fewer women at kitchen tables and more women at negotiating tables. And we need even more women serving in uniform – because for too many survivors a man in uniform is someone to fear, not someone to trust. This is a lesson that needs to be heeded by governments, by armed forces, and yes, by the UN and its peacekeepers too.

We cannot though be deterred. We must all play our part and do everything within our power to ensure these crimes are reported, that survivors are cared for, and that perpetrators, whether terrorists or state actors, are held to account.

And that’s why the United Kingdom, in partnership with the UN Team of Experts and Justice Rapid Response, is running a campaign to tackle the stigma that so often surrounds survivors of sexual violence. It’s why we worked with over 200 civil society experts to produce the International Protocol that helps document these crimes. And it’s why we’re now developing the Principles for Global Action to be launched at the General Assembly later this year. This is a new tool, developed again with civil society, but also with UN agencies and member states, to help policy makers and international organisations tackle stigma through their own work.

Ultimately, Mr President, if we want to address the appalling use of sexual violence by terrorists, and indeed by state actors, we need to look bigger; we need to look broader. We need to recognise that terrorists and state actors are enabled to carry out these sick acts when peace and security has broken down, when this Council has failed to uphold our duties enshrined in the UN Charter.

What happens in this Council, whether votes in favour, or vetoes against, has a very real bearing on that insecurity.

So let us make sure that tackling sexual violence is not something we talk about only once a year at this debate, but in every single Security Council item where it is relevant, starting with the upcoming Al-Qaeda sanctions regime review.

Nor can we shy away from the fact that these appalling acts are the direct result of gender discrimination and inequality. Until women are treated equally, paid equally, respected equally, we will have failed, not just to address this issue, but also to deliver the Global Goals that we all agreed less than two years ago.

I’d like to close, Mr President, by paying tribute to the former Special Representative, Zainab Bangura, for all her tireless efforts and exemplary leadership on this important issue. I wish her the best for the future and I look forward to working with her successor, Pramilla Patten.

The news comes as one of the UK’s most senior counter terrorism officers, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi, told an audience of security industry experts today that their role in protecting the public is more vital than ever.

Most of the concerns raised by the public as a result of the Action Counters Terrorism, or ACT, initiative turned out to be nothing to cause any alarm. However, a crucial number contained important pieces of information that resulted in further action from police – information that might otherwise have been missed.

A significant number of the calls were made following the Westminster attack.

DAC D’Orsi, who is the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Protective Security, revealed the figures to an audience attending the annual CT Expo at London Olympia. She also told delegates the police aimed to increase its use of the National Barrier Asset – temporary protective structures – during short term sumner events that attract large crowds.

“The increased response from the general public and from professionals whose job it is to keep people safe within crowded places, has been really heartening,” she says.

“But, as we have seen very recently here in London, we can not afford to stand still. We need to exploit every possible way of keeping people safe – and do all we can to keep everyone vigilant.

“We are working very closely with security managers in busy shopping centres, transport hubs and entertainment venues. The fact that record numbers are attending this event shows the desire to do more.

“Whether it is in business communities or local communities, we need to encourage everyone to keep contributing because, sadly, terrorism is a growing and increasingly complex threat.”

CT policing is promoting the National Barrier Asset (NBA) at the two-day Expo. This is a unique unit within world policing that manages, with the help of expert technicians, protective barriers that can be deployed by any of the England and Wales Home Office forces.

Some of the NBA equipment is placed around Parliament and is likely to have saved more people from Khalid Masood’s devastating drive along Westminster bridge and around Parliament.

The ACT campaign was launched eight weeks ago. In addition to the 3000 calls, there has also been 300 referrals regarding online extremist material and 850,000 have watched the ACT films. The ‘Code Severe’ podcast – the first ever podcast from police – reached number two in the charts.

Full information about the campaign, and how to contact police with concerns, can be found at gov.uk/ACT.