Mr Chair

The maintenance of international peace and security, including through the suppression of  acts of aggression, is one of the fundamental purposes of the United Nations and at the core  of this Committee’s mandate. Article 2 of the Charter prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State. On 24 February this year, the  Russian Federation trampled over those fundamental principles by launching an unprovoked  and barbaric invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine.

Over seven months into this war, its disastrous impact – on Ukraine, on Russia, and on the  world – is clear.

And now, President Putin’s efforts to incorporate Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and  Kherson into the territory of the Russian Federation constitute a new low point in Russia’s  blatant flouting of international law, and a further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and  territorial integrity.

The United Kingdom is proud to stand in solidarity with the Government and people of  Ukraine, as they fight for their freedom and independence.

Mr Chair

Russia’s aggression has also cast a long shadow over international disarmament negotiations.

Unable to acknowledge the consequences of its war for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty  – including issuing grossly irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, undermining security assurances  by flouting the Budapest Memorandum, and recklessly endangering the safety of Europe’s  largest nuclear power plant – Russia alone blocked the adoption by consensus of a final  document at the Tenth Review Conference in August.

Russia also tried – and failed – to airbrush from the record the criticisms it faced at the  Conference on Disarmament this year.

Russia has attempted to exploit the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention by deliberately  misrepresenting peaceful public health cooperation between the United States and Ukraine  as a biological weapons programme. The Formal Consultative Meeting convened under  Article V last month demonstrated that there is no merit in Russia’s allegations. Such  disinformation risks undermining scientific and technical cooperation between States for  peaceful purposes under Article X.

Russia has also made baseless allegations about Ukraine in the Organisation for the  Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Russia and its ally, the Assad regime in Syria, continue to  impugn the expert, impartial and evidence-based work of the Technical Secretariat.

Consistent reports of Russia’s use of anti-personnel mines and victim-activated booby traps  calls into question its compliance with its obligations under Amended Protocol II of the  Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. The United Kingdom, as President of the  Tenth Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, expressed its grave  concern at Russia’s repeated use of cluster munitions.

Moreover, Russia has resorted to desperate procedural manoeuvres to curtail any discussion  of its war, or of the means and methods by which it is pursuing it. Russia repeatedly attempts to rewrite history to justify the unjustifiable. It portrays itself as the victim, when it is the  aggressor. It blames everyone but itself for the consequences of its own choices. Try as it  might, though, Russia cannot hide from the revulsion the world feels at its actions.

Mr Chair

We cannot let Russia’s aggression distract our attention from the many other challenges the  world faces.

We reiterate that Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon. We regret that Iran has chosen  not to seize the opportunity to restore the JCPOA and instead continues to escalate its  nuclear programme. We urge Iran to return to full implementation of the JCPOA and to urgently provide credible answers to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s separate  investigations to fulfil Iran’s legally binding safeguards obligations.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea launched an unprecedented number of ballistic  missiles in 2022. It has also restored its nuclear test site. Any nuclear test must merit a swift  and robust response from the international community. These programmes continue to  threaten international peace, the stability of the Korean Peninsula and the integrity of the  NPT, and violate unanimously adopted Security Council Resolutions. We call on all Member

States to condemn these provocations, and urge the DPRK to take concrete steps towards  denuclearisation in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.

Syria’s non-compliance with its chemical weapons obligations must be resolved, in  accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution  2118.

More generally, the illicit and uncontrolled proliferation of conventional arms contributes to  instability, terrorism, and organised crime and causes untold death and devastation.

We are concerned by continuing efforts by some States to undermine and discredit  Multilateral Arms Control Regimes, which are a critical part of the non-proliferation system,  and facilitate exports and technology transfer around the world.

And States’ consistent concern that information and communication technologies can be  used for purposes that are inconsistent with international peace and security is now a reality.

The world must stand together to promote the application and observance of International  Humanitarian Law both in the physical and virtual worlds, and in outer space.

Mr Chair

Notwithstanding these dark clouds, there are some rays of light. The fact that every country  bar one was prepared to join consensus on the draft final document at the NPT Review  Conference was an expression of their determination to uphold the centrality of the NPT. And  we welcome the decision to establish a working group on strengthening the review process.

We warmly congratulate President Gustavo Zlauvinen and the whole bureau for their superb  efforts. We will continue to work in this constructive spirit in the new cycle.

The Ninth BTWC Review Conference at the end of November is a vital opportunity to  strengthen this important regime, including through proposals for a science and technology  review process, operationalising Article VII, and more agile decision-making. To keep the  Convention fit for future challenges, we also support the proposal for an Experts Working  Group to study the key issues and identify steps to strengthen implementation of the  Convention in all aspects.

We also welcome the progress made by the Open-Ended Working Group on reducing threats  to space systems through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviours, thereby  preventing an arms race in outer space and maintaining the use of space for peaceful  purposes. This task is increasingly urgent. Space systems underpin life in the 21st Century,  and are vital for the functioning of the global economy, for the mitigation of the climate and  humanitarian crises we face, and for ensuring defence and security. Disruption or damage to  these systems could have far reaching consequences, including conflict.

One of our key concerns is the destructive testing of direct ascent anti-satellite missiles. Such  tests generate significant debris and puts continued use of space at risk, as well as being  potentially destabilising. I am therefore pleased to announce that the United Kingdom has joined others in committing not to carry out destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile  tests. We encourage others to do the same, especially those countries with such  capabilities.

Mr Chair

We must seize on these opportunities. In the face of growing global instability, the  international security, non-proliferation and disarmament system has never been so  important. Instead of undermining it, in this Committee or elsewhere, now is the time for the

UN membership to work together to protect and strengthen it. It is in all our interests to do so.

Thank you Mr. President, and let me thank all our briefers for their presentations today.

The United Kingdom sees an undeniable link between climate, nature, peace and security in Africa – and around the world. We were the first to bring climate security to this Council in 2007, and we hosted the first leader level debate in 2019. So we welcome continued African leadership on this issue under Gabon’s presidency, and we regret that Niger and Ireland’s resolution last December was blocked by a single veto.

As the Secretary-General has advised this Council many times before, the impacts of climate change multiply the threats faced by vulnerable populations.

We are seeing this play out in the drought in East Africa, and changes in rainfall across the Sahel. Climate change is exacerbating pre-existing drivers of insecurity, pushing these regions into humanitarian crisis, and increased competition for water and land, biodiversity loss, and migration are risking conflict, food insecurity – and lives.

The Security Council can help ensure the UN system has the mandates and capacities to integrate climate into its analysis and response to the drivers of conflict and fragility.

President, the UK is clear that we must  accelerate climate action, deliver the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed last year, and meet financing commitments to build resilience.  We are working to achieve this in a number of ways:

The United Kingdom made 10 commitments to Africa at COP26 – and has started delivering on these.

In January, we announced $23 million to support 1 million people in drought and flood-affected areas in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan.

Under the ‘African Union Green Recovery Action Plan’, the UK has funded experts in the AU Commission and enhanced capacity to implement climate action plans across the continent.

The UK has committed £100 million to the ‘Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance’, part of which established a new Climate Finance Unit in Uganda’s Ministry of Finance.

And we have committed to doubling our International Climate Finance to at least £11.6 billion up to 2026, balanced between mitigation and adaptation.

We are also taking responsibility for our country’s impact on climate change, as the first major economy to commit to reducing all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Mr. President, collectively, we cannot allow any roll back from the commitments made in the Paris Agreement or the Glasgow Pact.

Instead, we should redouble our efforts to progress these agreements into action, at COP27 next month and the CBD COP15 in November. Our commitment to climate action is the basis for a peaceful and secure world.

Good Day Turks and Caicos,

This is your Governor speaking from the National Emergency Operations Room in Providenciales.

Following my address to the House of Assembly, and as promised, I now provide an update on the support we have received, and we are to receive, as we face down gang related violence.

What I’m about to say captures work that myself and the Premier have been engaged on together, over the last week, in close collaboration with the Commissioner, who has driven the operation and worked tirelessly to deliver.

There is, I should say, a daily – including weekend – National Emergency Operations Group that myself, the Premier or his Office, the Police Commissioner, Chambers, National Security Secretariat and OT Policing Advisor attend.

The Premier and I met at 8:30 am this morning to review progress. Without predicting the immediate future, because matters can change, I can say the situation over recent days has been significantly more stable. Indeed matters have been unusually quiet.

We don’t rest on our laurels and know that those that would do us harm are both taking stock of recent Policing reinforcements, while licking their wounds following more than one confrontation with our Tactical Unit. Our Officers remain proactive. Some gang members may be seeking to leave the Territory. If you are aware of this, CRIMESTOPPERS want to know: +1 800 8477. +1 800 8477.

It is true to say that this calm is down to courageous work by our Police and that has included sustained pressure – including a significant arrest, weapon and drug recoveries, and the unfortunate fatal shooting of a young man who – it seems – chose to fire on our Tactical Unit.

I have said before that if you are confronted by our Tactical Firearms Officers, or Response Teams, it really would be best to lie down and place your hands out in front of you. If you fire on our Officers – or others – their rules of engagement mean they will return fire to save life; theirs or others. They are far better trained than you are, and they will prevail.

Every death is unfortunate. So I repeat the advice; this isn’t a movie or a video game – if you are confronted – drop to the floor – hands outstretched. You are young and you think yourself invincible – but you are not.

Beyond local Police bravery, and skill, I also have little doubt that the arrival of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and the US’s Customs and Border Protection Aircraft, along with Drugs Enforcement Agency, has had an immediate deterrent effect.

If it hasn’t, it should have. If the gangs have gone to ground, they will be found. If gang members have moved overseas, we have international partners – including the UK’s National Crime Agency and regional governments – who are solidly in support of helping us track them.  If our short term measures are being effective, I promise our long term measures have to be determinative.

The US maritime surveillance support has been operational for some days and nights, protecting our borders and UK Border Force experts arrive on Sunday. As you have heard from the Commissioner, Royal Bahamas Police Officers have been sworn in as local Constables.

I will leave it to the Commissioner, in his regular updates, to talk to operational deployments but I hope you feel reassured by their rapid arrival. That the Bahamas, TCI and the UK expedited the legal work and planning – at break-neck pace – so four days after the announcement to the House of Assembly, they had arrived, happened because all three parties were seized of the need. The day after the Bahamian Officers arrived, they were operational.

All I need to say now, is they’ve already made a difference. Some are directly inducted into our ‘Tactical Firearms Unit’, making one large joint Team. Some are deployed as Response Units. Their dogs, able to attack or to search, were active at the airport yesterday, supporting our Customs Officers search for guns and drugs.

I, the Premier and Commissioner, and the people of the TCI, are extremely grateful for what can only be described as very generous support from our steadfast neighbour.  Bahamas, you have been your brother’s keeper.

Jamaica’s kind offer is on the table and our Commissioner, and theirs, are involved in detailed discussions today. Miami Dade Police have made similar offers.

With that immediate support in place – which is appropriate and proportionate to our immediate needs – I want to now say something about the next phases of support, and also the longer term.

We have now shown that this situation can be ‘policed’, by Police Officers (our own supported by Bahamas) and so I do not want to put British Troops onto the ‘so called’ streets. I have done this myself, albeit many decades ago, and while it is immediately popular, that popularity quickly wains. Soldiers are not trained to Police. It is why I have purposefully held back the local Regiment. Police are trained across a wide-spectrum of skill, and that includes mounting intelligence led arrest operations against gangsters. We need the right tool for the right problem.

The situation may of course change, and if it did my position would change. You will have heard the Commissioner say the situation is constantly under review and you can take it that the Commissioner, Premier and myself all judge we presently have what we need.

As a result we have requested precise UK military support. A Royal Fleet Auxiliary is making headway towards us and will bring her Wildcat Helicopter. The UK Foreign Office is paying and this airframe provides outstanding day and night surveillance providing top cover for Policing Operations and the ability to track fast boats. This is a strategic offer that the military can provide.

Separately we have had the UK’s National Crime Agency arrive. They have worked with our Intelligence Branch helping further draw together the information we have on the gangs, developed from the new intelligence unit that recently became active supported by UK specialist trainers.

The National Crime Agency have a regional and global reach, are extremely well connected to US agencies and other Caribbean Governments so given that we are, unfortunately, now involved in a trans-regional, drug-driven, anti-gang operation, their support will be invaluable.

They, for instance, have been highly instrumental in advising us in terms of the one strategic asset that is vital for any trans-national and local operation against the drug and gun crime ‘industry’ – ‘lawful intercept’. That, Judge authorised capability, will come on line once transparent, world class legislation is passed.

Given the Bahamas deployment, the Commissioner’s judgement is that we don’t immediately need more Tactical Firearms officers on the Island, to reinforce our own, beyond the ones we presently have. The Bahamas have sent sufficient and are the Force best placed – because of proximity, regional and cultural understanding – to immediately help.

However, following the Premier’s and my request, UK policing are finalising a contingency plan for additional specialist Firearms police support to deploy forward if we need them.

It’s good strategy to not deploy all your available force, but have a reserve, and that’s what we presently have. Such Officers would also deploy if, for instance, we were to be hit by another Hurricane this season and if that were the case I would not want all our Policing ‘eggs’, deployed forward, in one basket.

The FCDO are also preparing and funding a further deployment of detectives, firearms trainers and other specialists to support our local police. In addition, the deployment of 24 UK-funded detectives, with integrated leadership, that will fall under local command, continues at pace.  The first leadership elements of this will arrive very soon.

While armed officers provide the ability to supress and arrest, it is this team of detectives that should provide the heart of any anti-gang operation.

Couple this with: a) intelligence now being provided through sources on the ground; b) future intelligence provided by those monitoring telecommunications; c) intelligence collected from the aerial surveillance platform the UK are procuring, and; d) wash all this against intelligence provided across the region; and we will have built a Policing machine that can outmatch any gang.  TCI will not be the safe haven gangsters thought it was.

Crime sits within of course a much wider societal picture and relying on the Police to continually supress and arrest is no proper national strategy.  If no other factor was taken into account, a projected 10 times growth in population – between 1980 and 2040 – in less than one lifetime – giving us one of the fastest growing populations in the Caribbean – was always going to bring very significant challenges.

That’s before we take into account: our proximity to increasingly unstable neighbours, a region awash with guns and drugs where every Caribbean Island faces challenges, and where criminals seemingly are able to move easily throughout the region.

But beyond our geography and region there are problems we must ‘own’, that we can do something about. I believe the present Government is tackling these head on.  How to regularise irregular shanty settlements; how to provide for a more equitable society; how to generate sustainable long term growth; how to make early interventions in our schools; how – through the Population and Status Commission – to both ensure our future immigration policy is rock-solidly fit for purpose, while also working out how we manage the issue of those who have lived, and will live their lives here, but cannot properly assimilate.

There is much more than that but the good news is, that this has all started.  The National Security Secretariat provides for coherence across Government and their Permanent Secretary will give some insight into the work they are doing, on behalf of the Government, in coming weeks.

Finally I want to say this. Just at the moment I could not be more proud to be your Governor. From my first day I knew I could never be ‘you’, but I did promise I would do my best to support ‘you’ and commit to ‘you’.

Much of what I normally say is about the extraordinary talent and potential we have in these Islands. Much of what I have just said is about external support. Just at the moment you deserve every bit of external support you have received, and you will receive, because you have been steadfast and resilient during five years of extraordinary pressure.

As a small Island community you defy the laws of gravity. Normally a disaster knocks such a community backwards to the point it can never quite get back to where it was. Not you.

In five years you have absorbed three hurricanes, two at Category 5 and one, a few weeks ago, at Category 3. We absorbed a global pandemic that stretched the Territories health system, a system totally unprepared set against our economy that was and is completely reliant on international travel.

We are presently absorbing an upswing in gang related murder that is alien to TCI but almost endemic to the region, at levels that almost no UK Police Force could tackle alone, and which has brought the problems of the region, in terms of drugs, gangs and guns, to our literal doorstep.

But look where we are and where we will be.

It was very hard for many in TCI, but there is almost no other nation who came out of the pandemic stronger than they went into it, or who dealt with it in the systematic and consistent way we did. No debt, visitor numbers up, globally high vaccination rates, brand enhanced, Tourist industry describing us as the best in the world.

God indeed saved us from the worst of Hurricane FIONA; yet seasoned veterans of Hurricanes had to notice how much better the Territories response was, and also how quickly we could bring in phased, outside support. That wasn’t accidental but because lessons had been applied, local capability in say the Regiment built, and Government command and control had practiced over and over again.

We know how to manage and learn from crisis and we will do the same on crime. Crisis properly illuminates issues that cannot be ignored not just by us but by others. Three weeks ago, while we had great support from OPBAT on our borders, we were in this fight against crime broadly alone with very useful UK support.

Now we are very clearly in a fight but with a full range of partners, helping us, because they really do know that in this interconnected region we are all in this together. We are not recipients of charity, we are working with partners that know we are stronger together.

The UK support now flowing in – some of it long planned but now being realised: a big detective effort; access to intelligence; maritime surveillance support and the UK’s equivalent of the FBI – the National Crime Agency – thoroughly engaged – does change the game.

And that is before we tip our hat to our friends in the Bahamas who are literally shoulder-to shoulder with our brave Tactical and Response officers, to Jamaica who stands ready, particularly in terms of intelligence, and to multiple US agencies, some who are here right here, right now, defending our borders.

The greatest crime would be to not seize the opportunity this crisis presents. The Premier and I can assure you, we do not intend to miss that. As the pandemic hit us, as the Hurricanes hit us, we will emerge stronger, because that is in the nature of these resilient by nature, Turks and Caicos Islands, and their indomitable residents, of which I am proud to be just one.

Our Local Land Charges (LLC) delivery is going from strength to strength. Today, Wednesday 12 October, Knowsley becomes the 50th local authority to join the national LLC Register, giving citizens and businesses instant access to LLC search results.

• Knowsley is the 50th local authority to join the service. Anyone requiring LLC searches in the Knowsley Council area will now need to obtain them from HM Land Registry or a search provider rather than going directly to the council.
• Through continuous improvement we have dramatically increased the pace of local authority data transfer to the register, with 38 of the 50 local authority data migrations occurring since April 2021.
• The register now holds over 2.5 million charges, allowing nearly 366,000 automated searches to be conducted. Customers are getting results on average nine days faster which amounts to a total reduction in waiting time of more than 2,000 years. Buyers of official searches have saved more than £860,000 and have the added benefit of a state-backed guarantee.

Gathering pace and meeting ambitions

We have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from digitising, transforming, and transferring local authority data to the register. This learning has ramped up our delivery capacity, with 38 of the 50 local authority data migrations taking place in the past 19 months. As we continue to refine our processes and apply lessons learned from each migration, this rate of migration will only increase.

By 2023, a third of local authority areas will have joined the service, rising to two thirds the following year. When the project is complete, property buyers, developers, innovators, and policymakers will receive the same level of access, irrespective of their postcode.

Mark Kelso, LLC Programme Director, said:

I am delighted that people buying property in Knowsley will now have 24/7 instant access to digital LLC search results. This is the 50th local authority to join the service and demonstrates how we are accelerating our delivery pace. This is a credit to the team at Knowsley and the investment in our delivery teams and partners.

We continue to collaborate with local authorities across England and Wales to ensure property buyers can obtain the information they need quickly, making the conveyancing process simpler and faster for everyone. As the register continues to grow, more and more people will benefit from this modern service.

A little about Knowsley

The Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council area borders the City of Liverpool to the west, Sefton to the north-west and St Helens to the east. Knowsley’s 150,000 residential population now have instant access to high quality, standardised, digital LLC data.

Knowsley is home to Knowsley Safari – the UK’s number one Safari Park according to Trip Advisor. Once a former RAF airfield, the 550-acre space is now home to more than 700 animals. The park attracts more than 600,000 visitors a year.

Maximising local benefits

An ambitious homes delivery programme is already well underway in Knowsley. 37 housing developments are currently under construction with an expected 10,000 new properties to be built by 2028. LLC data will feed into these vital development and investment decisions and support more than 3,700 businesses based in the region.

Knowsley is the second local authority in its regional cluster to join the register alongside Liverpool. This presents an exciting opportunity for LLC data to be used between authorities to support local economic investments.

LLC data feeds into more than just development and investment decisions. Knowsley is home St Mary’s Church and a wealth of other listed buildings dating back to the 1700s in Vicarage Place. Accessible LLC data helps protect this local heritage.

Successful collaboration

Vicky Tupou, LLC Delivery Manager for Knowsley, said:

Knowsley were a fantastic, upbeat, and enthusiastic LLC team especially given they were completing much of the work at the weekends or evenings. Almost 25,000 records were digitised and transformed.

Being home to two big premiership teams you can imagine football was a hot topic in our weekly meetings. It was a pleasure working with Knowsley and we look forward to supporting and collaborating with other authorities to deliver the register.

James Duncan, Knowsley Council’s Executive Director for Resources, said:

I’m delighted to be supporting the delivery of a national register by HM Land Registry for local land charge searches that meets the needs of everyone, particularly those whose preferred method of working is online. The new service is quick and easy to use. The Council will continue to provide its own service for CON29R requests to customers in the usual way.

HM Land Registry is working in partnership with local authorities across England and Wales to migrate their local land charges data to a central, digital register. Once migrated, anyone will be able to get instant online search results via GOV.UK using the Search for Local Land Charges service.

Business customers can use their existing portal and Business Gateway channels or their usual search providers to access local land charges data for those local authorities which have migrated.

Customers will need to continue to submit CON29 enquiries to their local authority.

For more information, read about the Local Land Charges Programme.