President,

I would like to thank Under-Secretary-General Voronkov, Acting Executive Director Chen and Martin Ewi for their informative briefings.

We remain indebted to the UN Sanctions Monitoring Team, UNOCT and CTED for their important work in analysing the ever-changing terrorist threat.

We heard today how Daesh continues to pose a significant threat to global stability. Counter-terrorism pressure has constrained the group over the last few years, but gains are vulnerable and uneven, with the group still able to expand in sub-Saharan Africa in particular, as Mr Ewi has outlined today.

Recent events in Afghanistan have demonstrated the very real security challenges we face. Daesh Khorasan continue to target innocent Afghans, particularly minority communities, while Al Qaeda has caused the suffering of thousands. We all have a shared interest in using every lever at our disposal to counter Al Qa’eda, Daesh and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

Despite its territorial defeat and recent successful operations against its leadership, Daesh remain a serious threat in Iraq and Syria, its strategic heartland. This demonstrates the continuing importance of the Global Coalition to Counter Daesh, and the need to work together to ensure Daesh’s lasting, global defeat. The UK hosts the Global Coalition’s Counter Daesh Communications Cell that is tackling Daesh’s propaganda and its destructive and hateful messages.

In the month we commemorated the 8th anniversary of Daesh’s crimes against the Yazidi community, the UK also underlines its support for UNITAD and international efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of Daesh violence.

President, we continue to support the fight against Daesh as it expands to new theatres.

As we heard today, Daesh’s African affiliates continue to grow and account for an ever-increasing proportion of Daesh-claimed violence. Interconnectivity between branches also represents a worrying trend and amplifies the threat they pose, including to neighbouring countries. Daesh is opportunistic and will continue to take advantage of pre-existing grievances, and target those most susceptible to joining their cause: the young, the marginalised, the disenfranchised.

Hard security interventions will therefore only take us so far. We must work to build resilience within communities, in partnership with civil society, against terrorist propaganda and other influencing efforts.

And finally, when countering terrorism, we must all ensure that we protect and promote human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law through a gender sensitive approach if our collective efforts are to be truly effective.

Thank you.

Applications for a Chevening Scholarship to study in the UK are open between 2 August and 1 November 2022, with applications to be submitted online via https://www.chevening.org/venezuela.

Chevening Scholarships are awarded to individuals from all backgrounds who can demonstrate that they have the commitment and skills required to create positive changes in their communities, and can show how a UK master’s degree will help them achieve their professional goals in strategic areas for their home country.

The scholarship offers full financial support for scholars to study an eligible master’s degree at any UK university, whilst also gaining access to a wide range of exclusive academic, professional, and cultural experiences.

Since the programme was created in 1983, Chevening has provided over 50,000 professionals with the opportunity to thrive academically in the UK. There are more than 1,500 scholarships on offer globally for the 2023/2024 academic year, demonstrating the UK’s ongoing commitment to international development and to the next generations of leaders that can tackle the main global challenges.

In the case of Venezuela, since 1983 over 450 scholarships have been awarded to professionals in the country. For the 2021/2022 academic year, a group of nine Venezuelans were selected to study a fully funded master’s degree in the UK through a Chevening scholarship, in diverse areas such as microbiology, women’s health, public policy, social development, sustainable architecture, leadership and innovation.

For the 2022/2023 period, the priority areas of the British Embassy in Caracas include human rights (encompassing freedom of expression, gender equality and democratic governance), humanitarian affairs, anti-corruption, sustainable development and climate change.

The Chargée d’Affaires a.i. of the British Embassy in Caracas, Becks Buckingham, said:

Chevening scholarships are one of the main cooperation programmes of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It uses the academic quality of British universities to train talented individuals in strategic areas for the development of their home countries.

We are looking for candidates that not only have an excellent academic background, but who also possess the potential and the willingness to achieve positive changes and become leaders in their respective areas of expertise. Since I arrived in Venezuela, I have been able to meet tens of Chevening alumni, who are working in diverse areas such as climate change, human rights and the prevention of infectious diseases. All of them have amazed me with their discipline, intelligence, creativity and commitment to Venezuela.

Visit chevening.org/venezuela for detailed information about the eligibility criteria, the conditions and the timeline to apply to the scholarships. You can also follow our social media channels Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for further information. Successful candidates have been sharing their experiences through the hashtags #ChosenForChevening and #CheveningVE.