Thank you Mr President. Let me begin by thanking the Secretary General and Mr Stanislav Zas for their briefing on the cooperation between the UN and the CSTO.
Mr President, the United Kingdom followed the violent clashes in Kazakhstan in early January with deep concern. We condemn the acts of violence seen and greatly regret the loss of life. There is much that we still do not know about these events, but we note that President Tokayev has set up an investigative commission to establish the causes of the violence. It is important that the investigation process is conducted urgently, transparently and effectively.
We note that a CSTO force was deployed to Kazakhstan at the invitation of the Kazakh government to stabilise the unrest. We were clear at the time that such deployments should be proportionate in any use of force, and that Kazakhstan's sovereignty must be respected.
Sovereignty and territorial integrity are at the heart of the UN Charter, and essential to the work of this Council.
Mr President, we welcome regional partnerships in peacekeeping where those partners share the values and principles of the UN Charter. We emphasise the importance of UN primacy in UN-funded and UN-mandated missions, and we again stress the importance of respect for human rights and gender equality during operations in response to security threats. It is also vital that the UN's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy is applied, wherever the UN is working with external actors.
Finally Mr President, we would like to underline the importance of the rule of law as a key component of institutional cooperation, consistent with the UN Charter.
Thank you.
