As from 1 December, Spain takes on the Rotating Presidency, for the second time in the two-year period 2015-2016, of the United Nations Security Council (SC), which it will hold until 31 December.

These two years as a member of the maximum executive body of the universal organisation have served to renew our country’s commitment to multilateralism, based on the conviction that the challenges we face today call for concerted global action. The Spanish Presidency will be focused on action and on achieving specific goals.

During the course of this month of December, Spain will seek to push through, from the Presidency of the Security Council, an ambitious and broad work programme that includes three initiatives, the main theme being the fight against terrorism, albeit tackled from different angles: judicial cooperation, non-proliferation and the fight against people trafficking. In all of these initiatives, we will endeavour to approve reference texts for the international community.

As regards judicial cooperation in the fight against terrorism, we will try to take one more step in the task that Spain has been undertaking over these last two years, with acknowledged success, such as giving a voice to the victims of terrorism at the Security Council for the first time. The Minister for Justice, Rafael Catalá, will chair a high-level debate on judicial cooperation on 12 December, taking the documents approved in July 2015 at the meeting in Madrid on foreign terrorist fighters and the 2010 Guide for international judicial cooperation of the Counter-Terrorism Committee as the basis for this.

An open debate will be held on the issue of non-proliferation on 15 December, chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Alfonso Dastis. We will tackle the revision of the current United Nations system of non-proliferation with the aim of adapting it to new challenges, particularly to the risk of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorist groups.

Finally, on 20 December, we will organise a high-level open meeting on the fight against people trafficking in situations of conflict from its different perspectives, in particular that perpetrated by terrorist groups, which use this phenomenon in a systematic manner, including resorting to sexual violence against women and girls.

During its Presidency, Spain will continue to look for a solution to the conflict in Syria and to improving assistance for the population in our role as the co-rapporteur of the humanitarian dossier in that country.

Spain has also scheduled, among other things, to renew the mandate of UNSMIL in Libya and to hold consultations on the Middle East.

Spain will exercise its SC Presidency in the most transparent manner possible and with a constructive spirit to help foster international peace and security.