Thank you, Chair.

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Serbia*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.

The need to eliminate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, is something that unites all Member States of the United Nations.

No country or region is free from these related phenomena, so we all have an obligation to eliminate them. The EU remains fully committed to this work.

We can all agree that racism in all its forms must be tackled in a comprehensive way by taking effective measures at the national, regional and international level.

And we can all agree on the need to ratify and implement the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which is the universal foundation for efforts to prevent, combat and eradicate racism.

This is the common ground on which the European Union seeks to build a shared sense of understanding, which is central to our work together.

Furthermore, the EU remains firmly committed to the primary objectives and commitments undertaken at the 2001 Durban World Conference, to combat and eradicate all manifestations of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance.

The EU therefore acknowledges the role of Uganda in presenting this resolution, and of South Africa in facilitating the discussions on the text.

It is a fact that the Member States of the European Union have a number of longstanding concerns regarding elements of language and references within the text, which do not fully reflect the consensus across the wider UN membership.

We still wish to see greater synergies between the various UN mechanisms to combat racism, to achieve better management of resources without budgetary implications.

This is why, the Member States of the EU are unable to support the resolution. But we remain committed to working together to reach consensus.

To this end, we will engage constructively on key elements, such as the Second International Decade for People of African Descent, and support the work of the Core Group to reach a good outcome on that.

Thank you.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.