February 2009 Monthly Forecast

Posted 29 January 2009
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Aide Memoire

Important matters pending for the Council include:

  • The 2005 World Summit requested that the Security Council consider reforms for the Military Staff Committee. This has yet to be addressed.
  • In a presidential statement on Darfur in July 2008 (S/PRST/2008/27) the Council welcomed the UN investigation underway into the 8 July attack against UNAMID peacekeepers. The council is still awaiting the results of this investigation.
  • There was no monthly report from the Kosovo Force (KFOR) in November. These reports, which are submitted every month have a significant time-lag. The last one available covers the period 1-31 July 2008.
  • In resolution 1327 on the implementation of the report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (the Brahimi Report, S/2000/809), the Council decided to review periodically the implementation of the provisions contained in the resolution’s annex. While no such reviews have occurred in the past four years, in January the Council embarked on an initiative which during the next several months will look at ways of improving Council’s handling of peacekeeping issues.
  • The quarterly reports of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan are now routinely outdated when released. (The last report, released in December, covered the period 1 May-31 July 2008.) The next report covering the period 1 August-30 October 2008 is yet to be released.
  • Similarly, UNAMl reports on human rights, which in the past were produced every two to three months, are now usually delayed by several months and are therefore quite outdated. (The last report, released in December, covered the period from 1 January-30 June 2008.)
  • The Council requested the Secretary-General on 21 November 2006 (S/2006/928) to update the index to Council notes and statements on working methods. This has not been published.
  • On Western Sahara, in April 2008 the Council in resolution 1813 called upon the parties to continue negotiations. But there have been no further talks, nor any briefings to the Council on the situation.
  • On the DRC, the Council sanctions committee has not acted on individual sanctions under resolutions 1698 and 1807 against armed groups that recruit children and or commit “serious violations of international law involving the targeting of children or women in situations of armed conflict, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction and forced displacement,” respectively, despite MONUC reports about the problem continuing on a serious scale.
  • The Secretary-General has yet to put forward proposals for the delineation of the international borders of Lebanon, especially in the Sheb’a Farms area, in accordance with resolution 1701, and respond to the cartographic, legal and political implications of the alternative path suggested by the Government of Lebanon in its seven-point plan.
  • The Council has yet to address the latest report of the Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team, which was issued on 25 August 2008 (S/2008/582).
  • The Council is awaiting the Peacebuilding Commission’s response to its May request for advice and recommendations on the situation in the Central African Republic (S/2008/383).
  • The Secretariat is yet to report to the Council on Kenya as requested in the 6 February presidential statement (S/PRST/2008/4).

Full forecast

 

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