Overview
Portugal will hold the presidency of the Security Council in November. Several debates and briefings will be held.
President Aníbal Cavaco Silva of Portugal is expected to chair the open debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay and ICRC Director for International Law and Cooperation Philip Spoerri are the invited speakers for this open debate.
Portugal’s Foreign Minister Paulo Portas will most likely preside over the debate on Timor-Leste, which will also include the participation of either the President or Prime Minister of Timor-Leste. Special Representative and the head of the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), Ameerah Haq, will also brief.
Portas will also likely preside over the briefing on new challenges to peace and security, to which the Secretary-General, the Executive Director of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, the High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres and the Director General of the World Health Organisation, Margaret Chan, have been invited as speakers
There will also be an open debate on Council working methods.
Debates are furthermore expected on:
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a briefing by High Representative Valentin Inzko; and
- Kosovo, with a briefing by Special Representative Farid Zarif.
There will be several other briefings in November:
- on Libya, by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo;
- on Guinea-Bissau, most likely by the head of the UN office there, UNIOGBIS, Joseph Mutaboba, and by the chair of the PBC country-specific configuration on Guinea-Bissau, Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil, to be followed by consultations;
- on the situation in the DRC, by the head of MONUSCO, the UN operation there, Special Representative Roger Meece and Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström, to be followed by consultations;
- on the work of the three counter-terrorism committees, Ambassador Peter Wittig of Germany (1267 Committee), Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri of India (the CTC) and Ambassador Baso Sangqu of South Africa (1540 Committee);
- on the threats posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army and the work of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), by Special Representative Abou Moussa and Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Taye-Brook Zerihoun;
- on the Middle East, by the DPA, to be followed by consultations;
- on Libya, by Special Representative Ian Martin, to be followed by consultations; and
- on the UN operation in South Sudan, UNMISS, by Under-Secretary-General Hervé Ladsous, or Special Representative Hilde Johnson, or possibly both, to be followed by consultations.
Briefings in consultations are expected on:
- Yemen, by Special Advisor Jamal Benomar;
- DRC sanctions, by the chair of the sanctions committee, Ambassador Maria Luiza Viotti of Brazil;
- Somalia/Eritrea sanctions, by the chair of the Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri of India;
- DPRK sanctions, by the chair of the Sanctions Committee, Ambassador José Filipe Moraes Cabral of Portugal;
- Lebanon, on the implementation of resolution 1701, by the DPA; and
- issues of concern, by the head of DPA, B. Lynn Pascoe.
Council members are also likely to hold their periodic consultations with the head of the Department for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous and the deputy head of the Department for Field Support, Anthony Banbury, to discuss a range of peacekeeping-related issues.
Formal sessions will be needed to adopt resolutions on:
- the authorisation of EUFOR, the European force in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- the renewal of the DRC sanctions and the mandate of its panel of experts;
- the renewal of anti-piracy measures in Somalia; and
- possibly additional sanctions against Eritrea.
The Council President, José Filipe Moraes Cabral, will introduce the annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly in November.
The Council will elect in November (concurrently with the GA) five judges of the International Court of Justice.
The annual workshop with the five newly elected Council members (Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo), organised by the mission of Finland, is also expected in November.
