Overview
Russia holds the presidency of the Council in December, a month during which typically there are a record number of mandate renewals and scheduled briefings. Combined with the usual desire to wrap up the Council’s work before Christmas, December promises to be a very busy month.
Debates will be held on the international criminal tribunals for Rwanda (ICTR) and the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as well as on Afghanistan. The tribunals’ debate is likely to be preceded by briefings of the respective tribunals’ presidents and chief prosecutors. The debate on Afghanistan is likely to feature a briefing by UNAMA’s head, Staffan de Mistura.
Several other briefings are expected on:
- Libya, by Special Representative Ian Martin, to be followed by consultations;
- the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), by Special Representative Martin Kobler, to be followed by consultations;
- the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), most likely by Hervé Ladsous, the head of DPKO;
- the experience chairing Council subsidiary bodies, by the outgoing ambassadors: Ivan Barbalić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), chair of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions; Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti (Brazil), chair of the DRC and Côte d’Ivoire sanctions committees; Noel Nelson Messone (Gabon), chair of the 1636 Committee (related to the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others); Nawaf Salam (Lebanon), chair of the Liberia sanctions committee; and U. Joy Ogwu (Nigeria), chair of the 1518 Committee (on Iraq) and of the Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations;
- Burundi, by the chief of the UN Office in Burundi (BNUB), Karin Lundgren, and the chair of the PBC country specific configuration, Ambassador Paul Seger (Switzerland), to be followed by consultations;
- Iran sanctions, by the sanctions committee chair, Ambassador Néstor Osorio (Colombia);
- the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA), by the Special Representative Margaret Vogt, to be followed by consultations;
- the Libya sanctions, by the sanctions committee chair, Ambassador José Filipe Moraes Cabral (Portugal); to be followed by consultations;
- the Middle East, by the head of DPA, B. Lynn Pascoe, to be followed by consultations;
- Sudan, by the ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, to be followed by a private meeting;
- Somalia, to be followed by consultations.
Briefings in consultations are expected to be held on:
- the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), by Special Representative Lisa Buttenheim;
- Liberia sanctions, by the sanctions committee chair, Ambassador Nawaf Salam (Lebanon);
- the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights, most likely by Edmond Mulet of DPKO.
- Sudan sanctions, by the sanctions committee chair, Ambassador Néstor Osorio (Colombia);
- Iraq-Kuwait missing persons and property, by the High-Level Coordinator Gennady Tarasov;
- the work of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) by its head, Miroslav Jenca; and
- most likely on issues of concern, by the head of DPA, B. Lynn Pascoe.
Formal sessions are expected to adopt resolutions on the:
- Renewal of the Liberia sanctions
- Renewal of the mandate of the operation in Libya (UNSMIL)
- Renewal of the operation in Cyprus (UNFICYP)
- Renewal of the mandate of the office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS)
- Renewal of the mandate of the operation in Abyei (UNISFA)
- Renewal of the mandate of the operation in the Golan Heights (UNDOF)
- Extension of terms of judges of the ICTR and possibly ICTY
- Renewal of the mandate of the office in Burundi (BNUB)
- Possibly sanctions on Eritrea
