Overview
South Africa will preside over the Security Council in January. President Jacob Zuma is expected to preside over a high-level debate on the strategic partnership between the UN and the AU in the area of the maintenance of peace and security. The Secretary-General is likely to brief on his report on this matter expected to be published in early January.
An open debate is planned on justice and the rule of law, with a possible Arria formula meeting preceding it.
An open debate on the Middle East is also expected.
Several other briefings are planned on:
- the Middle East, most likely by Special Coordinator Robert Serry;
- Libya, by Special Representative Ian Martin, to be followed by consultations;
- Yemen, by Special Adviser Jamal Benomar (in consultations);
- Iraq and progress towards ratification of the Additional Protocol to the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, by the Office for Disarmament Affairs, and on compliance with making required deposits to the compensation fund established under resolution 687 (1991) and the post-Development Fund for Iraq mechanism, most likely by the UN Controller, Maria Eugenia Casar, to be followed by consultations;
- the AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), probably by the Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari, to be followed by consultations;
- the UN Office in West Africa (UNOWA), by Special Representative Said Djinnit, to be followed by consultations;
- the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), by Special Representative Bert Koenders, to be followed by consultations;
- children and armed conflict, by Special Representative Radhika Coomaraswami (in consultations);
- justice and the rule of law, possibly by the Secretary-General; and
- issues of current concern, as part of the monthly horizon scanning practice (in consultations), by the head of the Department of Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe.
Consultations may also be scheduled to review the force level of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
In January, the Council will select two of its elected members to be part of the Organisational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission for a one-year term and is expected to announce the bureaux of its subsidiary bodies for the year 2012.
