Overview
Argentina will hold the presidency of the Council in October.
On 16 October the General Assembly will hold elections to fill five seats on the Security Council. Angola, Malaysia and Venezuela are running on clean slates, while New Zealand, Spain and Turkey are competing for two seats.
In the Security Council, the annual open debate on Council working methods focused on implementation of recent presidential notes, with briefings by the Ombudsperson Kimberly Prost of the 1267/1989 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is planned. An open debate on women, peace and security will assess challenges facing women refugees and IDPs. The Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Refugees are possible briefers together with the head of UN Women and a civil society representative. The quarterly open debate on Israel/Palestine is also scheduled with a briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.
A briefing on peacekeeping operations by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hervé Ladsous and UN force commanders from MONUSCO in the DRC, MINUSMA in Mali and UNDOF in the Golan Heights is planned.
Briefings, followed by consultations, are expected on:
- developments in Mali, by Special Representative and head of MINUSMA Albert Koenders;
- developments in Somalia by Special Representative Nicholas Kay;
- the UN Mission in South Sudan, by its head and Special Representative Ellen Løj;
- Somalia piracy by Feltman;
- developments in the DRC, by MONUSCO head Martin Kobler and Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region Said Djinnit, on efforts to implement the PSC Framework;
- the work of the 1572 Côte d’Ivoire Sanctions Committee by its chair, Ambassador Cristian Barros (Chile); and
- humanitarian access in Syria by Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-wha Kang.
Briefings in consultations are likely on:
- the peace agreement and security situation in Yemen by Special Advisor Jamal Benomar;
- destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons by Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag;
- the work of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet;
- implementation of resolution 1559 concerning Lebanon by Special Envoy Terje Rød-Larsen;
- steps necessary to maintain UNDOF’s ability to carry out its mandate by DPKO; and
- Western Sahara, by Special Envoy Christopher Ross and possibly Special Representative and head of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, Kim Bolduc.
President of the International Court of Justice Peter Tomka will brief on the Court’s activities in a private meeting.
Formal sessions will be needed to adopt resolutions renewing the mandates of UNISFA, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, AMISOM and the 751/1907 Somalia-Eritrea Sanctions Monitoring Group and to adopt the introduction to the annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly.
A public wrap-up session is scheduled for the end of the month.
Throughout the month members will be following closely events in the Central African Republic, Libya and Ukraine and further meetings may be required.
