Overview

Lithuania, Council president in May, is planning two open debates: a ministerial-level open debate on the protection of journalists, with the country’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius presiding and with the UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson among the briefers; and an open debate on small arms, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein expected as briefers. Both debates are likely to have resolutions as outcomes.

Debates are planned on:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a briefing by High Representative Valentin Inzko; and
• Kosovo, with a briefing by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, Farid Zarif. 

Briefings are expected on:

• foreign terrorist fighters, at the level of interior or justice ministers, with briefings by Eliasson, Secretary General of INTERPOL Jürgen Stock, the chair of the Counter Terrorism Committee, Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaitė (Lithuania), and the chair of the 1267/Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee (New Zealand);
• the work of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) and the implementation of the UN regional strategy to combat the Lord’s Resistance Army by UNOCA’s head, Abdoulaye Bathily; and
• ICC cases in Libya, by Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Briefings, followed by consultations, are expected on:

• the situation in Liberia by Karin Landgren, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Mission in Liberia;
• the latest Secretary-General’s report on the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and the mission’s head, Ján Kubiš;
• the situation in South Sudan, by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and the head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Ellen Margrethe Løj;
• the work of the 2206 South Sudan Sanctions Committee by its chair, Ambassador Cristián Barros (Chile);
• the humanitarian situation in Syria by the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Valerie Amos;
• the situation in Somalia, by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), Nicholas Kay (likely by video teleconference); and
• the situation in the Middle East, by Special Coordinator Nikolay Mladenov. 

Briefings in consultations are likely on:

• Yemen, by representatives of the Department of Political Affairs and OCHA;
• the Secretary-General’s report on the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei, most likely by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet;
• the chemical weapons track in Syria, by High Representative for Disarmament Angela Kane;
• the work of the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee, by its chair, Ambassador Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela); and
• the work of the 1718 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Sanctions Committee, by its chair, Ambassador Román Oyarzun (Spain). 

Formal sessions will be needed to adopt resolutions to renew the mandates of UNSOM and UNMISS.

A meeting with members of the Political and Security Committee of the EU is also planned for May.

Throughout the month members will be following closely developments in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Ukraine, Yemen, the Boko Haram-affected areas of Africa and the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, and additional meetings may be scheduled.