Overview
New Zealand will hold the Council’s presidency in July and is planning an open debate on the peace and security challenges facing small island developing states, to be presided over by its Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the prime ministers of Samoa and Jamaica and the finance minister of the Seychelles expected as briefers. There will also be the quarterly open debate on Israel/Palestine, with Foreign Minister McCully presiding and a briefing by Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov.
Briefings are expected:
- on Bosnia and Herzegovina, marking the 20th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica and other locations in the region, by Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein; and
- possibly also on the Secretary-General’s most recent report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
Briefings, followed by consultations, are expected on:
- the situation in Burundi, by High Commissioner Al Hussein and Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman;
- Libya by the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, Bernardino León, and by Ambassador Ramlan Ibrahim (Malaysia) on the work of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee (postponed from June);
- the work of the UN Office for West Africa by its head, Mohammed Ibn Chambas;
- the work of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) by its head, Nicholas Kay;
- Democratic Republic of the Congo by Martin Kobler, head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC, and by Ambassador Dina Kawar (Jordan) on the work of the 1533 DRC Sanctions Committee;
- humanitarian developments in Syria, by OCHA’s head, Stephen O’Brien;
- the political track in Syria, by Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura; and
- Iraq by Jan Kubiš, head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
Briefings in consultations are planned on:
- chemical weapons in Syria, by High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo;
- the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) by its head, Haile Tilahun Gebremariam;
- the implementation of resolution 2046 on Sudan/South Sudan issues by Special Envoy Haile Menkerios;
- the implementation of resolution 1701 regarding Lebanon, by Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet;
- the situation in Cyprus, by Lisa Buttenheim , head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), and Espen Barth Eide, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus; and
- the work of the 751/1907 Somalia/Eritrea Sanctions Committee by its chair, Ambassador Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela).
Formal sessions will be needed to adopt resolutions to renew the mandates of:
Throughout the month members will be following developments in South Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen, the Boko Haram-affected areas of Africa and the migrant crisis, and additional meetings may be scheduled. The Council may also begin discussions of the reports by the panels reviewing UN peace operations and UN peacebuilding.
