Overview
Spain will hold the Council’s presidency in October. Three open debates are planned. The open debate on women, peace and security will be presided over by the country’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and two civil society representatives expected to brief. The annual open debate on the Council’s working methods is planned in October, and President of the General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft is invited to brief. There will also be the quarterly open debate on the Middle East, with Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman briefing.
The Council will hold a debate on Haiti preceded by a briefing by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Sandra Honoré.
Briefings, followed by consultations, are expected on:
- developments in Mali and the latest Secretary-General’s report on the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), by the mission’s head, Mongi Hamdi;
- developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the latest report on the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) by its head, Martin Kobler, and Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region Said Djinnit;
- the Secretary-General’s report on the support package to the Somali National Army and the strategic review of the UN Support Office for the AU Mission in Somalia by the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Atul Khare;
- the situation in Yemen, by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed;
- the Secretary-General’s quarterly report on the AU/UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet;
- the work of the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee, by its chair, Ambassador Raimonda MurkmokaitÄ— (Lithuania); and
- the humanitarian situation in Syria, by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien.
Briefings in consultations are planned on:
- the latest Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of resolution 1559 on Lebanon, by Special Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen;
- two recent reports of the 1267/1989 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee’s Monitoring Team: on the financing of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and the Al-Nusra Front in Iraq and Syria and on the terrorism threat in Libya, from the 1267/1989 Sanctions Committee chair, Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen (New Zealand); and
- the latest Secretary-General’s report on chemical weapons in Syria, by Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo.
Formal sessions will be held to adopt resolutions to:
- renew the Somalia-Eritrea sanctions;
- extend the mandate of MINUSTAH; and
- adopt the Council’s annual report to the General Assembly.
Throughout the month, members will be following closely developments in Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Ukraine, and additional meetings may be scheduled.
General Assembly is scheduled to elect five non-permanent Security Council members on 15 October.