Overview
Russia has the Security Council presidency in September. It plans to have two ministerial-level debates during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly in late September. The first will be on cooperation between the UN and Regional Organisations, with a focus on the role of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The other debate will be on peace and security in Africa. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to preside, and the Secretary-General may brief, at both debates.
The Council is also expected to have its comprehensive annual briefing on the reform of UN peacekeeping from Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, followed by a debate.
Another debate scheduled for September is for the quarterly meeting on Afghanistan. The briefers are expected to be Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani (Indonesia), as chair of the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee, and representatives of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the UN Counter-Terrorism Office. The Council will also need to renew the mandate of UNAMA, which expires on 17 September.
An adoption is also anticipated to renew the mandate of UNSMIL in Libya, which expires on 15 September. Ahead of the adoption, briefings by the Special Representative and head of UNSMIL, Ghassan Salamé, and the chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany Ambassador Jürgen Schulz, are anticipated. Other African issues this month include briefings and consultations on the missions in Guinea-Bissau and South Sudan.
A review of the mandate of the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL is also anticipated in September.
Other Middle East issues that will be considered in September include:
- Middle East (Israel/Palestine), the regular briefing and consultations;
- Syria, the monthly briefings on the humanitarian situation, the political process and the use of chemical weapons; and
- Yemen, the monthly briefing on implementation of resolutions 2451 and 2452.
Regarding Latin America, the Council is expected to renew the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia before it expires on 25 September.
The Council will also be watching developments in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran and Myanmar.
