Security Council Report – 2007 Annual Report

I. Organisational Overview
Security Council Report Inc. (SCR) was founded by the Governments of Canada and Norway and the MacArthur and Rockefeller foundations. It was incorporated as a non-profit organisation in 2004 and operates in affiliation with Columbia University, pursuant to an agreement between the parties.

Security Council Report began operations in mid 2005. Its first publication was issued in October 2005.

SCR was established to respond to a concern on the part of its founders that there was a lack of consistent, high quality, publicly-available information about the Council’s activities—and those of its subordinate bodies—and that this was a consistent barrier to the effective performance of the Council itself, as well as constituting a major handicap for the member states at large, and the wider public.

Security Council Report seeks to fill this gap with an independent professional capacity, supported by a first-rate research staff, to provide timely, accurate and objective information and analysis on the activities of the Security Council.

SCR publishes regular reports on the Council’s existing and prospective agenda in its Monthly Forecast, supplemented by ad hoc Update Reports on breaking news or developing events that affect the Council’s work. SCR also publishes Special Research Reports to provide analysis of practices and decision-making in the Council.

Security Council Report has a very strong online presence at www.securitycouncilreport.org. It has already become the preferred resource for practitioners, the NGO community, the media and the academic community. In addition to the publication of its reports on-line, they are available in hard copy as well.

SCR is independent. It does not take positions in its publications on the substance of resolutions before the Council. But it does bring to bear a searching and, at times critical eye on the information underpinning Council decisions.

Staff
At the close of the year under review SCR’s staff had expanded from seven to eight full-time staff members while the number of consultants (three) stayed the same. Staff members are geographically diverse and represented the following nationalities: Brazil, France, Ghana, Jamaica, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore and the USA. Staff members speak the following languages in addition to English: Arabic, French, Ga, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Polish, Spanish and Twi.

Board
A Board provides the governance structure for Security Council Report with representatives from each of the five principal donors and Columbia University.

There were no changes in Board membership in 2007. At the end of 2007 Board members were:

  • Jonathan Fanton (Chair), President of the the MacArthur Foundation
  • Lisa Anderson, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University;
  • Paul Brest, President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation;
  • Ambassador Johan Løvald, Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN;
  • Ambassador John McNee, Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN; and
  • Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation.

II. Products
Monthly Forecast
The Forecast is SCR’s principal product and 2007 was the second full year of publication. The Forecast is published monthly and is comprised of briefs on the issues on the Council’s agenda for the coming month.

Security Council Report published twelve Forecasts in 2007. Annex 1 lists the major active issues on the Security Council agenda which were addressed in each of these reports.

Update Reports
Update Reports are published electronically throughout the month to complement the Monthly Forecast. They are designed to alert readers to emerging issues or developing situations. Below is a complete list of the 39 Updates published in 2007.

  • January 2007: Security Council to Welcome New Secretary-General, Israel/Palestine, Nepal, Security Council Subsidiary Bodies, Peacebuilding Commission
  • February 2007: Security Sector Reform, Terrorism and WMDs: Resolutions 1540 and 1673
  • March 2007: Cross-Border Issues in West Africa, Uganda, The UN and Regional Organisations
  • April 2007: Côte d’Ivoire, Energy Security and Climate, Small Arms, Western Sahara, Liberia
  • May 2007: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Briefings by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Security Council and the Peacebuilding Commission
  • June 2007: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, Natural Resources and Conflict
  • July 2007: Côte d’Ivoire, Children and Armed Conflict, Kosovo
  • August 2007: Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa
  • September 2007: Sudan: North/South, Sudan/Darfur, Myanmar, Security Council Summit on Africa, Chad/Central African Republic
  • October 2007: Myanmar, Iraq, Lebanon
  • November 2007: UN and Regional Organisations, Uganda/LRA, Myanmar, Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict
  • December 2007: Iraq: MNF-I Renewal, Timor-Leste

Special Research Reports

Special Research Reports are published on an ad-hoc basis to provide an in-depth analysis of Council decisions, processes or practice. They are published electronically and in hard copy. SCR published four such reports in 2007. These are available on SCR’s website. The titles were:

Website 

All SCR publications are published electronically and archived on the website, www.securitycouncilreport.org. The website saw a significant increase in traffic, receiving 53,000 page views in December 2007. 3,800 readers subscribed to our email alerts, a 36 percent increase from 2006.

In 2007, SCR continued to make progress filling out the site’s content and increasing user-friendliness with:

  • a tool that runs throughout the website allowing users to navigate SCR publications by geographical or thematic grouping;
  • each thematic and country-specific issue having its own page which includes a complete list of all SCR publications on that specific topic; and
  • all country-specific pages having indexes to UN documents and chronology related to the issue.

III. International Advisory Group
In 2006 the Board of SCR appointed a group of fourteen eminent persons with in-depth, high-level knowledge of UN and Council issues to form an International Advisory Group. The Group, representing a range of issue-area expertise in addition to striking a regional and gender balance, meets annually to provide SCR with a structured high-level review of its publications and advice on its programmatic activities. The membership remained unchanged in 2007 although at the end of the year one member resigned due to his election as president of his country. (See Annex 2 for a membership list.)

The Group held its second meeting on 1 October 2007. The Group also heard feedback on SCR from Görel Bögarde of Save the Children,Security Council memberAmbassador Peter Burian of Slovakia, and UN Assistant Secretary-General of Political Affairs Angela Kane. The members of the Group gave strong support for SCR’s publications and encouraged plans for the development of a new series of cross-cutting reports to be launched in 2008. Members encouraged SCR to extend outreach activities the capitals of countries aspiring to election to the Security Council. They also encouraged SCR to be more proactive regarding media appearances.

IV. Outreach Activities
Outreach efforts have resulted in excellent name recognition within the New York UN community from the UN Secretary-General to UN ambassadors and the NGO and academic communities.SCR works with key stakeholders. These mainly take the form of briefings and addresses for groups, individuals, Council members, UN missions, the UN Secretariat, foreign policy institutes, NGOs, academic institutions and the media.

During the past year, SCR has focused on outreach to targets beyond New York.

Geneva 

SCR visits to Geneva were timed to coincide with sessions of the Human Rights Council in order to introduce SCR to government and NGO representatives from around the world. In the course of two trips (in December and in March/April) SCR activities included: a briefing for the humanitarian Interagency Standing Committee; a reception for the participants of the Fourth Session of the Human Rights Council; a briefing for the Human Security Network delegations; a training session for some 35 NGO representatives from around the world (sponsored by the International Service for Human Rights); and bilateral meetings with ambassadors, staff members of UN agencies and staff members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Outreach in Capitals

The Executive Director and the Director of Research promoted SCR in Beijing, Oslo, Warsaw and London. In addition, SCR staff participated in a Security Sector Reform conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

UN Missions

Security Council Report has briefed the incoming Council presidents each month and has also provided in-depth assistance to Council members. In addition, SCR has provided assistance to newly elected Council members for the 2008-2009 term; both directly with the missions and in the context of the annual workshop for incoming Council members in Tarrytown New York.

Security Council Report has aided UN Missions with information on issues ranging from Security Council working methods, integrated peacekeeping missions, human security and the Council’s subsidiary bodies.

SCR has made similar outreach efforts toward the member states at large. The Executive Director and members of the research staff have met with UN ambassadors members on reform of Council working methods, attended informal Council meetings, held feedback sessions with the five outgoing members of the Council and have provided briefings on the Security Council to visiting delegations requested by Australia, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, EU, Greece and Norway.

Staff members attended Arria-style meetings on security sector reform and the Council’s working methods.

UN Secretariat

The Executive Director spent a significant amount of time meeting with new senior officials in the Secretariat after the appointment of the new Secretary-General, including with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the Under Secretary-Generals. Staff members also participated as panelists in several UN-sponsored conferences on issues including responsibility to protect, human rights and humanitarian priorities.

International Organisations
SCR staff has also fostered informal working relationships with World Bank officials in the New York office and senior officials of the International Criminal Court.

Foreign Policy Institutes
SCR staff members regularly participated in meetings at the International Peace Academy and the International Crisis Group. The Executive Director, for the second year in a row, was invited to address a group of young diplomats and policy-makers, hosted by FES (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung), on issues related to the UN Security Council.

NGOs
Relationships with NGOs have continued to be strengthened in 2007. SCR continued hosting regular meetings with leading NGO advocates who follow Security Council affairs closely. In addition, Security Council Report has maintained its active participation in the NGO Working Group on the Security Council, organised by the Global Policy Forum.

The Executive Director was invited to brief the Boards of CARE and World Vision International on issues related to the Security Council.

Academia
The Executive Director has spoken to student groups from Columbia University, Occidental College, and Bard College on international affairs and the Security Council.

Media & Speeches
The Executive Director has been interviewed by ARD German TV, BBC, CNN, Radio New Zealand, Al-Jazeera and Swiss Radio.

Security Council Report has been cited several times in the media:

The Executive Director addressed the UN All-Parliamentary Group at the UN Association of the United Kingdom, “The United Nations Security Council: From Rwanda to Darfur, Lessons Not Learned” and presented “Multidimensional and Integrated Peace Operations: Trends and Challenges to a Beijing seminar organised jointly by the Governments of Norway and China.

V. Planning for 2008-2010
Over the course of the 2007 Security Council Report undertook significant planning for 2008-2010, its second phase of operations.

Beginning in 2008 Security Council Report will develop additional products in the form of crosscutting reports that will seek to track the actual performance of the Council (and its subsidiary bodies) in following through on its decisions and a regular annual assessment of the work of the Council over the previous year.

Also in 2008 Security Council Report will widen its support for Council members. This will involve providing direct input to smaller and newly elected member states and helping newly elected members to prepare their teams in capitals before they start their term as elected members. In response to demand, SCR will also develop capacity to expand its outreach services to member states and other stakeholders in the form of ad hoc briefings, seminars, and similar services.

The MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation and the Governments of Canada and Norway indicated an intention to renew their financial support for a second phase of funding.

At the end of 2007 the Board approved a 2008 budget of $2.5 million. This budget envisages the significant growth in SCR activities mentioned above and is based on the recommendations of the International Advisory Group as well as the very positive feedback which the Board has received.

VI. Financial Report
The 2007 SCR budget was $1.99 million. Actual expenditure was $1.93 million.

In 2007, the MacArthur Foundation and the Norwegian government each granted $500,000, the Rockefeller Foundation granted $330,000, the Hewlett Foundation granted $250,000, the Canadian government $118,231, the Greek government $50,000 and the Liechtenstein government $7,748.

Annex 1: Issues Covered in the 2007 Monthly Forecasts

  • January 2007 (published 22 December): Somalia, Sudan (Darfur)/Chad/Central African Republic, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Nepal, Southern Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Lebanon, Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, North Korea, Targeted Sanctions: Listing/De-Listing and Due Process, Peacebuilding Commission
  • February 2007 (published 1 February): Sudan/Darfur, Chad/Central African Republic, Somalia, Iran, Timor-Leste, Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sanctions Implementation, Review of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate
  • March 2007 (published 1 March): Chad/Central African Republic, Darfur/Sudan, Somalia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Guinea-Bissau, Peacebuilding Commission, Afghanistan, Upcoming Issues in Sanctions Committees
  • April 2007 (published 28 March): Kosovo, Sudan/Darfur, Chad/Central African Republic, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Western Sahara, Georgia, Somalia, Liberia, North Korea, Burundi, Upcoming Issues in Sanctions Committees
  • May 2007 (published 27 April): Kosovo, Lebanon, Darfur/Sudan, Iran, Nepal, Somalia, Timor-Leste, Children and Armed Conflict, Security Council Elections, Chad/Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Upcoming Issues in Sanctions Committees
  • June 2007 (published 31 May): Kosovo, Darfur/Sudan, Chad/Central African Republic, Lebanon, Golan Heights (UNDOF), Somalia, Iran, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Iraq, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Peacebuilding Commission, International Criminal Tribunals
  • July 2007 (published 28 June): Darfur/Sudan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Iran, Chad/Central African Republic, Somalia, Western Sahara, North Korea, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nepal, Iraq, Georgia
  • August 2007 (published 30 July): Darfur/Sudan, Chad/Central African Republic, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, International Criminal Tribunals
  • September 2007 (published 30 August): Liberia, Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone, Darfur/Sudan, Chad/Central African Republic, Burundi, Afghanistan, International Criminal Tribunals, Lebanon, Haiti, Iran
  • October 2007 (published 28 September): Women Peace and Security, Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan/Darfur, Sudan: North-South, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iran, Iraq (UNMOVIC), Kosovo, North Korea, Nepal, Security Council Elections 2007, Somalia, Western Sahara, Upcoming Issues in Sanctions and Counter-Terrorism Committees
  • November 2007 (published 30 October): Myanmar, Darfur/Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Iran, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Timor-Leste, Counter-Terrorism: Briefings to the Council, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Prevention of Armed Conflict
  • December 2007 (published 29 November): Kosovo, Somalia, Sudan/Darfur, Iran, Golan Heights, Central African Republic, Lebanon, Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, International Criminal Tribunals, UN Office in West Africa, Iraq/Kuwait, Iraq (Oil-for-Food)

Annex 2: 2007 International Advisory Group Membership

Ambassador Wegger Strømmen (Chair)
Ambassador of Norway to the United States and former Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN in New York and Geneva  

Dr. Adekeye Adebajo
Executive Director, Centre for Conflict Resolution, University of Cape Town

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein
Ambassador of Jordan to the United States and former Permanent Representative of Jordan to the UN (2000-2007)

Dr. Emilio J. Cárdenas
Senior Adviser, Snowcroft Group and former Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations (1992-1997)

Professor Jorge Castañeda
Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American Studies at New York University and former Foreign Minister of Mexico (2000-2003)

Louise Fréchette
Senior Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation and former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations

Elisabeth Lindenmayer
Interim Director of UN Studies, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and former Deputy Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Dean Kishore Mahbubani
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore and former Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations

Ram Manikkalingam
Senior Adviser to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva and former Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka

Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar
Director, The United Service Institution of India; former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Indian Army and the former Force Commander of the UN Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia

Ambassador Thomas Pickering
Former Senior Vice President of International Relations of the Boeing Company and former Permanent Representative of the US to the UN (1989-1992)

Ambassador Allan Rock
Queen’s Counsel, Sutts Strosberg LLP and former, Special Adviser on Sri Lanka to the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, former Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations (2004-2006)

Yvette Stevens
Former UN Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator and Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva

Danilo Türk (elected to the office of President of Slovenia in December 2007 and subsequently resigned from the International Advisory Group)
FormerProfessor of International Law, University of Ljubljana, former Assistant Secretary-General and former Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations (1992-2000) 

Annex 3

See attached 2007 End of Year Financial Report