What's In Blue: March 2011
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This afternoon (Thursday, 31 March) the Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa will hold a workshop to examine ways of enhancing its role. South Africa, the chair of the Working Group, is hoping to for...
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On Monday, 28 March, the Council received its first briefing from the Permanent Representative of Portugal, José Filipe Moraes Cabral, the chair of the 1970 Sanctions Committee. (Resolution 1970 requested a report from the Committee on its work for the...
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A draft resolution on Côte d’Ivoire under Chapter VII and co-sponsored by Nigeria and France has been put in blue and circulated to Council members. There still seems to be differences among Council members over some of the elements in...
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Preparations for a high-level debate on Haiti on 6 April are currently underway. A draft presidential statement which is expected to be adopted at the debate was circulated to all Council members on Monday, 28 March, and the first expert...
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Council members met at the expert level for six and a half hours yesterday (28 March) on the draft resolution circulated by Nigeria and France on Friday, 25 March. Council members are expected to get a revised draft today. Both...
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On 22 March the Council had its regular briefing on the Middle East and Palestinian Question. Oscar Fenandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed the Council on developments related to the Quartet as well as incidents on the ground. (The...
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Council members are expected to have their first discussion at expert level on a draft resolution on Côte d’Ivoire on Monday, 28 March. The draft text resolution was circulated by Nigeria and France today during the Council’s informal consultations on...
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The Panel met last week to examine the national reports of Turkey and Israel on the Gaza flotilla incident which took place on 31 May 2010. (The Secretary-General set up a Panel of Inquiry headed by former New Zealand Prime...
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Tomorrow (Friday, 25 March) the Council will be briefed by DPKO on the situation in Côte d’Ivoire. Ambassador Yossoufou Bamba, the Ouattara government’s representative to the U.N. will also be present. (A DPKO briefing note circulated to Council members on...
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The Sanctions Committee on Libya will have its first meeting tomorrow at expert level to discuss its working methods. Since resolution 1970 was adopted the sanctions committee has tried to meet but competition with existing sanctions committees for both space...
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On Tuesday (22 March) Council members had their first meeting at expert level on the Russian draft resolution on Somali piracy. Although the P5 members had been discussing the text for a few weeks this was the first time elected...
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Council members will be briefed by the Secretary-General at tomorrow at 3 pm on compliance by member states on the enforcement of the ban on flights over Libya imposed by resolution 1973. This resolution asked for the Secretary-General to report...
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Despite other pressures in recent days Council members have been keeping a watchful eye on Haiti’s run-off presidential elections, which took place on Sunday, 20 March. The voting went relatively smoothly and preliminary election results are expected on 31 March...
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The Council will hold a debate tomorrow (Wednesday, 23 March) on the fourth annual report of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). The outgoing Chair of the PBC, Permanent Representative of Germany Peter Wittig, will present the report. The 2011 Chair, Permanent...
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On Friday, 18 March Council members held an interactive dialogue with the permanent representative of Kenya to discuss the ICC proceedings against six Kenyans. (This interactive dialogue had been postponed from Wednesday, 16 March to Friday morning because of the...
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The Council will have closed consultations on Libya this afternoon. Council members may be given an update by the UK, France and the US on the enforcement action that took place over the week-end. On 19 March, the Libyan regime...
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The Council will have a closed meeting this afternoon on Sudan. A representative from the South Sudan government and the Sudanese permanent representative to the UN will be invited to participate. Atul Khare, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, will...
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Following a week of intense discussions the UNAMA resolution went into blue today and the Council is expected adopt it tomorrow morning. Council members appear to be of one mind that the UNAMA mandate needs only minor adjusting rather than...
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Russia’s draft Somalia piracy resolution is still being negotiated among P5 members and has yet to be circulated to the wider Council membership. However, having had bilateral consultations with Russia, the elected members appear to be content to let the...
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The Security Council will vote at 6 pm today (Thursday, 16 March) on a resolution which imposes a no-fly zone, strengthens the sanctions regime set up by resolution 1970, calls for the protection of civilians and civilian populations and authorises...
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The final member of the Panel of Experts of the DRC Sanctions Committee may soon be appointed. There has been some difficulty filling the position of the financial expert due to objections from some Council members to the original candidate....
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Libya is on the Council’s agenda again today. Council members began meeting at the expert level for a technical discussion on the draft resolution at 9 am. Council members will convene at 11 am at the permanent representative level for...
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Tomorrow afternoon, Colombian Ambassador Nestor Osorio,will brief Council members for the first time as the chair of the 1737 Committee on Iran. He is expected to report on the work of the sanctions committee including the sanctions committee’s panel of...
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Council members are meeting this morning to discuss a draft resolution on Libya circulated yesterday during informal consultations by Lebanon. The UK and France who had co-authored the resolution with Lebanon also spoke on the contents of the resolution. Council...
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There has been some movement on the Somalia piracy resolution. It appears that Russia has now had bilateral consultations with all Council members and a draft could be circulated this week. A number of areas still need to be resolved...
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Council members will have an interactive dialogue tomorrow (Wednesday, 16 March) afternoon with representatives from Kenya and the AU. Kenya is expected to request the Council to defer the proceedings for a year. (Article 16 of the Rome Statute allows...
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Several issues related to Somalia sanctions are on the Council’s programme of work this week. Today ( Tuesday, 15 March) Council members will be briefed by India, as the chair of the 751/1907 Sanctions Committee on Eritrea and Somalia. (Resolution...
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Security Council members are meeting this morning in informal consultations at Lebanon’s request to discuss Saturday’s Arab League statement calling on the Security Council to impose a no-fly zone. Under-Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe is expected to brief on the situation...
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Council members will have their first meeting today (Friday, 11 March) at the expert level on the draft UNAMA resolution. Members had received a draft text from Germany–the lead country on this issue–earlier this week following discussions in the Core...
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The Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict has been meeting weekly since January 2011 when Germany took up the chairmanship of the Working Group from Mexico. This Working Group has been at the forefront of implementing resolution 1612 and...
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Tomorrow, the chair of the 1591 Sanctions Committee, Colombian Ambassador Nestor Osorio, will brief the Council on the work of the Committee during the last ninety days. He is expected to report that all five members of the panel of...
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The Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution on Africa will be meeting this Friday (11 March) for the first time since South Africa took over the chairmanship of the Working Group. It is expected to discuss its Programme of...
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In response to discussions in the Security Council on civilian capacity for deployment in post conflict situations, the Secretary-General this week issued the independent report of the Senior Advisory Group on “civilian capacity in the aftermath of conflict”. It was...
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The Informal Experts Group on Protection of Civilians met yesterday (Tuesday, 8 March) to discuss Afghanistan ahead of the renewal of UNAMA’s mandate. Council experts covering protection as well as the country-specific experts on Afghanistan attended the meeting. China, however,...
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Council experts are currently discussing China’s draft presidential statement for the strategic debate on Somalia on 10 March. They had their first meeting on Friday, 4 March and a revised version taking in comments made by members was circulated on...
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Members of the DRC Group of Experts met today with the DRC Sanctions Committee ahead of their deployment to the DRC. Among the issues discussed were sexual violence and implementation of the due dilligence guidelines. On 29 November the Council...
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Tomorrow (Tuesday, 8 March), Council members will receive a briefing from the Department of Political Affairs in informal consultations. It seems the focus will be related to North Africa and the Middle East. This briefing is part of what is...
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Yesterday Russia briefed Council members at the expert level on the draft Somalia piracy resolution it has prepared following Jack Lang’s (the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia) recommendations in his January report. P5 members have...
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Council members have been working on setting up the sanctions committee on Libya called for in resolution 1970 which was adopted by the Council last Saturday, 26 February. It now looks like Portugal will chair the committee. A Note by...
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Council members met today to discuss March’s Programme of Work. This month China has the presidency and the Council could have around 12 days of scheduled meetings. The Chinese ambassador in briefing the press divided the Council’s work for March...
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The Council will meet tomorrow morning (Thursday, 4 March) to adopt a short, technical resolution on Liberia formalising the withdrawal of UN Mission in Liberia’s military guard force from the Special Court for Sierra Leone’s premises in Freetown. The resolution,...
