What's In Blue

The June Programme of Work of the Security Council

The month began on an unexpected note with consultations on 2 June on a draft resolution on Ukraine, drafted by Russia, the President of the Security Council for June. Ukraine is currently in the footnotes of the programme of work for the month, and may be discussed further in the Council depending on how negotiations on the draft resolution unfold and events transpire on the ground.

Russia has chosen to hold an open debate on new trends in peacekeeping, including establishment of more robust mandates, the use of new technologies, inter-mission cooperation and multidimensional mandates. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to brief.

Two regularly scheduled debates will also be held this month. There will be the debate on the ad hoc international criminal tribunals, where the presidents and prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda are expected to brief. The other is the quarterly debate on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), with Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of UNAMA Ján Kubis and Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Yuri Fedotov likely to brief.

Six adoptions are currently scheduled. Two of these are related to sanctions regimes. The mandate of the Panel of Experts for the 1737 Iran Sanctions Committee is expected to be renewed through the adoption of a resolution next week. Later in the month, the chair of the Committee, Ambassador Gary Quinlan (Australia), will present his quarterly briefing on the Committee’s work. Adoptions are also expected to modify the mandates of the Ombudsperson and the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team assisting the 1267/1989 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and 1988 Taliban sanctions regime. The resolution on the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee may also modify the measures imposed in resolution 2083 on individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida.

Adoptions are also scheduled for the renewal of three missions: the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights (UNDOF). Briefings followed by consultations are planned for both UNOCI and MINUSMA, by the heads of the missions, Aichatou Mindaoudou Souleymane and Albert Gerard Koenders, respectively. The Department of Peacekeeping Operations is expected to provide a briefing in consultations on UNDOF.

A possible adoption of a follow-up resolution to resolution 2139 on humanitarian access in Syria may be added to the programme of work, depending on negotiations over the coming weeks. There will be two other opportunities for the Council to discuss Syria in June: tomorrow (4 June) there will be a briefing by Sigrid Kaag on the destruction of chemical weapons and a second briefing is currently scheduled at the end of the month on humanitarian access. Since the adoption of resolution 2139 on 22 February, the Council has had monthly briefings from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but it remains to be seen how the possible adoption of a new resolution on humanitarian access might affect this cycle.

A number of other Middle East issues are on the programme of work this month. Tomorrow, there is likely to be a briefing under “Any Other Business” by Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, on the recent parliamentary elections and the security and political situation in the country in their aftermath. The Council also expects a briefing, followed by consultations, from Tarek Mitri, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, on the situation there. The quarterly briefing by the chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Eugène-Richard Gasana (Rwanda), is anticipated during these consultations. Jamal Benomar, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Yemen, is also scheduled to update Council members on the situation in Yemen in consultations. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman will provide the monthly briefing, followed by consultations, on the Middle East, likely focusing on Israel/Palestine issues.

There will be a briefing in consultations by the head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, Miroslav Jenca, late in the month. As is the practice, a press statement is expected following the meeting.

Sudan continues to be on the programme of work. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Haile Menkerios is likely to brief Council members via VTC in consultations on Sudan-South Sudan issues, while International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is expected to provide the semi-annual briefing to the Council on the work of the ICC with respect to Darfur.

A monthly briefing on South Sudan had been on the programme of work since the adoption of resolution 2132 on 24 December, however South Sudan is not on the June programme of work because resolution 2135, adopted on 27 May, mandated a 60-day reporting cycle. Given the fluid and unstable situation in South Sudan, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has been placed in the footnotes of the programme of work. Another volatile situation that is also in the footnotes of the programme of work is the Central African Republic (CAR). The report of the Commission of Inquiry investigating reports of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the CAR was published at the end of May, and it is possible that a briefing on the report may be scheduled before the end of the month.

There are several other African issues scheduled for June. The annual consultative meeting of the members of the UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council is expected on 6 June in New York. Following the meeting, it is likely that a joint communiqué will be issued. Consultations on the humanitarian situation in Somalia with Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos briefing will be held tomorrow. A briefing by the chair of the 1521 Liberia Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein (Jordan), is expected in the middle of the month. The Council is due to review the Liberia sanctions regime this month with a “view to modifying or lifting all or parts” of the sanctions. In addition, there will be a briefing by the new Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on the Sahel, Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, on the Secretary-General’s report on implementing the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel. A presidential statement is a possible outcome.

In addition to CAR, UNMISS, and Ukraine, non-proliferation issues and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are also in the footnotes of the programme of work.

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