What's In Blue

Security Council’s December Programme of Work

Today (1 December), the Council adopted its provisional programme of work for December. The US is Council president this month. Besides the regular work of renewing mandates and discussing reports, there may also be a Council mission to Burundi, although at press time there was no decision on the timing of the Council visit.

There are two regular debates scheduled this month: on the situation in Afghanistan with a briefing by the head of UNAMA, Nicholas Haysom; and on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), with briefings by the presidents of the Tribunals and the president of the Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. In mid-December the Council is scheduled to adopt a resolution extending the terms of ICTY judges and the ICTY Prosecutor.

The regular briefings on the Syria chemical weapons and humanitarian tracks are also on the programme of work. Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo will brief on the chemical weapons track tomorrow, while Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-wha Kang is expected to brief on the humanitarian track at the end of the month. There may also be a resolution adopted renewing the authorisation of cross-border and cross-line humanitarian access. A ministerial meeting in New York connected to the Vienna process is also a possibility.

The Council will focus on the political, human rights and humanitarian situation in Yemen during a public briefing from OCHA head Stephen O’Brien, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, and Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Other Middle East issues on the programme of work include the regular briefing followed by consultations on Israel/Palestine by Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov. There will also be the six-monthly briefing on the work of UNDOF in the Golan Heights by DPKO, followed later in the month by the adoption of a resolution renewing UNDOF’s mandate.

Council members will focus on a number of aspects of the Sudan and South Sudan crises. Tomorrow there will be a briefing on South Sudan and the Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hervé Ladsous and Head of UNMISS Ellen Margrethe Løj. In mid-December the Council is expected to adopt resolutions renewing the mandates of UNMISS and UNISFA. The semi-annual briefing by the ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on the Court’s work regarding Darfur is also expected in December.

There will be briefings by the Acting Special Representative Parfait Onanga-Anyanga on the work of the UN mission in the CAR, and by Special Representative Abdoulaye Bathily on the Secretary-General’s report on UNOCA and the implementation of the UN regional strategy to combat the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, will brief Council members in consultations on Western Sahara.

There are several briefings related to the work of sanctions committees. Ambassador Román Oyarzun (Spain) will brief on the 1737 Iran Sanctions Committee and the 1540 Committee; and Ambassador Raimonda Murmokait&#279 (Lithuania) will address the work of the 2127 CAR Sanctions Committee and the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee. There may also be a briefing on the 1267/1989 Al Qaida Sanctions Committee as part of a review of this sanctions regime, as well as the adoption of a resolution on the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee.

There will also be briefings by the following outgoing chairs on their experience in chairing subsidiary bodies over the last two years:
– Ambassador Mahamat Zene Cherif (Chad) on the 1636 Lebanon Sanctions Committee and the Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations;
– Ambassador Cristián Barros (Chile) on the 1572 Cote d’Ivoire Sanctions Committee, the 2200 South Sudan Sanctions Committee and the Informal Working Group on International Tribunals;
– Ambassador Dina Kawar (Jordan) on the 1521 Liberia Sanctions Committee and the 1533 Democratic Republic of Congo Sanctions Committee;
– Ambassador Murmokait&#279 (Lithuania) on the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee, the 2127 Central African Republic Sanctions Committee, the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee and the 1566 Working Group on Counter-terrorism; and
– Ambassador U. Joy Ogwu (Nigeria) on the 1518 Iraq Sanctions Committee and the 2048 Guinea-Bissau Sanctions Committee.

Additional meetings may need to be scheduled on situations the Council is following closely, including Burundi, Libya and Ukraine. There has also been interest expressed by some members in having a briefing on the human rights situation in the DPRK. In addition, the joint letter from the Council and the General Assembly which would launch the start of the Secretary-General appointment process will continue to be discussed in December.

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