What's In Blue

Security Council Programme of Work for December

Côte d’Ivoire is the president of the Security Council in December. The programme of work was adopted earlier today.

During its presidency, Côte d’Ivoire will hold two signature meetings. The first will be a debate on economic recovery in post-conflict situations, titled “Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace: post-conflict reconstruction and peace, security and stability”. Secretary-General António Guterres is scheduled to brief. This meeting will be chaired by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.

The second meeting will be an open debate focused on cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organisations in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. The Secretary-General will brief at the open debate, together with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

A number of meetings focused on the African continent are scheduled this month. There will be a briefing followed by consultations on the latest assessment of the UN Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS). Chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission Guinea-Bissau Configuration (PBC-GB) Ambassador Mauro Vieira (Brazil) is likely to brief.

A briefing on the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) will take place this month. Special Representative of the Secretary-General François Louncény Fall is expected to brief on the latest report, as well as on the implementation of the UN regional strategy to combat the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Consultations will follow.

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) mandate renewal is also expected after the one-month technical rollover in November.

A briefing and consultations to discuss the work of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and South Sudan sanctions are expected later in the month. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix is scheduled to deliver the briefing on UNMISS.

Two meetings related to Sudan are scheduled: the quarterly briefing by the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee Chair, Ambassador Joanna Wronecka (Poland), and the semi-annual briefing of ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on the work of the ICC with regard to Sudan.

A meeting on drug trafficking in West and Central Africa is scheduled, with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Yuri Fedotov expected to brief.

A number of meetings related to issues in the Middle East will take place in December. Early in the month, consultations will be held on Syria during which Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Thomas Markram is expected to brief members. There will be a briefing, followed by consultations, on the political situation in Syria by outgoing Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura in mid-December.

Towards the end of the month, there will be a briefing, followed by consultations, on the humanitarian situation in Syria by Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller. Council members are also expected to negotiate and put to a vote a draft resolution renewing the authorisation for cross-border and cross-line humanitarian access in Syria, which expires on 10 January 2019.

Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions Alexander Zouev is scheduled to brief on the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) at a TCC meeting and in consultations. An adoption is scheduled in the third week of December to renew the mission’s mandate.

A briefing by Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov on the situation in the Middle East (Israel/Palestine) is also scheduled to take place this month. Consultations are scheduled to follow the briefing.

The first-ever briefing by the UN Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) Special Adviser Karim Khan is scheduled to take place in early December.

The quarterly debate on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) will also take place in December. Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of UNAMA Tadamichi Yamamoto; UNODC Executive Director Yuri Fedotov; and Ambassador Kairat Umarov (Kazakhstan), the chair of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee, are scheduled to brief.

The Council will hold its semi-annual debate on the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), during which IRMCT President Theodor Meron and IRMCT prosecutor Serge Brammertz are slated to brief the Council.

The Council will receive the annual briefing of the outgoing chairs of the subsidiary bodies, including:

A meeting is planned on the implementation of resolution 2231, which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear programme, with briefings scheduled by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, a representative from the EU (on behalf of the Coordinator of the Joint Commission), and Ambassador Karel van Oosterom (the Netherlands) as the facilitator on resolution 2231.

There will be a debate on Haiti featuring a briefing by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH), Helen Meagher La Lime.

A briefing by Special Adviser for the Sahel Ibrahim Thiaw on the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) is planned this month.

Council members are currently negotiating three resolutions on peace operations: one on UN financing of AU peace support operations, one on mandating, and one on the rule of law and corrections. One or more of these could be adopted during the month.

Among other issues, meetings on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Yemen, and the human rights situation in the DPRK could also be added to the programme during the month.

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