Security Council Programme of Work for August 2025
Panama holds the presidency of the Security Council in August. Council members adopted the provisional programme of work for the month earlier today (1 August).
Panama has chosen to organise one signature event. It will convene a high-level open debate titled “Maritime Security: Prevention, Innovation, and International Cooperation to Address Emerging Challenges” under the “Maintenance of international peace and security” agenda item. President José Raúl Mulino of Panama is expected to chair the meeting. The anticipated briefers are Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Arsenio Domínguez, Secretary-General of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) Valdecy Urquiza, and Chief Executive Officer of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Ricaurte Vásquez Morales.
In August, the Security Council will hold its annual open debate on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) under the title “Identifying innovative strategies to ensure access to life-saving services and protection for survivors of sexual violence in conflict zones”. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten and a woman civil society representative are the expected briefers.
Also anticipated in August is a briefing on the Secretary-General’s biannual strategic-level report on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) to international peace and security. Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism and Head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) Vladimir Voronkov and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Natalia Gherman are the expected briefers.
Several Middle Eastern issues are on the programme this month.
Regarding Lebanon, the Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution on the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ahead of its 31 August expiry. Prior to that, Council members will receive a briefing in closed consultations on UNIFIL from Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Mohamed Khaled Khiari. The Council will also hold a meeting with UNIFIL’s troop-contributing countries, at which Major General Cheryl Pearce, Acting Military Adviser at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO), will participate.
There will be an open briefing on Yemen. Briefings are expected from UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
The Council will also hold its monthly meeting on the political process and the humanitarian situation in Syria. Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher are expected to brief on political and humanitarian developments, respectively.
The Security Council will hold its monthly meeting on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”. A DPPA official is the anticipated briefer. Additional meetings on this file may be convened depending on developments in Israel and Gaza.
Several African files will also be addressed in August.
Council members are expected to hold closed consultations on Sudan on 4 August. Denmark and the UK (the penholder on the file) requested the meeting to receive an update on the humanitarian and political situations in the country, specifically in light of the recent escalation of violence in North Darfur state and the Kordofan region. A DPPA official is expected to brief.
There will also be an open briefing on West Africa and the Sahel. The expected briefers are Special Representative and Head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) Leonardo Santos Simão, UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous, and a civil society representative. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
The Security Council will hold an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on the situation in South Sudan and the work of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in DPPA-DPO Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee and a civil society representative are expected to brief.
The Council will hold its bimonthly briefing on the situation in Libya. Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Hanna Serwaa Tetteh will brief on recent political, security, and humanitarian developments in the country. Mohamed Rabi Yusuf, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Somalia to the UN, will brief in his capacity as the chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open session.
The only Asian issue on the programme this month is consultations on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Ioannis Stamatekos, the Chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN, is scheduled to brief in his capacity as the chair of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee on the 90-day report on the committee’s work.
This afternoon, the Council held a briefing on Ukraine following a request by Ukraine, supported by Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia, and the UK. Additional meetings on this file are likely to be convened in August.
Council members are also expected to hold a meeting under “any other business” to mark the 17th anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
Regarding non-proliferation, the chair of the 1540 Committee, Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba (Panama), is scheduled to brief the Council on the work of the committee, which supports and monitors the implementation of resolution 1540. Adopted in 2004, the resolution aims to prevent non-state actors from obtaining access to weapons of mass destruction.
Council members are expected to continue monitoring developments related to Iran’s nuclear programme. France, Germany, and the UK—which comprise the three European (E3) parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—have announced that they will invoke the agreement’s “snapback” mechanism to reimpose the UN sanctions on Iran that were in place before that agreement if a nuclear deal is not struck with the country by the end of August.
Members will also follow closely the situation in Haiti and might continue discussing the Council’s response to the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General’s 24 February letter on options for additional UN support to Haiti. At today’s press briefing on the Council’s August programme of work, Alfaro said that a meeting on the file may be convened towards the end of the month.
Other issues could be raised during the month, depending on developments.
