Cooperation between the UN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Briefing and Adoption of a Presidential Statement
Tomorrow morning (2 April), the Security Council will hold a high-level briefing under the agenda item “Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in maintaining international peace and security”, focusing on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani is expected to chair the meeting, which is one of the signature events of Bahrain’s April Council presidency. Briefings are expected from UN 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 and GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi.
A Bahrain-authored presidential statement on UN-GCC cooperation is expected to be adopted at tomorrow’s meeting.
Briefing
The GCC is a regional, intergovernmental organisation comprising six member states, including Council member Bahrain as well as Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Established in 1981, the organisation serves as a platform for cooperation on political, economic, and sociocultural issues affecting the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. (For background and more information, see the brief on UN-GCC cooperation in our April 2026 Monthly Forecast.)
Tomorrow’s briefing will be the first Council meeting focused on cooperation between the UN and the GCC. Bahrain has circulated a concept note ahead of the meeting, outlining its core objectives. These include: to encourage a durable partnership between the UN and the GCC that systematically contributes to regional and international peace, security, and post-conflict stabilisation; to promote more effective, regionally informed multilateral responses to emerging threats; and to create structured channels for information-sharing, joint analysis, and coordination between global and regional mechanisms to advance common objectives of peace and security.
The concept note poses several questions to help guide the discussion at tomorrow’s meeting:
- How can the UN and the GCC deepen collaboration to translate their partnership into concrete regional and international conflict prevention outcomes?
- How can the UN, including the Security Council, support the GCC Secretariat in strengthening regional capacities for conflict prevention, mediation, humanitarian response, and peaceful dispute resolution?
- How can UN-GCC partnership strengthen cooperation on cross-cutting prevention priorities, including on women, peace and security (WPS), youth, peace and security (YPS), and tolerance, peace and security, while also addressing challenges such as food and water security, environmental pressures, and maritime security?
Presidential Statement
Bahrain circulated a zero draft of the presidential statement to Council members on 25 March and invited comments on the text. Council members subsequently submitted written comments, requesting several modifications. Bahrain then shared a revised draft on 29 March. After an additional round of comments, Bahrain circulated a second revised text yesterday (31 March) and placed it under silence procedure. China and Russia subsequently broke silence. Bahrain later shared a third revision of the text and put it under silence procedure until this evening (1 April), which it passed.
The agreed presidential statement will be the first product adopted by the Security Council on UN-GCC cooperation. It seems that Bahrain sought to use the presidential statement to enhance institutional cooperation between the two organisations, aiming to elevate this partnership to a level comparable to the UN’s engagement with other regional and subregional organisations, such as the African Union (AU) or the League of Arab States (LAS).
In the agreed presidential statement, the Council recognises the GCC’s “position and expertise in understanding and promoting regional sustainable peace and security”. It also acknowledges the organisation’s contributions to regional and international stability through mediation, preventive diplomacy, technical and financial support, and humanitarian engagement. Among other matters, the agreed statement also requests that the Secretary-General include in his next report to the Security Council and the General Assembly on cooperation between the UN and regional and other organisations recommendations on strengthening institutional relations and cooperation between the UN and the GCC.
The agreed presidential statement further encourages the holding of regular briefings by the GCC Secretary-General to promote closer cooperation and strategic coordination with the UN, particularly in addressing emerging threats and challenges to peace and security in the Gulf region. Although Bahrain initially proposed having such briefings on an annual basis, this was apparently opposed by some Council members and the text was reduced to only mention “regular briefings”, without specifying a timeframe.
Certain other aspects of the negotiations on the draft presidential statement were also apparently challenging. It seems that the primary point of contention was language relating to the escalation in the Middle East caused by the joint Israeli-US strikes on Iran on 28 February. In the zero draft, the penholder proposed text that strongly condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks on the GCC countries and Jordan, directly referencing resolution 2817 of 11 March on the matter that was presented by Bahrain on behalf of these countries. The relevant paragraph also included language that reaffirmed the importance of maritime security and the freedom of navigation and stressed that “any disruption to vital waterways may have implications for international trade and global economic stability”, an apparent reference to the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis.
During the negotiations on resolution 2817, China and Russia apparently criticised the draft text for being unbalanced and for failing to consider the root causes of the conflict. In response, Russia circulated an alternative draft, which was more general than Bahrain’s and did not name individual countries. Co-sponsored by 136 member states, Bahrain’s resolution was eventually adopted with 13 votes in favour and two abstentions (China and Russia). Russia’s draft resolution failed to be adopted, garnering only four affirmative votes (China, Russia, Pakistan, and Somalia). (For more information on the resolution, see our 11 March What’s in Blue story.)
It seems that the same dynamics were evident during the negotiations on the draft presidential statement. China and Russia apparently raised reservations over the language concerning the Middle East crisis, requesting modifications to the relevant paragraph. In the first revised text, Bahrain apparently retained the zero draft’s language that directly alluded to Iran’s attacks and resolution 2817; however, the text was slightly modified to also reference resolution 552 of 1 June 1984, which demanded that Iran cease attacks on commercial ships to and from the ports of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This appeared to be the penholder’s attempt to preserve the paragraph’s original formulation and intent, as similar language on threats against Gulf countries, including to their freedom of navigation, was included in resolution 552. However, it seems that China and Russia expressed concerns over the paragraph, requesting further amendments to the text.
To facilitate consensus among Council members, the penholder softened the relevant paragraph’s language in the second revised text, removing all direct references to Iran’s attacks on the GCC countries and Jordan. In doing so, Bahrain apparently replaced it with text that recalled previous relevant Council resolutions, including resolution 2817 and resolution 552, that “take into consideration the importance of the Gulf region to international peace and security and its vital role to the stability of the world economy”.
Despite such revisions, China and Russia nevertheless raised concerns, expressing reservations over references to resolution 552 and resolution 2817. In an apparent compromise, the final draft of the presidential statement does not incorporate any direct references to Iran’s attacks against the Gulf countries, nor does it mention the two resolutions. The penholder also removed all language that underscored the importance of freedom of navigation and noted the implications of any disruption to vital waterways for international trade and global economic stability. The toned-down final version of the relevant paragraph simply recalls the Council’s previous relevant resolutions, “which take into consideration the importance of the Gulf region to international peace and security and its vital role to the stability of the world economy”.
Language concerning thematic areas—such as climate as well as WPS, YPS, and tolerance—was also toned down in some other instances. Regarding WPS and YPS elements, it seems that the penholder proposed language in the zero draft that acknowledged the important role of women and youth in sustaining peace and security and encouraged joint efforts by the UN and the GCC to promote the WPS and YPS agendas. Some Council members, such as the US, apparently requested modifications to the relevant paragraph, citing reservations over references to both agendas. It seems that these members also asked for the removal of all climate-related language in the text, including references to sustainable development and environmental pressures. This was also the case for language related to tolerance, with several members expressing a preference to remove any references to the matter. France apparently suggested replacing the reference to “tolerance” with the term “human rights”, but this did not get incorporated into the agreed presidential statement. (For more information on Council dynamics and engagement on tolerance and international peace and security, see our 14 June 2023 What’s in Blue story.)
It appears that a compromise was reached regarding language related to WPS and YPS. The final draft encourages “the joint efforts by the UN and the GCC to promote the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in promoting peace and security” in line with resolution 1325 of 31 October 2000 on WPS and resolution 2250 of 9 December 2015 on YPS. References to tolerance and climate were not retained in the final revision of the draft presidential statement, however.
