Insights on the Monthly DPA Briefing on Emerging Issues
On Monday, 18 April, Council members will receive another in the series of briefings from the Department of Political Affairs head, B. Lynn Pascoe on emerging or significant issues. It seems that Pascoe may focus on: Somalia, Libya and also tentatively on a new report on Sri Lanka. These briefings have become a regular monthly interaction between Council members and DPA on emerging issues.
On Libya, Council members are expecting Pascoe to discuss his recent trip to North Africa and the Middle East. (Last week Pascoe accompanied the Secretary-General to the Libya Contact Group meeting in Doha as well to Cairo where the Secretary-General chaired a meeting of regional organisations convened to discuss the coordination of the international response to the crisis in Libya.)
The briefing on Somalia may cover recent developments in Somalia including the military solution and the role of the AU Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) and the recent meetings in Nairobi convened by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia Augustin Mahiga.
A UN panel of experts report on possible violations of the laws of war in Sri Lanka was given to the Secretary-General on 12 April. (The Secretary-General appointed a Panel of Experts in June 2010 to advise him on the issue of accountability with regard to any alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka.) The report has been shared with the Sri Lankan government but has not been made public. It may be possible that some background about the report and the response of the Sri Lankan government will be shared with the Council members.
