Insights on the Somalia Sanctions Committee
Several issues related to Somalia sanctions are on the Council’s programme of work this week. Today ( Tuesday, 15 March) Council members will be briefed by India, as the chair of the 751/1907 Sanctions Committee on Eritrea and Somalia. (Resolution 1844 calls for the Committee to report to the Council every 120 days.)
Later this week the Council will meet to adopt a resolution extending the exemption to the assets-freeze provision of the Somalia sanctions regime for payments necessary to ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance. This exemption expires on 18 March. Members of the Sanctions Committee on Eritrea and Somalia were briefed on Friday, 11 March by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on the report by the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, on the impact of the exemption for the humanitarian carve-out.
Bowden’s report indicates that there has been a mixed response to the exemption. Some stakeholders have found it useful while others have said there has been no impact. The overall conclusion appears to be that it has little impact on the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
However, it appears that the humanitarian carve-out will be extended for 16 months. A draft resolution currently under silence procedure is expected to be adopted with no opposition. There may also be a reduction in the reporting cycle to 2 reports within the 16 month cycle in order to be in sync with the mandate of the monitoring group on Somalia sanctions.
