Security Council’s June Programme of Work
This morning Council members adopted their programme of work for June. Malaysia, the president of the Council this month, and chair of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, has chosen as its centerpiece an open debate on children and armed conflict. Malaysia’s foreign minister, Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman, will preside and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui are expected to be among the briefers. A resolution adding abductions as a new criterion for listing in the Secretary-General’s annexes in his annual report is a possible outcome.
Two regularly scheduled debates will also be held this month—the quarterly debate on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the semi-annual international criminal tribunals debate. Head of UNAMA Nicholas Haysom will brief on the Secretary-General’s quarterly report on Afghanistan. The Presidents and Prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Residual Mechanism will brief during the international tribunals debate.
There will be a briefing on the eighth annual report of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) by Antonio de Aguiar Patriota (Brazil) and Olof Skoog (Sweden). An informal interactive dialogue on the same day with Council members and the six PBC country-configuration chairs and ambassadors of PBC-agenda countries is also expected.
Another briefing this month is the annual briefing by force commanders. The head of the peacekeeping department, Herve Ladsous, and force commanders from MINUSMA and the UN Mission in South Sudan as well as the chief of staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization are expected to brief on operational challenges related to the implementation of peacekeeping mandates including protection of civilians, operating in an asymmetrical environment and caveats and performance.
The Council is also scheduled to receive its semi-annual briefing from the chairs of the counter-terrorism committees, by Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaité (Lithuania), chair of the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee, Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen (New Zealand), chair of the 1267/1989 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and Ambassador Román Oyarzun (Spain), chair of the 1540 Committee.
Five resolutions are expected to be adopted this month. Four adoptions are for the renewal of UN missions: the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), the AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights (UNDOF) and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Briefings, followed by consultations, are planned for UNOCI, UNAMID and MINUSMA ahead of the adoptions. The briefers will be Special Representatives Aichatou Mindaoudou Souleymane and Mongi Hamdi, for UNOCI and MINUSMA respectively, and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet for UNAMID. A briefing in consultations on UNDOF is expected, most likely by Mulet. There will also be TCC meetings ahead of all four mission mandate adoptions. Council members are also following the talks between parties in Mali and a meeting may be needed if there is agreement on a formal outcome.
The fifth resolution expected this month is for the renewal of the mandate of the Panel of Experts for the 1737 Iran Sanctions Committee. Later in the month, the chair of the Committee, Ambassador Oyarzun (Spain), will present his quarterly briefing on work of the Committee.
Sudan features prominently in the June programme of work. Besides the meetings and adoption of a resolution on the mission in Darfur, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is expected to provide a semi-annual briefing on the Court’s work regarding Darfur. There will also be consultations on Sudan/South Sudan in the middle of the month with a briefing by Special Envoy Haile Menkerios.
Council members are following the situation in Burundi closely and a briefing is expected later this week by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Said Djinnit, and Adama Dieng, the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, who was in Burundi at the end of May.
There will also be the biannual briefing, followed by consultations, on the implementation of the UN regional strategy to combat the Lord’s Resistance Army by UNOCA’s head Abdoulaye Bathily which was postponed from May.
Middle East issues this month include the regular monthly briefings on the Syria chemical weapons track by High Representative for Disarmament Kim Won-soo and on the humanitarian track by OCHA’s deputy head, Kyung-wha Kang. These briefings have provided regular updates on the two tracks but little action has been taken this year. At press time a US draft resolution to set up a process to attribute responsibility for the use of chlorine bombs in Syria was being discussed between Russia and the US, but it was unclear when enough progress might be made to adopt. Meanwhile, the humanitarian leads—Jordan, New Zealand and Spain—are discussing with the P3 ways to strengthen the Council’s response to the use of siege tactics in Syria and the violation of the principle of medical neutrality, and if there is consensus, a meeting might be needed to agree to an outcome.
A briefing, followed by consultations, from Special Representative and head of UN Support Mission in Libya Bernardino León on the situation there is planned for the third week of June. The quarterly briefing by the chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Ramlan Ibrahim (Malaysia), on its work, and consultations on Libya sanctions are expected on the same day. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman will provide the monthly briefing, followed by consultations, on the Middle East, focusing largely on Israel/Palestine issues.
While not reflected in the programme of work, the situation in Yemen is also scheduled during “any other business” tomorrow (3 June) to update Council members. There is also likely to be an informal interactive dialogue on Somalia, possibly early next week, with head of the UN Mission in Somalia Nicholas Hay, and head of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Maman Sidikou, to discuss the forthcoming joint AU-UN report on AMISOM.
Throughout the month members will be following developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine and Yemen, as well as migrant smuggling issues and non-proliferation.
