Passing on the Baton – Malta, a New Voice for Small Island States on the UNSC

On 1 February 2023, just one month after taking up its seat on the United Nations Security Council, Malta commenced its month-long Presidency of the Council. Malta was elected to the UN Security Council for the 2023-2024 term in June of 2022, garnering 97.3% of the casted votes.[1]

The Security Council is comprised of five permanent members, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten elected members that are selected for two-year terms by the General Assembly. This year Malta, alongside Ecuador, Japan, Mozambique, and Switzerland join the Council as elected member. This is the second time in its history that Malta has obtained a seat on the UNSC, after previously serving in 1983-1984.  The President of Malta, George Vella, stated that although Malta is not going to lead the world it will be one of the 15 countries that will make decisions, among other responsibilities, to maintain peace and security around the world.

President George Vella

Following its election, Malta’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ian Borg, outlined that Malta’s work on the Council will be guided by three important principles: security, sustainability, and solidarity.

 

Minister Ian Borg

Malta’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, H.E. Vanessa Frazier, has detailed that Malta will also be focusing on key issues such as children and armed conflicts, advancing the women, peace and security agenda, highlighting climate change and its connection to seas and oceans as an existential threat and emphasising literacy as a peace-building tool.

 

H.E. Vanessa Frazier

As fellow small island nations on the periphery of Europe, Ireland and Malta both know the important value that small states bring to the Security Council. Malta will now, as Ireland did during its 2021-2022 term, represent the priorities and values of the EU, as well as the voice of small island states. Malta’s policy of military neutrality and commitment to disarmament, places it in line to take over the baton from Ireland in representing an independent voice on the Council. Despite the proliferation of threats and challenges to international peace and security, Malta hopes to be the bridge-builder while it sits at the top table of multilateral diplomacy. One clear example of this is that Malta has taken over from Ireland as Facilitator of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 on the Iran nuclear deal.

The Presidency of the UN Security Council rotates among the 15 member states of the Council on a monthly basis. The Council Presidency plans the programme of work for the month. The UN Secretariat provides the base programme of work with information on mandate renewals and reporting cycles and the President of the Council will add to the programme of work events it considers to be of particular importance.[2]

On 1 February 2023, Malta, as President of the Security Council, held a press conference on the Security Council’s programme of work for February. H.E. Vanessa Frazier detailed that Malta will hold two signature events during its Presidency. The first, will be a briefing on Children and Armed Conflict, with a focus on prevention. This briefing, which will take place on 13 February 2023, the day after the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers will underscore the importance of measures to prevent violence. This will require a strategic and proactive approach at community, national, regional and sub-regional level. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, will brief the Council alongside a civil society briefer.

The second signature event of Malta’s Presidency, a High-Level debate on sea-level rise, will take place on 14 February 2023. The debate will be chaired by Malta’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Ian Borg, and will explore security risks related to sea-level rise, which are already a daily reality for many people around the world. The heaviest burden in this regard falls on small island developing states and women and girls.

Minister Borg will also chair two additional meetings on 23 and 24 February 2023.  The former will focus on cooperation between the United Nations and the European Union and will feature a briefing by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.  The second meeting will mark the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine and will be held under the agenda item “Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine”.

In 2023 Malta, as the only small island state on the UN Security Council, aspires to promote, security, sustainability and solidarity and is using its voice as Council President to call for peace in a time of war.