Week 26, 28 June - 2 July 2021

Recent developments at the UNSC

• Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason welcomed the appointment of Nick Haysom as Special Representative for South Sudan in a Security Council meeting on South Sudan on Monday 21 June 2021.
• Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney addressed a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Tuesday 22 June 2021 and highlighted Ireland’s concern at the lack of progress in the peace process.
• Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason addressed a Security Council meeting on Central African Republic on Wednesday 23 June and called for all perpetrators of human rights and international humanitarian law to be held to account.
• Ireland and Norway delivered a joint statement on the humanitarian situation in Syria as co-penholders on the Syrian humanitarian file on Wednesday 23 June 2021 and highlighted the need to ensure the renewal of the cross border humanitarian aid mechanism on 10 July 2021.
• Ireland called on Israel to reopen the humanitarian crossing into Gaza, ensure unimpeded humanitarian assistance, facilitate movement of patients in need of urgent medical care and to lift its illegal blockade in a meeting on Israel-Palestine on Thursday 24 June 2021.
• UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen briefed UNSC members on Friday 25 June 2021 and stated that progress towards resolving Syria’s decade-long war is unlikely, given the ‘gulf of mistrust’ among parties and complexity of conditions on the ground.

Monday – 28^th June

• Annual open debate on children and armed conflict via videoconference. Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid will chair the meeting. Secretary-General António Guterres will present his annual report on children and armed conflict. The Council will also be briefed by Henrietta Fore, the Executive Director of UNICEF; Forest Whitaker, Advocate for Children Affected by War with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; and Laban Onisimus, an education specialist at Plan International Nigeria.

Tuesday – 29^th June  

• High level open debate on cybersecurity. Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, is expected to chair the meeting. The anticipated briefer is High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu.
• UNSC members are scheduled to vote in person on three resolutions: one renewing the mandate of the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights (UNDOF); a second renewing the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA); and a resolution outlining a timeline for the election of a new judge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), following the passing of Judge James Richard Crawford on 31 May 2021.

Wednesday – 30^th June

• UNSC members will vote in person on a resolution renewing the 1533 Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) sanctions regime and the mandate of its Group of Experts.
• Briefing on the implementation of resolution 2231, which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear programme in 2015. The expected briefers are the UNSC’s 2231 facilitator, Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason; Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo; and Head of the EU Delegation to the UN, Olof Skoog.

Thursday – 1^st July

• France assumes the Presidency of the Security Council. UNSC members also expect to adopt the provisional programme of work for July.

Friday – 2^nd July  

• The Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict will convene in person for a briefing from UNICEF on its Global Horizontal Note.