Week 42, 18 - 22 October 2021

Recent developments at the UNSC

• The Security Council held a meeting on diversity state-building and the search for peace on 12 October 2021. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason called for more investment in human rights, inclusion and in critical moments of transition.
• The Security Council working group on peacekeeping met to discuss the positive impact of UN Police on Global Policing on 12 October 2021. Ireland focused on how positive policing can protect civilians in this critical phase.
• The Security Council held a meeting on Western Sahara on 13 October 2021. Ireland reiterated its support to the UN Mission (MINURSO) and called for a political solution.
• In a Security Council meeting on Yemen on 14 October 2021, Ireland reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire.
• In a Security Council meeting on Colombia on 14 October 2021, Ireland noted its concern at continued violence and the targeting of ex-combatants and human rights defenders and called on the international community to redouble efforts to protect a hard won peace.
• In a Security Council meeting on the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on 15 October 2021, Ireland expressed full support for the mission’s mandate and emphasised the need for Kosovo & Serbia to engage constructively with the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.
• The Security Council agreed a Press Statement condemning the attack on a Shia mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan on 15 October 2021, following a similar attack last week.
• The Security Council adopted a Press Statement on the sharp deterioration of the situation on the ground in Gok Machar, South Sudan, on 15 October 2021.

Monday – 18^th October

• Open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on the Central African Republic (CAR). Special Representative for the CAR and head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) Mankeur Ndiaye will brief. Representatives of the AU and the EU, and a civil society briefer, are also likely to brief the Council.
• Arria-formula meeting on “Sea-Level Rise and Implications for International Peace and Security”, which is spearheaded by Vietnam.

Tuesday – 19^th October  

• Quarterly open debate on the “Middle East, including the Palestinian Question”. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland is expected to brief.

Wednesday – 20^th October   

• Kenya will convene a ministerial-level debate on the Great Lakes Region. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Raychelle Omamo will chair the meeting. The expected briefers are Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region Huang Xia, Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) João Caholo, and Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee. A civil society representative may also brief. A presidential statement is the expected outcome of this meeting.
• Chair of the 751 Somalia Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, will deliver her 120-day periodic briefing to the Council on the activities of the committee.
• Council members will receive the semi-annual briefing on the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of resolution 1559 on the situation in Lebanon in closed consultations.

Thursday – 21^st October

• The Security Council will hold its annual open debate on women, peace and security. Secretary-General António Guterres will deliver opening remarks. The anticipated briefers are UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous; AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security Bineta Diop; and a civil society representative.

Friday – 22^nd October

• The 751 Somalia Sanctions Committee will convene for informal consultations to hear a briefing on the implementation of the embargo on the export of charcoal from Somalia from a representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).