Week 71, 16 - 20 May 2022

Ireland and the UN Security Council – This Week

This bulletin will provide a brief analysis of last week’s meetings at the UN Security Council (UNSC), and an overview of the upcoming meetings this week.

Last week, under the US Presidency the Security Council remained focused on the war in Ukraine and held two meeting to discuss the on-going situation. The Council managed to unanimously extend the mandate of its interim security force in Abyei for a six-month period. Meetings were also held on Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Afghanistan.

• Rosemary DiCarlo, Under Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, briefed the Security Council, on May 9 2022, in a closed session on Lebanon and the implementation of resolution 1559, which calls upon all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon. 

• The Council held the first of its two bi-annual debates on Bosnia and Herzegovina on 11 May 2022, and the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, briefed the Council for the first time, detailing rising tensions and a months-long political stalemate in the region. Ireland expressed support for a united and multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina and reaffirmed its support for Bosnia and Herzegovina as a European Union candidate. Ireland called on all parties in the region to renounce the use of deeply divisive rhetoric and the glorification of war criminals.
• The Council received a briefing on 11 May 2022 from Mohamed Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, who reported that The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has intensified the pace of its launches using ballistic missile technology. It was noted that the DPRK have fired more missiles in the past five months than in the prior two years combined. Ireland strongly condemned the recent missile launches and called for a diplomatic and peaceful resolution to the issues on the Korean Peninsula.

• On 12 May 2022 the Security Council unanimously extended for six months the mandate of its interim security force in Abyei, a contested region on the border of Sudan and South Sudan.  
• In a meeting on the war in Ukraine on 12 May 2022, Omar Abdi, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed the Council on the devastating toll the war is having on Ukraine’s children. Ireland called on the Secretary-General and the Special Representative to consider adding Ukraine as a “situation of concern” in the annual report on children and armed conflict and to use all tools and mechanisms available to address any such violations taking place in Ukraine.
• The Security Council held a closed meeting on Afghanistan on 12 May 2022. Ahead of the meeting Ireland and Mexico gave a joint statement as co-chairs of the Security Council Informal Expert Group on Women, Peace and Security, condemning the most recent Taliban-imposed restrictions which are systematically erasing the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

• The Council met on 13 May 2022 to consider new information submitted by the Russian Federation alleging the existence of biological weapons programmes in Ukraine. Thomas Markram, Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, countered this claim stating that the UN is not aware of any such programmes in Ukraine. He noted that Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, also confirmed these findings when she briefed the Council in March 2022. Ireland joined several other Members in calling on the Russian Federation to stop using the Council as a platform for its campaign of disinformation.

The Week Ahead (16 – 20 May 2022)

This week, the US will convene the first signature event of its Council presidency in May, an Open Debate on Conflict and Food Security. The Council will also hold meetings to discuss Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

Monday - 16 May 2022

• No official meetings.

Tuesday – 17 May 2022

• The Council will hold closed consultations on Yemen, at the request of UN Special Envoy, Hans Grundberg. The USG for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, is also expected to brief.
• The Council will hold a briefing and consultations on UNAMI (Iraq), with Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaerts, expected to brief ahead of the Mission’s scheduled mandate renewal.

Wednesday - 18 May 2022

• The Council will be briefed on the SG’s regular bi-annual report on the activities of the Joint Force of the G5 Sahel (FC-G5S).

Thursday - 19 May 2022

• The US will convene an Open Debate on Conflict and Food Security, the first signature event of its Council presidency in May. The meeting will be chaired by Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, who also plans to host a ministerial-level round table on food security during his visit to New York. Briefers are expected to include UNSG, Antonio Guterres, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Qu Dongyu, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, and a civil society representative.

Friday – 20 May 2022

• The Council will hold a briefing and consultations on Syria and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will brief.