Security Council: Press Conference

The Security Council had undertaken a significant amount of work over the past month, including several well-attended debates, Mohammad Masood Khan (Pakistan), that body’s outgoing President, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

The Security Council would focus in January on comprehensive strategies to stamp out global terrorism and bolster the effectiveness of United Nations peacekeeping operations, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency for the month, said today.

During its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, South Africa had helped to bolster international peace and security — on the African continent in particular — while advocating for a stronger, more coordinated relationship between the Council and the African Union, the country’s Permanent Representative said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The value of early and sustained action by the Security Council was dramatically affirmed during Germany’s tenure, which was dominated by momentous change in the Arab world, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations said at a press conference today.

The Security Council in December planned to intensify its focus on the Sahel, particularly the crisis in Mali, along with continued consideration of a range of situations around the world, the Permanent Representative of Morocco said as he briefed correspondents at Headquarters on the programme of work for his country’s presidency of the body.

The Security Council’s work programme for November will be packed not only with discussions of difficult situations around the world, but also with business not completed at the end of last month, the Permanent Representative of India, which holds the body’s presidency for the month, told correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon.

Women, peace and security, the rule of law, and the Middle East would be discussed in open debates this month at the Security Council, the Permanent Representative of Guatemala said this afternoon as he introduced the agenda for his October presidency of that body.

Forging greater ties between the United Nations and the League of Arab States to address Middle East turmoil and working closely with their new Joint Special Representative on the crisis in Syria would be among the top priorities of the Security Council in September, the Permanent Representative of Germany, whose delegation holds the Council’s rotating presidency for this month, said today.

With “military logic winning the day” in Syria’s 16-month-old conflict and the Security Council deadlocked over how to address it, the 15-member body would likely cancel the United Nations observer mission to that country and seek consensus on a new resolution focused on humanitarian aid for the 3 million Syrians in need of emergency relief, the representative of France, which hold’s the Council’s rotating presidency for this month, said this afternoon.

With the crises in Syria and Mali, a broad reassessment of peacebuilding schedules and many peacekeeping mandates coming to term, July looks very busy for the Security Council, the Permanent Representative of Colombia, which will hold the 15‑member body’s rotating presidency for that month, said today.