Reviews of major peacekeeping and peace-building efforts, as well as a members’ mission to Africa, will be among the most significant activities of the Security Council in April, the permanent representative of Japan said today.
Security Council: Press Conference
The Security Council will have an open debate on the impact of illicit arms trafficking on peace and security in the Central African region on 19 March, Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet of Gabon, this month’s Council President, said today at Headquarters.
Ambassador Gérard Araud, of France, which holds the Security Council’s rotating Presidency this month, told reporters today that the 15-member body would kick off its work with a briefing tomorrow from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on his recent travels, as well as on the massive humanitarian effort underway in earthquake-devastated Haiti.
It was particularly important this month for the Security Council to strengthen coordination with regional organizations, as it considered the next steps in situations such as Somalia, Ambassador Zhang Yesui of China, whose country holds the body’s presidency for January, told correspondents at Headquarters today.
Burkina Faso, December’s President of the Security Council, had organized an open debate on “drug trafficking as a threat to international security” on 8 December, that country’s Permanent Representative Michel Kafando said today at Headquarters.
This month’s President of the Security Council, Thomas Mayr-Harting from Austria, today briefed correspondents on November’s programme of work, which will include a debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict chaired by Austria’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The main purpose of reviewing every entry on the Consolidated List compiled by the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee was to improve its credibility, Committee Chairman Thomas Mayr-Harting, Permanent Representative of Austria, said today at a Headquarters press conference.
During the month of October, the Security Council would hold two open debates in which non-Council Member States could participate, respectively, on “women, peace and security” and on the situation in the Middle East, Council President Le Luong Minh, the Permanent Representative of Viet Nam, said today.
For the first time in history, a President of the United States would chair a meeting of the Security Council, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations said at a Headquarters press conference today.
Ahead of the Security Council’s adoption of a groundbreaking resolution on children and armed conflict, the top United Nations official on the issue, Radhika Coomaraswamy, and Claude Heller, Permanent Representative of Mexico, today hailed the resolution as a major step forward in the fight against impunity for crimes against children.