Protection of Civilians
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Tomorrow (23 March), the Security Council is convening a briefing on conflict and hunger, to be chaired by Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag. Briefings are expected from the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, and...
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In March, at the initiative of the Council president, the Netherlands, the Council is expected to hold a high-level briefing on conflict and hunger. Possible briefers include representatives of the UN’s Rome-based agencies.
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Tomorrow (1 December) there will be a closed Arria-formula meeting on unarmed approaches for the protection of civilians hosted by Uruguay, Senegal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Briefings will be provided by Namie Di Razza, a post-doctoral fellow at the...
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Tomorrow morning (13 October), France, Italy, Sweden and Uruguay are organising an Arria-formula meeting on the issue of attacks on schools. The briefers will be Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba; Joy Bishara, one of the female...
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In keeping with the Security Council’s August presidential statement on famine, a Secretariat official is expected to provide in October “an oral briefing…on country-specific impediments to an effective response to the risk of famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and northeast Nigeria and to make specific recommendations on how to address these impediments”. No immediate Council outcome is anticipated.
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Tomorrow (9 August), the Council is expected to adopt a presidential statement expressing its grave concern about the threat of famine presently facing more than 20 million people in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and north-east Nigeria. After the Council’s 16...
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On Friday (16 June), Security Council members will hold an Arria-formula open meeting on the risk of famine in the conflict-affected areas of north-east Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. The session is being co-hosted by the A3 (the three...
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At the initiative of Bolivia, the Security Council will hold a briefing tomorrow (13 June) under the agenda item maintenance of international peace and security with the title “Comprehensive Approach to Mine Action and Explosive Hazard Threat Mitigation.” Assistant Secretary-General...
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At the initiative of Bolivia, the Council is expected to hold a meeting in June on mine action and explosive hazard threat mitigation, with a briefing by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, and possibly one other speaker who would offer a perspective from the field. Bolivia is expected to circulate a concept note ahead of the meeting and has signalled its intention to propose a draft resolution.
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Tomorrow (25 May), the Security Council will hold a ministerial-level open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The meeting is expected to focus broadly on the protection of civilians agenda, as outlined in the Secretary-General’s recent report...
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In May, the Council will hold a ministerial-level open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs Rodolfo Nin Novoa will preside. Secretary-General António Guterres and a high-level representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are expected to brief, in addition to a possible civil society briefer. The meeting will focus on the broad array of issues in the Secretary-General’s report on the protection of civilians (expected to be released by 15 May) and on the implementation of resolution 2286 of 3 May 2016, which focused on the protection of health care in armed conflict. No formal outcome is anticipated, although Uruguay has expressed its intention to produce a chair’s summary of the debate.
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On Tuesday (14 March), the Security Council will hold a ministerial-level open debate on “Trafficking in persons in conflict situations: forced labour, slavery and other similar practices”, held under the Council agenda item “Maintenance of international peace and security”. The...
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Tomorrow (28 September), the Security Council will hold a briefing, followed by closed consultations, on the protection of health care in armed conflict. The focus of the discussion will be on the Secretary-General’s recommendations regarding measures to prevent attacks on...
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In late September, the Council will hold a briefing, followed by consultations, on the Secretary-General’s recommendations regarding measures to prevent attacks on health care in armed conflict, as requested by resolution 2286 of 3 May. Briefers may include the Secretary-General and representatives of civil society, although this had yet to be confirmed at press time.
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The informal expert group on the protection of civilians was formed in 2009 at the initiative of the UK, the penholder on the protection of civilians. The group, which continues to meet regularly in 2016, receives briefings from OCHA and asks questions of OCHA and other UN entities on relevant protection concerns prior to the mandate renewals of peace operations. While the expert group is not a formal subsidiary body of the Council, the idea for it grew out of a recommendation in the Secretary-General’s 2007 protection of civilians report, which called for establishing “a dedicated, expert-level working group to facilitate the systematic and sustained consideration and analysis of protection concerns, and to ensure consistent application of the aide-memoire for the consideration of issues pertaining to the protection of civilians”.
