The Week Ahead at the UN Security Council

19 - 23 March 2018

Dear Colleague,

On Monday (19 March), there will be a briefing on the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Briefers will include Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock, who recently visited the country, and Jeanine Bandu Bahati, Coordinator for Encadrement des Femmes Indigènes et des Ménages Vulnérables, a DRC-based human rights organisation.

Also on Monday, a briefing by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on the human rights situation on Syria has been scheduled.

In addition, a presidential statement on the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is expected to be adopted.

On Tuesday (20 March), Acting Special Coordinator for Lebanon Pernille Dahler Kardel, and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bintou Keita will update Council members in consultations on the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of resolution 1701 (Lebanon), which called for a cessation of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

Also on Tuesday, there will be an informal interactive dialogue on Syria chemical weapons with the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, and the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Üzümcü, participating.

On Wednesday (21 March), the Council plans to adopt a resolution renewing the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee for another 13 months.

Also on Wednesday, there will be briefings from the Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Ghassan Salamé, and Ambassador Olof Skoog (Sweden), the chair of the Libya Sanctions Committee. These briefings will be followed by consultations.

Consultations on the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) are planned for Wednesday as well. The Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Western Sahara, Horst Köhler, and Special Representative Colin Stewart, appointed to head MINURSO on 1 December 2017, are expected to brief.

On Thursday (22 March), there will be a briefing on the Lake Chad Basin, with a specific focus on the root causes of the Boko Haram crisis. The Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed will brief together with representatives from the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Adelphi, a think tank on climate, environment and development.

On Friday (23 March), the Council will receive a briefing on Conflict and Hunger, which is a follow-up to last year’s August presidential statement (S/PRST/2017/14) and October meeting (S/PV.8069) on famine. This meeting will be chaired by Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag, and briefings are expected from Lowcock and David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme.

At the subsidiary body level, a meeting of the Military Staff Committee is scheduled for Friday. It is expected to focus on Implementation of the UN Intelligence Policy Framework.

Background information on these and other issues has been published in the March 2018 Monthly Forecast.

Further Council developments will be published on What’s In Blue.