The Security Council’s programme in October will feature two regular open debates and one signature event, alongside five important mandate renewals, its President for the month said at a Headquarters press conference today.
Pascale Christine Baeriswyl of Switzerland, which holds the 15-member organ’s rotating presidency for October, said her country was convening only one additional signature event, given that the month was “traditionally the busiest of the year”, and that it is taking up the mantle of the organ at a time when “very serious escalation risks” are cropping up in several parts of the world. The signature event in question is a briefing on 21 October on the impact of scientific developments on international peace and security, to be chaired by Ignazio Cassis, the Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, she said.
The second signature event, the annual open debate on women, peace and security, on 24 October, will be chaired by the President of the Swiss Confederation, with briefings by United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous and civil society representatives. The event, titled “Women Building Peace in a Changing Environment”, would draw from insights from a retreat of women mediators from all over the world, held by her country earlier in 2024, she added.
A quarterly open debate on 29 October will address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, she said, adding that discussions on the topic will be needed well before that date, “given recent developments on the ground”.
Also highlighting an annual briefing on the collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union, which kicked off the packed calendar for the month on 2 October, she said the event will be followed up by a “fireside chat” in upstate New York on 17 October on the implementation of Council resolution 2719 (2023), in which African Union youth ambassadors would participate. She voiced hope that a joint communiqué would be subsequently adopted.
On 27 October, the Council will hold its annual private meeting with the President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Nawaf Salam. The interaction between the two organizations would focus on how it could have a “stronger preventative role”, given that the international community was turning to the Court more than ever in these times, she added.
Other briefings during the month would focus on Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Haiti and Colombia, she went on, adding that “at least a Foreign Minister” would be participating in the latter, a quarterly briefing which would include the mandate renewal of the UN Verification Mission in the country. There would also be “high-level attendance” at the briefing on 30 October on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in (UNMIK), she added.
Asked why no meetings were scheduled on Ukraine, when “a lot is happening that is not good”, she replied that meetings on that country would be scheduled when the penholders asked for them. “We will have some soon,” she added.
Responding to a flurry of questions from correspondents on the unfolding situation involving missile launches by Iran against Israel following the latter’s ground incursion into Lebanon, she said that her delegation was following the rapidly evolving situation and its escalation with “great concern”. In response to a follow-up question on the same topic, she said that any remarks she made may not be adequate in two hours given that “the situation is evolving rapidly”. Nonetheless, she emphasized, “The urgency is a ceasefire; a cessation of hostilities.”
Asked by a Lebanese correspondent whether Council resolution 7001 (2006) and Council resolution 1559 (2004), adopted in response to conflicts in her country, were “totally obsolete” in light of Israel’s recent invasion, she said that what was urgently needed was the implementation of these instruments, not new resolutions. “Like in many contexts, these instruments, if respected, would lead to a durable cessation of hostilities,” she said, adding that both resolutions remained in place, and needed to be respected and implemented.
Questioned about the Council’s credibility given its failure to produce any “concrete output” on Israel’s hostilities in Gaza, which had spread to Lebanon and Syria, she said that the organ decided four resolutions on the matter, although it was contending with a “huge implementation crisis”. “We need Security Council resolutions and credible threat to all actors, that there will be consequences if resolutions are not implemented,” she said, adding: “We need big powers to be credible when they act, and interact.” While it is frustrating that people are dying while resolutions are not implemented, she asserted that the Council and its diplomacy are “not useless”, pointing out that emergency meetings on the polio campaign in Gaza helped save children’s lives.
Pressed further on the Council’s inability to bring about peace in Gaza as a new war threatens to break out in Lebanon, in light of meetings held outside the United Nations by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, she said, “Everything which can support forging peace is welcome.” The Council is a powerful instrument and should be reformed, she said, echoing frustration that it was unable to stop the ongoing escalation. However, she added: “In a divided world where international law is so systematically disrespected, a policy organ cannot alone change the course of history.”
