Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias /     Dian Triansyah Djani, Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of August 2020. 

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –  NEW  YORK –   INDONESIA  officially took over as President of the UN Security Council Monday for the month of August with a theme of Advancing Sustainable Peace.  Ambassador  Dian Triansyah Djani, Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of August, laid out the Council’s programme of work for August during a press conference Monday. The Security Council is expected to continue to work largely remotely, due to COVID-19 restrictions, it may hold some meetings on UN premises.  The presidency of the council is held by each of the members for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the member states’ names.  Indonesia  follows Germany  which held the presidency the month of July.  This is the second time that Indonesia assumed the presidency during its membership of the Security Council for the period of 2019-2020.  Ambassador Djani said Indonesia’s theme of advancing sustainable peace portrays its vision for the UNSC through three themes:

-Advancing The Agenda of Sustaining Peace in the Post-Covid Pandemic World

-Advancing The Responses to Address New Security Challenges

-Advancing The Efforts to Unite The UN Security Council

“Since  COVID-19 might cause political instability and conflict relapse, we aim to advance the Council’s efforts in mitigating the peace and security in the time of pandemic. Indonesia puts high concern on the new emerging security challenges during the pandemic situation. Among other things, cyber security and terrorism, which could cause humanitarian impacts. We will also continue to play our role as the bridge builder between Council’s member states to foster a united voice from UNSC in addressing threats to international peace and security.”

-Dian Triansyah Djani, Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the UN

Ambassador Djani also stressed that Indonesia believes the role of the  UN Security Council is to maintain international peace and security.

“In fact, it becomes more relevant than ever. The ongoing crisis shall not hamper our efforts for peace.”

The Palestine Question is A Priority for Indonesia 

There will also be a strong focus on counter-terrorism issues during Indonesia’s presidency.  Indonesia has chosen to hold a ministerial-level open debate on the linkages between terrorism and transnational organised crime. The possible briefers are UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov, and Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Ghada Waly.  Indonesia’s other open debate is pandemics and the challenges to peace building and sustaining peace.   There will be the three monthly Syria meetings: open and closed VTCs on the political and humanitarian situation and a closed VTC on the use of chemical weapons. The monthly meetings on developments in Yemen and on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question are also planned in both open and closed format.  The Palestine Question has historically been and continues to be a priority for Indonesia, a Southeast Asia nation home to the largest population of Muslims in the world.    Ambassador Djani’s goal is to ensure that there is no annexation of the territory. 

The Council will be briefed on the latest Secretary-General’s report on the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS), as well as developments in the country following the post-electoral crisis earlier in the year. The quarterly briefing by the chair of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee in a closed session is also anticipated in August. Council members may also participate in a “virtual visiting mission” to meet with key stakeholders in Somalia ahead of the adoption. The Council will be watching developments in Burundi, Iran,  Libya, Myanmar and Sudan, as well as those related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and additional meetings may be added as necessary.

Credit: UN Photo / /Laura Jarriel / Dian Triansyah Djani, Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Great Lakes region Oct. 3, 2019 at UN world headquarters in New York City.

Before his current UN posting,  Djani was the Director General for America and Europe in his country’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 2012.  Between 2009 and 2012, he served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations bodies in Geneva, including the World Trade Organization. His overseas postings included service in Indonesia’s Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva, from 1997 to 2001, and in New York, from 1991 to 1994, having begun his career in the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1985.  Djani holds master’s degrees in economics from the University of Indonesia and in economic development from Vanderbilt University in the United States.