United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson (credit: Wikipedia)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – The UNITED KINGDOM officially took over the rotating Presidency of the UN Security Council Monday. 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. United Kingdom follows TUNISIA which held the presidency the month of October. The UN Security Council comprises 15 member states, including five permanent members – the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States and France. During its term on UN Security Council, the UK’s signature events will focus on COVID-19, Climate Change and Conflict. The high-level meeting on security risks in climate-vulnerable contexts is expected to be chaired by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The COVID-19 meeting will focus on equitable access to vaccines, especially in conflict-affected areas; UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is expected to chair. There will also be a briefing on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and the Secretary-General’s twelfth strategic-level report on this issue.
Dame Barbara Woodward as the UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York
Dame Barbara Woodward , UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (credit: gov.uk)
Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN laid out England’s UN Security Council Program of Work for the month of February at a press conference Monday.
“Our overall objective is a Security Council that addresses significant global challenges and those I think come into three words beginning with C: Covid, Conflict and Climate. We will bring the Council together on these critical issues: -COVID-19 -Conflict -Climate. But we also want to see a security council that is taking the opportunity for new agreements given the new members and the new commitment of the U.S. (Biden) administration to multilateralism.”
-Barbara Woodward , UK Permanent Representative to United Nations
Ambassador Woodward said the UN Security Council COVID meetings will address vaccinations and access to vaccines. On Conflict, the first priority for the Security Council is Syria chemical weapons, and humanitarian assistance. On Climate, the Security Council meeting is expected to consider conflict risks, peacebuilding approaches and ways to support adaptation and resilience in climate-vulnerable contexts. UK Prime Minister Johnson is expected to brief. It is anticipated that Secretary-General António Guterres will be one of the briefers.
UN Security Council Meetings On AFRICA Include SOMALIA, SUDAN
Several meetings are planned on Somalia. The Council will receive a briefing on developments in Somalia and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). A meeting is also planned on the 751 Somalia sanctions committee. At the end of the month the Council is expected to renew the authorisation of the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Other African issues include:
• CAR, update on developments and the most recent MINUSCA report
• Sudan, renewal of the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee.
UN Middle East Meetings Include YEMEN Financial ,Travel Ban Sanctions
The monthly meeting on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question” will include a briefing followed by consultations. Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland may brief. Several Middle East issues are on the programme. The monthly meeting on Yemen will consist of a briefing, followed by consultations. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock are expected to brief. General Abhijit Guha, the head of the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), is likely to participate in consultations. Ambassador I. Rhonda King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the chair of the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee, is expected to brief on the committee’s work in the open session prior to the consultations. Anticipated this month as well is the renewal of Yemen financial and travel ban sanctions and the mandate of the Yemen Panel of Experts.
Before her latest appointment, Ambassador Woodward was her country’s top diplomat to China between February 2015 and August 2020. She joined the Board of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as Director-General Economic and Consular in October 2011, working on economic diplomacy and emerging Powers.
Earlier in her Foreign Office career, Woodward worked on economic and security aspects of foreign policy in China, where she served as Deputy Ambassador from 2007 to 2009, the Russian Federation from 1994 until 1998, the European Union and at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. From 2009 to 2011, Ms. Woodward was International Director at the United Kingdom Border Agency. Woodward received a master’s degree in history from Saint Andrews University in the United Kingdom in 1983, and a master’s degree in international relations from Yale University in the United States, in 1990.
