Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine Feb. 25, 2022. (UN Photo/Mark Garten)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – The UNITED STATES officially took over as President of the UN Security Council Tuesday for the month of May with a focus on conflict and food security. The President of the Security Council for May and Permanent Representative of the United States is Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. United States follows the United Kingdom which held the rotating presidency the month of April 2022. The UN Security Council comprises 15 member states, including five permanent members – the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States and France. The US plans to organise two signature events. US plans to organise two signature events. The first signature event for May 19 is a briefing on conflict and food security under the agenda item maintenance of international peace and security. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to the UN to chair the meeting. The second signature event set for May 23 is a briefing on technology and security under the same agenda item.
“As we did last year, the U.S. will convene a Security Council meeting to examine the nexus between conflict and food security. The Council will consider ways to ensure increasing food security does not drive new conflicts and instability, particularly in fragile states. I’ve seen starvation up close with my own eyes. That famine and acute malnutrition are largely caused by war, sometimes intentionally, is really unacceptable. This is even more urgent today because of Russia’s unconscionable invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine, as you all know, used to be a breadbasket for the developing world, but since Russia has spurned the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, blocked crucial ports and destroyed civilian infrastructure and grain silos, desperate hunger situations in Africa and the Middle East are getting even more dire.”
-U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
(Photo by Gary Raynaldo / © Diplomatic Times ) Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations , briefs reporters on the UN Security Council’s May Programme of Work for the month of May at UN world headquarters in New York May, 03, 2022.
In May 2018, the Security Council adopted of resolution 2417 on 24 May 2018 regarding conflict and food security. The resolution identified how conflict contributes to hunger—through the direct effects of war, such as displacement from farming or grazing land and the destruction of agricultural assets, or indirectly by disrupting markets and increasing food prices, among other things. The resolution called on conflict parties to comply with relevant international law, including the Geneva Conventions, condemned the use of starvation as a method of warfare, and notes that the Council has adopted and can consider adopting new sanctions on those responsible for obstructing humanitarian assistance. The effects of the war in Ukraine on the global food system have further exacerbated food insecurity.
RUSSIA “Isolated” in UN Security Council – U.S. Ambassador
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said Russia has been successfully isolated in the UN Security Council despite criticism that the Council has been unable to stop the two-month long war, in response to a reporter’s question during Tuesday’s press briefing.
“And in response to your question about the criticism of the Security Council not being able to stop the war and if there’s anything else we are planning, I think while it has been a challenge, the Security Council has been extraordinarily successful. We have been successful in isolating Russia in the Security Council, and that’s a significant success. We have been successful in unifying the voices condemning Russia in the General Assembly, but it came about because there was so much support for it in the Security Council. Russia is isolated in the Security Council, and every time we have a discussion in the Security Council as it relates to Russia, they are on the defensive and we will continue to keep them on the defensive until they end their brutal attack on the Ukrainian people.”
-Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO – May 03, 2022 / UNITED NATIONS – U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield in press briefing with reporters.
The U.S. ambassador said the Security Council will press Russia to cooperate with Secretary-General and the Red Cross’ effort to facilitate the evacuations of civilians from Mariupo. “We say to the Russians that they have to do the right thing – they have to continue to guarantee safe passage for any civilians who wish to leave and not impede it in any way, and they must also allow deliveries of humanitarian assistance, particularly food and medicines, to those who are left behind, as well as safe passage for volunteers who have gone in to help those individuals. We will continue to press the Russians on this.”
UN Supports Efforts on Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights Globally – Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield
A reporter asked the ambassador about the recent explosive news that the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to overturn aborting rights. “Well, the Supreme Court hasn’t spoken yet, and while we’ve seen this document that has been leaked and it raises a number of concerns for all of us in our international policies for – in terms of support for women and girls’ reproductive health, we will continue to support those efforts. We brought back U.S. policy to align with our allies, with the United Nations, and with global norms and to ensure that we were supporting efforts on women’s health and reproductive rights globally. We restored our funding to the UNFPA. We have supported across the board issues related to women.
President Biden put out a strong statement – I think it was today – in terms of the U.S. plan for how we will deal with these issues moving forward, and he was very clear that we will move forward, not backward, as it relates to women’s reproductive rights.”
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO – May 03, 2022 / UNITED NATIONS – U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield in press briefing with reporters.
AFRICAN ISSUES On May Security Council Programme of Work
In May, the Security Council is expected to hold its annual open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict based on the SecretaryGeneral’s annual report on this issue. African issues on the programme of work in May are:
• Libya, briefing and consultations on the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and briefing by the Chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee
• Sahel, briefing and consultations on the G-5 Sahel
• Somalia, briefing and consultations on the UN Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and renewal of the UNSOM mandate;
• Sudan/SouthSudan, mandate renewalof the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA)
• Sudan, briefing and consultations on the UN Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS)
• South Sudan, renewal of the 2206 South Sudan Sanctions regime and the Panel of Experts
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield is a Career Diplomat
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to be the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations as well as the Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council of the United Nations on January 20, 2021. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career diplomat, returned to public service after retiring from a 35-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service in 2017. From 2013 to 2017 she served as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, where she led the bureau focused on the development and management of U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa.
