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)

UNITED   NATIONS   –   NEW  YORK  –  The UNITED  STATES   officially took over as President of the UN Security Council  Tuesday for the month of August 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 July 2022.   The UN Security Council comprises  15 member states, including five permanent members – the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States and France.    As the signature event of its presidency, the US plans to convene a ministerial-level open debate early in the month on conflict and food insecurity. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will chair. Expected briefers include UN Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator Reena Ghelani; Navyn Salem, the founder and CEO of Edesia—a non-profit that combats malnutrition; and President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Rescue Committee David Miliband. Also anticipated in August is a briefing on the Secretary-General’s bi-annual strategic-level report on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) to international peace and security.  

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of August, briefs reporters on the programme of work of the Security Council for the month at world headquarters New York  Aug. 01, 2023. (UN Photo, Manuel Elías)

US Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will spotlight food insecurity and the conflicts that exacerbate it, including Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine during her UN presidency.  During its last Security Council presidency in May 2022, the United States convened partners from around the world to craft a Roadmap for Global Food Security, according to Thomas-Greenfield. She said this year the US will take additional steps to galvanize partners on this issue. This is the third time that she will serve as the president of the Security Council since arriving at UN in February of 2021.  Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield laid out the US Programme during a press briefing with reporters at UN world headquarters in New York. 

“Our first priority, addressing famine and food insecurity, is deeply personal to me. I’ve seen firsthand what happens to people who have hunger thrust upon them – people who, but for the accident of time and place, are no different from any of us here today. Addressing famine and food insecurity has motivated my work throughout my career, and taking on this global crisis has been a top priority of the Biden Administration from day one. We know food security is national security, and we know without a shadow of a doubt it is within our power to feed the world and end famine.”

-US Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of August, briefs reporters on the programme of work of the Security Council for the month at world headquarters New York  Aug. 01, 2023. (/usun.usmission.gov)

The ambassador said it is essential to root out conflict-induced food insecurity:

“Around the world, hostilities breed hunger, fighting breeds famine, and we see this in places like Yemen and Sudan and Syria and elsewhere, and, of course, in Ukraine, where President Putin’s forces have weaponized food,” the US Ambassador said.  Russia has launched a full-scale assault on the world’s breadbasket and it is dead-set on depriving the world of Ukraine’s grains. That’s why Moscow unilaterally withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and it’s why it mercilessly attacked the Odesa region and other ports in Ukraine. Conflict-induced hunger is a pressing matter of international peace and security and the Council must take action.”

Middle Eastern issues on the programme of work in August are:

• Syria, meetings on the political, humanitarian and chemical weapons tracks;

• Yemen, monthly meeting on developments;
• The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, the monthly meeting

African issues on the programme of work are:

• Libya, meeting on the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the 1970 Libya sanctions regime

• Mali, meeting on developments and vote to renew the 2374 Mali sanctions regime and the mandate of its Panel of Experts.

Asian issues on the programme of work are:

• Central Asia, meeting on the work of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA)

• Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), briefing on the work of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee.

The Council is also expected to hold a briefing on Ukraine in August. The Council may also hold additional meetings on Ukraine during the month.