July 2021: French Presidency of the Security Council [fr]
Within the United Nations, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Its decisions are binding and apply to all UN members.
The Security Council is composed of 15 member states: 5 permanent and 10 elected for 2 years.
As a founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member of the Security Council, France plays a leading role in matters relating to peace and security, both in the drafting of resolutions and their implementation, but also in promoting effective multilateralism.
The role of the Presidency of the Security Council
The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the Member States names.
France will hold the Presidency of the Security Council in July 2021, following Estonia, President in June and before India who will take the Presidency in August.
The Presidency plays an essential role in the functioning of the Security Council:
- it establishes the program of work for the month
- It prepares and chairs the meetings and ensures that the debates are properly conducted
- It makes public the decisions, statements and press releases of the Council
To this end, France and the other members of the European Union in the Security Council, Estonia and Ireland, have developed good practices common to their presidencies of the Security Council in order to promote transparency, interactivity and efficiency in the work of the Security Council.
Furthermore, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Security Council had to adapt its working methods and its sessions have been held by videoconference since March 2020. With the improvement of the health situation and the easing of the restrictive measures put in place by the city of New York, the work of the Security Council is gradually returning to normal. After a hybrid system in June (videoconference and fin person meetings), all sessions should be held in person in the Security Council chamber again.
Our priorities for the presidency
During our presidency, we will place particular emphasis on:
- Humanitarian action, with
o a ministerial meeting on the preservation of the humanitarian space, with the participation of Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
o the renewal of the cross-border aid mechanism for Syria
o consultations on the humanitarian situation in Syria
- Peace and security in North Africa and the Middle East, with a particular focus on:
o Libya, with a ministerial meeting attended by Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
o Yemen
o the open debate on the Middle East
o Consultations on Syria (chemical weapons and politics)
o Lebanon
The Presidency of the Council will also be punctuated by the calendar of regular and obligatory deadlines such as meetings on the Democratic Republic of Congo, West Africa and the Sahel, Colombia, Darfur and Cyprus, renewals of peacekeeping operation mandates (UNFICYP), or the adoption of other texts.
To follow all the news of the Council, follow us on Twitter with @franceonu and #FrPrez.