UNSC Security Council Report August 2021

 

August 2021 Monthly Forecast 30 July 2021 Dear Ramesh, In August, India will have the presidency of the Security Council. Most meetings are expected to be in person this month. India has chosen to convene two signature events during its presidency. One is a high-level videoconference (VTC) open debate on maritime security. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, will chair the meeting. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet, and Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), are expected to brief the Council. A presidential statement is an expected outcome. India is also planning to hold a ministerial-level open debate on “Technology and Peacekeeping”. India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, will chair the debate. Under-Secretaries-General for Peace Operations and Operational Support, Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Atul Khare, respectively, are expected to brief. A presidential statement is an anticipated outcome. India may also pursue a resolution on the protection of peacekeepers during the month. The Council will meet to discuss the Secretary-General’s 13th strategic-level report on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Da’esh) in August. India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, is expected to chair the meeting. Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov, the head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), and Assistant Secretary-General Michèle Coninsx, the Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), are expected to brief. The Council is expected to hold its monthly meetings on the political and humanitarian situations and on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Other Middle East issues on the programme of work this month are expected to be: Lebanon, a meeting on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate; Yemen, the monthly meeting on developments; “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”, the monthly meeting; and Iraq, a meeting on the most recent developments and the Secretary-General’s two upcoming reports concerning the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and missing Kuwaiti property and missing third party and Kuwaiti nationals. African issues that the Council expects to address in August are: Somalia, a meeting on the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the renewal of the UNSOM mandate; and Mali, the renewal of the Mali asset freeze and travel ban sanctions and the mandate of the Mali Sanctions Committee’s Panel of Experts, as well as consideration of the Secretary-General’s 15 July report with recommendations on the force level of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The quarterly briefing by the chair of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee is also anticipated in August. The Council will continue to follow developments in Ethiopia (Tigray), Haiti and Myanmar closely during the month. Meetings on these and other issues are possible. Follow us on Twitter @SCRTweets. The Forecast is available in PDF. See the link below:

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/2021_08_forecast.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=30%20July%202021%20Campaign%201&utm_content=30%20July%202021%20Campaign%201+CID_25047201d402768bf911935b45426939&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter&utm_term=PDF

Civil war looms over Myanmar

David and Goliath: Myanmar’s Armed Resistance at the Crossroads

“We can’t just wait to get help until we die”: More and more protesters see no hope for a return to democracy outside of taking up arms.

By Robert Bociaga

July 27, 2021

Read full article at https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/david-and-goliath-myanmars-armed-resistance-at-the-crossroads/

Can China Be Tamed Through Economics?

Article in DRI Asia Review on 30July 2021: Can China Be Tamed Through Economics?

Despite all the talk of China-U.S. economic decoupling and premonition (and hyperventilation) about a new Cold War in the making, it is business as usual when it comes to trade between the two countries. On July 22, Bloomberg reported that despite Donald Trump’s tariffs designed to temper Chinese exports to the United States and reduce his country’s trade deficit with China, bilateral trade has bounced back to a new record. Noting this development, the news outlet wrote: “Eighteen months after the Trump administration signed the phase-one trade deal [in January 2020], the agreement has turned out to be a truce at best. The US trade deficit has not shrunk, most levies are still in place, and it has not led to negotiations over other economic issues.” Read the full article at https://thediplomat.com/ads/dri-asia-review/2021-07-30/index.html