Latest in United Nations Security Council
In March, the United States assumed the presidency of the U.N. Security Council for the month. Here’s our brief on the U.S.’s program of work.
My hat is off to the Trump administration’s deft diplomacy in the United Nations Security Council.
Human rights issues are vitally important, but that does not mean that the United Nations Security Council should address them.
The Chilcot Inquiry into the Blair Government’s 2003 decision to go to war with Iraq examines at length the role of the lawyers under immense policy and political pressure.
UN Security Council members are holding an informal meeting today on protecting Palestinian civilians from war crimes. Security Council Report offers this background on the session:
In the last few weeks, the world has confronted horrifying photographs of children with sunken eyes and emaciated bodies and haunting anecdotes of men eating strawberry leaves after having not had real meals in months. These images told of the mountain-town of Madaya, a Syrian village of 40,000 that has been under siege since July 2015 by a combination of Syrian troops and Hezbollah militants.
Last week, the Obama administration was on the verge of announcing new sanctions on individuals and companies accused of helping Iran develop its ballistic missile program. At the last minute, however, the administration notified Congress that it would be delaying the imposition of these sanctions, without offering any explanation for the delay or a timeline for when it might impose the sanction.
On November 20, the Security Council adopted Resolution 2249, condemning ISIS’s recent attacks and exhorting all states to prevent and suppress the group’s terrorist activities. The Resolution is in some ways a predictable response to recent developments, but it contains one interesting provision that is worth parsing from an international law perspective.
Operative Paragraph 5 (OP5) reads as follows:
Earlier today, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting the recently concluded nuclear deal with Iran. The resolution creates the mechanism though which Iran will ultimately receive international sanctions relief once the IAEA verifies Iranian compliance with the agreement.
You can read the full resolution below.