IRELAND IS AIMING to use its soft power and ‘agenda-less’ international position as an honest broker to try to influence peace and security issues globally as it takes up the presidency of the UN Security Council this month, it is understood.
Amid increasingly fractured votes and discussions at the Security Council in recent years, it’s hoped that Ireland’s lack of baggage on the international stage could help make progress on a number of important global concerns.
Earlier this week, the Taoiseach said Ireland sought the seat “to bring a principled, constructive and open approach to its vital work of promoting international peace and security, including at critical and challenging times such as this”.
Among the issues Ireland wishes to prioritise are the part climate change plays as a driver of conflicts, particularly in the Sahel and the horn of Africa; the importance of respecting the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan; and the expanding conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where sexual abuse is being used as a weapon.
As chair of the UN Security Council, Ireland will be at the centre of discussions around the world’s conflicts and security issues, and officials close to Ireland’s UN Security Council team believe they will have a better opportunity to influence the direction of those discussions than as a member.
It also has the opportunity to set the agenda of the Council for the next 25 days, and to chair those discussions.
Next Wednesday, 8 September, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney will chair a meeting on the transition of peacekeeping missions in New York, where the UN SC headquarters are located.
Ireland has a significant peacekeeping contingent in areas such as Lebanon and has made a discussion on the transition between peacekeeping to peacebuilding one of its priorities for the month.
On 23 September, Taoiseach Micheál Martin will chair a high-level open debate on the effects climate change has on security issues around the world, which governments in the African continent are particularly concerned about. Three of the UN Security Council members – Russia, China and India – are less persuaded that this is a security priority.
This meeting will be the first time that the UN Security Council will have discussed this issue at head of state or government level.
On 27 September, a rare high-level meeting will be held on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to mark the 25th anniversary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty – an important disarmament agreement.
Ireland holds a number of roles as part of its two-year membership of the Security Council. It’s a chair of the Women, Peace and Security agenda; chair of the committee on the Iran nuclear deal, and is the co-penholder on the humanitarian aid file on Syria.
In July, the UN Security Council agreed to extend the humanitarian aid border crossing for six months after negotiations were de-politicised to allow for a compromise between the US and Russia, in particular. This was seen as a significant diplomatic win.
Agreement between nations on a variety of issues has been increasingly difficult in recent years; votes have been split between the permanent five members of the UN Security Council: with Russia and China on one side, and the US, UK and France on the other side of many issues.
On the statement issued by the UN Security Council on Afghanistan, Ireland is reported to have pushed for strong language on respecting the rights of women and girls. China and Russia abstained from a vote endorsing this statement.
Earlier this week, Minister Simon Coveney said: “Getting a resolution in the Security Council is never easy in the best of times, but on something as important as Afghanistan we need unity now, and a small country like Ireland always works hard to try to build consensus.”
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