UAE hails calls to hold UNSC and Arab League annual briefing

NEW YORK: The UAE welcomed calls to hold an annual briefing between the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the League of Arab States, stressing that it would help the Council address the considerable security challenges in the Middle East.

The statement was made at a Security Council open debate, convened by Mexico, entitled “Peace and security through preventive diplomacy: a common objective to all UN principal organs.”

Ghasaq Shaheen, Political Coordinator, delivering the UAE’S statement, emphasised the need to shit the Council’s strategy from its current focus on conflict management to one that prioritises preventative diplomacy. The UAE welcomed the Secretary-general’s focus on prevention in his “Our Common Agenda” report, particularly his proposal for “a new agenda for peace.”

The UAE gave several specific examples of emerging challenges that would benefit from greater coordination between the Security Council and other UN agencies, including climate change, the empowerment of women, and the importance of maintaining regular communication between the Council and the wider UN membership.

Dr Anwar Bin Mohammed Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, had said in Jauary this year that the Arab world’s problems cannot be resolved without key players on the regional and global scene collaborating to strengthen “the spirit of solidarity and unity while addressing the menacing threats to peace and security.”

He had made these remarks while delivering the statement of the Arab Group before the UN Security Council at a briefing entitled “Coordination between Security Council and Arab League,” wherein he underlined the necessity of ensuring cooperation between the UNSC and the Arab League in resolving disputes and crises.

The Group’s statement reiterated the inevitability of forging purely Arab solutions to the Arab world’s problems and reaching a unified stance vis-à-vis common challenges while limiting the use of veto power and engaging in an early warning system of crises.

“This meeting gains great significance against the backdrop of the complicated and multilateral crises that weighed on the potential and resources of Arab nations and their peoples,” said Gargash, noting that the absence of effective solutions leads to the exacerbation of ongoing crises and causes them to pose menacing threats to regional and international peace and security.

In June this year the UN General Assembly elected UAE, Albania, Brazil, Gabon, and Ghana to the United Nations Security Council on Friday for a two-year term starting on Jan.1, 2022.

All five countries ran unopposed for a spot on the 15-member body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security.