A busy year in the UN Security Council: more openness, diversity mark 2019

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations.

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With over 240 public meetings and a wider range of civil society briefers, the UN Security Council continued its push towards more transparency in 2019, a year marked by widespread popular uprisings and the erosion of hard-won international treaties. Here are some key figures for the world’s top peace and security body last year:

• 243 public meetings held­ – an average of 21 per month
• 93 meetings on situations in Africa
• 52 resolutions adopted
• 25 meetings on Syria crisis
• 2 new field missions established (support for the ceasefire in Yemen; an integrated UN Office in Haiti)
• 1 new agenda item added (‘the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’)

On three occasions last year, sharply divided delegations presented competing draft resolutions, which resulted in the rejection of six proposed texts. China, France, Russia, UK and the US – the Council’s five veto-wielding permanent members – found themselves particularly at odds over questions of State sovereignty, trading sporadic accusations of interference in domestic affairs. This is just a snapshot of the Council’s work in 2019 pulled from the annual round-up prepared by our hard-working colleagues in the Meetings Coverage section of the Department of Global Communications (DGC), who provide on-the-day summary coverage of the work of the main UN bodies at Headquarters, as well as of major conferences away from the house. For an in-depth review of all the action in the Council last year, please go here.