GoingtoIEU is hosting a blog series about the 9-month journey of Celia, Claudia, Elena, and Marco in New York.
Part 1: It was time for African Affairs, by Elena
Since I got here, I have been dealing with some of the top agenda issues regarding African affairs. Guinea Bissau and Central African Republic are the two countries I have been mostly focused on, and for the moment, it’s more than enough.
Even though they may seem to be forgotten cases in Africa, the Security Council follows the situation in these countries very closely. In reality, neither country is in their best political moment. For that reason, mid-June was the most intense week at the United Nations concerning Africa. I can even say that it was the worst week of the year for African affairs. Too many meetings were set up at the same time, and all were too important to miss.
Left: UN Group of Friends of Security Sector Reform Meeting – Right: Open Consultations at the Security Council
During that week, I attended different briefings, open and closed consultations at the Security Council, as well as other informal meetings with UN agencies. More specifically, we met with the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) and the UN Group of Friends of Security Sector Reform (SSR). The goal was to establish dialogue and build support for SSR priorities in the CAR.
We also covered the drafting of what will soon be a new resolution on the implementation of the recommendations presented in the Secretary-General’s report on the causes and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. This is an important new resolution, as it is the first one that deals with the causes of conflict in a concrete African context.
However, perhaps the most remarkable event I attended was the election of the new non-permanent members of the Security Council for the coming period. The General Assembly has never been as crowded as it was on that day.
Elections of the new non-permanent members of the Security Council
If all we had to do was to attend the meetings, things would have been easier. However, we couldn’t miss a single detail in these consultations. We are in charge of writing the formal report for Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform of all that was discussed in these meetings.
Although I barely had time to rest during this week and a half period, it was well worth it. We have yet to see how the situation develops in the future, but it seems as though I will be adding more countries to my focus list in the weeks to come. Two main candidates seem to be the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, so I hope to expand my knowledge in this area. Only time will tell…
If you want to hear more about the adventures of Celia, Claudia, Elena, and Marco at the United Nations, stay tuned at goingtoieu.ie.edu!
Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with us. If you would like to learn more about this degree, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at university@ie.edu.
