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30 – 31 January, New York, USA – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research’s (UNITAR) New York Office kicked off the last of a series of workshops with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Niger to the United Nations. Niger constitutes one of the newly elected members of the Security Council for the 2020-2021 period: Tunisia, Niger, Vietnam, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Estonia. This training was made possible through the support from the Swedish International Development Agency’s (Sida) towards the UNITAR Strategic Framework Fund (SFF) and was held from the 30th – 31st of January 2020 at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Niger to the United Nations.
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After welcoming remarks from Mr. Marco A. Suazo, head of UNITAR New York Office, introducing for the main trainer, Ms. Loraine Sievers, former SCAD Director who guided the delegates through the two day training sessions took place between 30 and 31 December 2019, and covered the following topics; the role of the Security Council in the UN System, Foundational Documents, informal and formal meetings, documents council members create and receive, the Presidency, Security Council practices, the Security Council relationship with the General Assembly, and the Subsidiary Organs of the Security Council. UNITAR has had a good collaboration with the Security Council Affairs Division, as they have supported UNITAR by providing speakers regarding Subsidiary Organs and Security Council Practices.
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Mr. Kenji Nakano, Chief of the General Assembly Branch led the first session, where he covered the relationship of the Secuirty Council and the General Assembly Ms. Loraine Sievers led the second session, where she introduced the Tunisian diplomats to the resources available in her book, titled The Procedure of the UN Security Council, as well as how to best use the resources on her website. The primary focus of Ms. Sievers first session was the working methods, procedures and documentation relevant to the Security Council. The Tunisian delegates were provided a workbook containing important documents and advised on which documents are important to annotate and review thoroughly. Ms. Sievers gave information on the different committees that Tunisia is eligible to participate in and answered the diplomat’s questions regarding specific case studies and scenarios of interest. The session was interactive, and diplomats were able to have a discussion about the different documents, the importance of the verbiage in the documents, and various procedures in the Security Council.
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Including Niger, UNITAR has trained 4 of 5 new members to the Security Council that UNITAR has provided trainings for, preparing them for their entrrace into the Council. The other new members trained by UNITAR include, the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of Tunisia to the United Natiuons, and the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations, Such trainings have consisted of a total of 44 elected delegates, spaning a total of 45 training hours between all 4 newly elected members.
By the seminar’s conclusion, the Niger diplomats had received a thorough introduction to the Council’s workings and mandate. By equipping the new Members with the expertise needed to fulfil their mandate, it is hoped that the sessions will contribute to a more effective and more representative Council.