Mozambique, together with the UAE, Malta and Switzerland announced last Thursday, March 23rd, an ambitious list of pledges to advance a responsive and evidence-based approach to climate, peace and security.
The list of 15 pledges address several of the Council responsibilities, and are meant to help Member States to reach their shared objective of enabling the Council to address the risks and harmful effects of climate change that affect its mandate of preserving global peace and security.
Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the country’s permanent representative to the UN, stated: “Climate change is the biggest security challenge of our time, as there is no real security without achieving climate security, and here it is worth noting that the world, and in particular the Security Council, cannot ignore this.” matter.”
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She continued, “As the next president of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at its twenty-eighth session (COP28), we decided to unite our efforts with our colleagues to advance this agenda, through our pledges, which we believe are necessary in order to maintain international peace and security.” .
Mozambique assumed the presidency of UN Security Council for the month of March 2023. It is also Mozambique’s first time on the Council.
as Mozambique announce ambitious climate and security plan at the UN, in a recent interview with UN’s Africa Renewal’s Franck Kuwonu, Ambassador Pedro Comissário Afonso, the Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the UN stated that “Peace and security in Africa is the top, top priority for our presence in the Security Council.”.
The UN Security Council consists of ten elected members, and five permanent members–China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation. More than 50 United Nations Member States have never been Members of the Security Council. The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
A State which is a Member of the United Nations but not of the Security Council may participate, without a vote, in its discussions when the Council considers that country’s interests are affected. Both Members and non-members of the United Nations, if they are parties to a dispute being considered by the Council, may be invited to take part, without a vote, in the Council’s discussions; the Council sets the conditions for participation by a non-member State.
On June 2022, The U.N. General Assembly approved five new non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. In an uncontested and anti-climactic race Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland each overwhelmingly received the requisite two-thirds majority of member states’ votes to confirm their two-year terms on the powerful 15-member council.
