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Will Rama sit at the head of the Security Council today?

2022-06-01 17:36:44Pikëpamje SHKRUAR NGA RUBEN AVXHIU
Will Rama sit at the head of the Security Council today?
Ruben Avxhiu

This year, Albania began its first term in history as a member of the UN Security Council. Today, June 1, according to the rotation, it is up to her to chair the Security Council for a month.

The rotation of member countries in the presidency of the Council is done in alphabetical order. It's everyone's turn eventually. The last one was the USA, which reads "United States" is the last in line. Albania known as "Albania" resumes the alphabetical order and will be followed by Brazil of the letter "B".

This ranking is also used to determine near whom you sit. As you can see, Ambassador Ferit Hoxha is always between the American Ambassador and the Brazilian Ambassador.

The "table" of the Council has the shape of a horseshoe, where the next Presidency sits in the middle. Then they move every month.

Although a small country, Albania has spoken loudly in these first months of membership thanks to the very good work of Ambassador Hoxha and his team. Many of the Ambassador's speeches have been quoted in articles and media reports in several world languages. The war in Ukraine, which has put the Security Council in the spotlight for at least the first few weeks, has also helped.

Isolated Russia does not have many forums in which to officially broadcast its propaganda and confront other countries in the world. The UN and the Security Council are one of the few.

Although most Security Council member states have condemned the invasion of Ukraine: Some votes went 13-1, with all countries opposed to Russia except China abstaining, few quoting as much as Albania, thanks to rich from the linguistic point of view and style of Ambassador Hoxha.

On this occasion, both the Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Olta Xhaçka, traveled to New York.

They met yesterday with UN Secretary General António Guterres where they "discussed the program and priorities of the Albanian presidency in the Security Council" and "the willingness to offer its contribution to the service of peace and security, human rights and development." internationally sustainable ”, according to the government announcement.

In a photo posted on Twitter by Minister Xhaçka, the two are seen meeting with the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield. According to Minister Xhaçka, the American ambassador has expressed "her highest appreciation for Albania's work in the Security Council". Of course the main credit goes to Ambassador Hoxha, who was also present at the meeting.

It is not surprising if we see Edi Rama sitting down to head the Security Council, or Minister Xhaçka.

Technically, the presidency is held by the state and not the representative Ambassador. To be fair prime ministers and presidents do not travel before to run boring sessions and sometimes with complicated Security Council technical rules. But, it is hard to imagine the Prime Minister of Albania losing this case.

For those who remember him, Prime Minister Rama held a foreign minister in office, taking over the leadership of the OSCE in the six months since it was Albania's turn. I'm not saying it will stick in New York for a month that working at the UN seems interesting only to those who see it from the outside. But I see no other reason for his trip to New York, these days.

To justify it, US Vice President Al Gore headed the Security Council for a few days in 2000, when the US took over the rotating presidency. Of course, the US Vice President has a low-key post and Gore wanted to get as much attention as possible because of that year's presidential election. (Finally lost to Republican nominee George W Bush.)

Affairs of the Presidency

The presidency, to be fair, brings more work and responsibility than benefits, but it comes with political weight, especially in cases of crisis and when there are debates about existing conflicts.

This is because the Presidency has the right to approve the agenda of meetings, this is especially important in cases of urgent meetings. However, the presidency usually decides by compromise and cooperation with other members. 

The incumbent president is also in charge and can read Security Council statements in public, to the media. "The face and spokesman of the Security Council", according to the book "Procedures of the UN Security Council" (https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/vieë/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199685295.001.0001/acprof-9780199685295)

The president mediates between the members of the Security Council, sets the voting order, sets the topics to be discussed, etc.

A curiosity I read on Wikipedia, Burkina Faso changed its name to Upper Volta in 1984, when it was a member of the Security Council, and coming out at the bottom of the alphabetical order, again led it to run the Security Council.

However, after reading the benefits and responsibilities of the Presidency, it does not seem to me that the burden is worth the rent. Given that there are only 15 member countries and Albania has 18 months left in the membership mandate, this opportunity will come again in the early fall of 2023.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

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Ben Blushi / 2022-05-31 19:23:20Point of Views

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