By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 25 -- The UN Security Council held 36% more meetings in 2014 than in 2013, as counted by the “Highlights of Security Council Practice 2014” published this month by the UN.
Among the litany of statistics in the Highlights, here's one that jumped out to Inner City Press: while the percentage of the Council's country-specific or regional meetings that concern Africa is still above 50%, it declined in 2014 in the face of increase in meetings classified as about “Europe,” the new ones nearly all about Ukraine.
In 2013, 66% of country- or region-specific meetings by the Security Council were about Africa, and 7% were about Europe.
In 2014, by contrast, 54.7% of country- or region-specific meetings by the Security Council were about Africa, and 16.6% were about Europe.
Asia is by far the most populous continent, and is not without its problems and conflicts. But less than 4% of Security Council country- or region-specific meeting are about Asia, and less than 2% - Haiti - are about the Americas.
The Council-authorized troops size for MINUSTAH in Haiti, where the Security Council is today, was reduced in 2014 by 2,651, a larger decrease that in Cote d'Ivoire (1,700) and Darfur -- reduction of 355 as violence continues and the UNAMID mission covered-up allegations of mass rape in Tabit.
The UN's report is interesting, but for obvious reasons does not assess the effectiveness of the Security Council's actions. Yes, the Council imposed sanctions in Yemen in 2014, including on Ali Saleh and two Houthi leaders. But did it work?
The “regime change letter” on the letterhead of the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, exclusively exposed by Inner City Press, is not mentioned. But the UN's reporting on itself, of which this is a better example than most, is not the only reporting on the UN. Watch this site.
