Chapter I: International peace and security support efforts should be responsive to the demands of fast-moving peace processes. The Council recalls the important contribution of Member States, regional and subregional organizations, civil society and other stakeholders to the pacific settlement of disputes. The Council welcomes the efforts made by regional and subregional organizations to enhance their mediation role, and appreciates the efforts of the Secretary-General to continue to assist them in this regard. The Council urges the Secretariat to work with all partners to ensure the availability of well-trained, experienced and geographically diverse mediation experts at all levels to ensure the timely and highest quality support to mediation efforts, and it urges those possessing cadres of mediation experts to cooperate with the Secretariat in this endeavour. The Council further requests the Secretary-General to work in partnership with Member States, regional and subregional organizations and other relevant partners in a coordinated and mutually complementary manner when cooperating in a mediation process. The Council notes with concern the very low numbers of women in formal roles in mediation processes, and stresses the need to ensure that women are appropriately appointed at decision-making levels, as highlevel mediators, and within the composition of the mediators’ teams in line with resolutions 1325(2000) and 1820(2008). It reiterates its call to the Secretary-General and the heads of regional and subregional organizations to take the appropriate measures to that end. The Council requests the Secretary-General to keep it informed of the action undertaken by him in promoting and supporting mediation and the pacific settlement of disputes, ensuring coherence with the ongoing efforts to strengthen peacebuilding and peacekeeping.
United Nations and regional organizations Security Council consideration. On 18 March the Security Council held a high-level debate on peace and security in Africa, during which it discussed the report [YUN 2008, p. 111] of the panel led by Romano Prodi containing recommendations on strengthening cooperation between the African Union (au) and the United Nations. In statement S/PRST/2009/3 (see p. 105), the Council emphasized the importance of establishing more effective strategic relationships between the au and the United Nations, and encouraged further efforts in that direction. On 26 October [meeting 6206], after having considered peace and security in Africa, the Council adopted statement S/PRST/2009/26 on cooperation with regional organizations, in particular the au, in maintaining international peace and security (see p. 109). The Council welcomed the intention of the UN Secretariat and the au Commission to set [meeting 6092],
39 up a joint task force on peace and security to review immediate and long-term strategic and operational issues.
Conflict prevention The General Assembly, by decision 63/563 of 14 September, deferred consideration of the item entitled “Prevention of armed conflict” and included it in the draft agenda of its sixty-fourth (2009) session. On 24 December, the Assembly, by decision 64/549, decided that the item “Prevention of armed conflict” would remain for consideration during its resumed sixty-fourth (2010) session. Conflict diamonds Kimberley Process. The Kimberley Process at its seventh annual session (Swakopmund, Namibia, 2–5 November) continued its work relating to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (kpcs), which was established in 2003 [YUN 2003, p. 55] to stop the trade in conflict diamonds from fuelling armed conflict, protect the legitimate diamond industry and ensure implementation of UN resolutions on trade in conflict diamonds. As at 5 November, kpcs had 49 members. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 63/134 [YUN 2008, p. 45], Namibia, on 8 December, transmitted to the Secretary-General the 2009 Kimberley Process report [A/64/559] in its capacity as Chair of kpcs. Since the inception of kpcs, there had been a dramatic improvement in the security situation in several diamond-producing countries to which the Process contributed significantly, the report stated. With regard to concerns relating to diamond smuggling, illicit trade activities and human rights violations in the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe, a joint workplan was formulated at the 2009 plenary to improve security at access control points and enhance security of processing and storage areas. In accordance with Security Council resolution 1842(2008) [YUN 2008, p. 194], kpcs had maintained close cooperation with the United Nations Group of Experts on Côte d’Ivoire. The kpcs Working Group on Monitoring continued to use satellite monitoring technology to monitor illicit rough diamonds production. In 2008–2009, Belgium funded the footprinting of the Kimberley Process data project, which aimed at improving the quality of the statistical analysis data in order to quickly identify statistical anomalies, and develop an adequate statistical filtering methodology, as well as a regional analysis of statistical data for West Africa, Central Africa and South America so as to enhance implementation of the Kimberley Process in those regions. [YUN 2000, p. 76],