UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Security Council has adopted 50 resolutions and failed to adopt 10 draft ones in 2023, according to the Highlights of Security Council Practice 2023 published Wednesday by the world body.
Last year, the council also adopted one amendment and six presidential statements and issued 18 notes by the council president and 22 letters by the president. Council members also issued 34 press statements. The council failed to adopt four sets of amendments.
In comparison, the council adopted a total of 54 resolutions and failed to adopt seven draft resolutions in 2022.
The publication says that in 2023, 35 out of 50 resolutions, or 70 percent were adopted unanimously compared to 66.7 percent in 2022. Five of the resolutions not adopted unanimously were related to sanctions, four to peacekeeping operations, and one to a special political mission.
Meanwhile, the remaining five concerned, respectively, the renewal of authorizations to intercept vessels off the Libyan coast suspected of migrant smuggling and human trafficking, the establishment of the Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti, and the situation in the Middle East, namely the Palestinian question and the situation in Afghanistan.
According to the Highlights, in 2023, the council failed to adopt 10 draft resolutions in connection with the situation in the Middle East, and specifically the cross-border mechanism for the provision of humanitarian aid into Syria, the situation in Mali, threats to international peace and security, and the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
Of the 10 draft resolutions and four amendments not adopted in 2023, there were a total of seven instances of a veto cast on five draft resolutions and one amendment in connection with the situation in the Middle East and specifically the cross-border mechanism for the provision of humanitarian aid into Syria, the situation in Mali and the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
In 2023, the council held 290 meetings, 271 of which were public and the remainder private. For the first time in a decade, the council held private meetings under the agenda items "The situation in the Middle East" and "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question."
Also in 2023, the council held 24 high-level meetings, in which two or more council members were represented at ministerial level or above; a similar trend was seen in 2022. The topics of high-level meetings included both thematic and country-specific items.
In the period from 2014 to 2023, the council has adopted a total of 589 resolutions, out of which 494 or 84 percent were adopted unanimously. In this period, 42 vetoes were cast in connection with 32 draft resolutions and amendments.
