Security Council – Work assessment under France presidency (December 2013) – Letter from France (excerpts)

Letter dated 27 March 2014 from the Permanent Representative
of France to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council 

  Please find attached the report on the work of the Security Council during the presidency of France in December 2013 (see annex). This document was prepared under my supervision, after consultation with the other members of the Security Council. 

 I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the Security Council. 

(Signed) Gérard Araud 

Annex to the letter dated 27 March 2014 from the Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council 

[Original: English] 

   Assessment of the work of the Security Council during the presidency of France (December 2013) 

Under the presidency of Ambassador Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, the Security Council held 19 public meetings,
1 private meeting and 14 consultations in December 2013. 

 The Council adopted six resolutions and four presidential statements and issued 12 statements to the press. 

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   Middle East

   The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question 

On 16 December, the Council held its monthly meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question; it heard a briefing, which was followed by closed consultations. The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, reported to the Council members on the status of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which were entering their fifth month and had thus passed the midpoint of the established nine-month time frame. More than 20 negotiation sessions had been held in the second half of 2013, during which time there had been a number of serious incidents on the ground: injuries and deaths resulting from clashes, including the case of a 14-year-old boy killed by Israeli security forces on 7 December for throwing stones, as well as provocations: announcements of new settlements in the wake of the first two prisoner releases and destruction of Palestinian property in Area C and East Jerusalem, which had caused the atmosphere to deteriorate. The situation in Gaza was still very troubling and had been worsened by the recent floods that had displaced some 10,000 people, despite the material assistance provided by, inter alia, Israel. 

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