S/PV.7336 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. At this meeting, the Security Council will hear a briefing by Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaitė, Permanent Representative of Lithuania, in her capacity as Chair of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 2140 (2014). I now give the floor to Ambassador Murmokaitė.

I have the honour to report to the Security Council pursuant to paragraph 19 (e) of resolution 2140 (2014) on the work of the Committee from 15 May 2014 to date. This is my second report to the Council. I will start with the most significant development in the work of the Committee, which occurred on 7 November, when it designated three individuals — Abd Al-Khaliq Al-Huthi, Abdullah Yahya Al-Hakim and Ali Abdullah Saleh — as subject to the assets freeze and travel ban measures. Those individuals were deemed to meet the criteria for designation outlined in paragraph 17 of resolution 2140 (2014) for engaging in or providing support for acts that threatened the peace, security or stability of Yemen. All Member States are now required to implement these measures under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. There are specific exemptions in place for each measure, but they have to be availed of properly, in accordance with resolution 2140 (2014) and the guidelines of the committee. Should Member States need any guidance on the scope and implementation of the two measures, or any assistance in improving their capacity to implement the measures, they are encouraged to approach the Committee. During the reporting period, the Committee met five times in informal consultations and convened one formal meeting. The informal consultations were organized primarily to hear presentations by the Panel of Experts on its update report, interim report and statements of case concerning individuals who, in the Panel’s assessment, met the criteria for designation; to hold an interactive discussion with the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and the Counter- Terrorism Committee on issues of mutual relevance in relation to Yemen; and to hear a briefing by the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Yemen. The focus of the formal meeting, which was convened after the designation of the three individuals, was on implementation-related aspects of the sanctions regime in Yemen and the region. Allow me to now go into some detail on the discussions held in the Committee. In interactions with the Panel of Experts during the first phase of its work, Committee members expressed support for the Panel’s efforts and looked forward to the rapid development of specific lines of inquiry and focused case studies in relation to potential spoilers of the political transition in Yemen. They requested that the Panel keep the Committee continuously apprised of any relevant information gathered, regardless of the official reporting timelines. The Panel, which has reached its authorized strength since my last report to the Security Council (see S/PV.7175) with the appointment of the fourth expert on 2 July, delivered on this request. The Panel has conducted three visits to Yemen, all of them during the present reporting period, and it has also travelled to each of the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The Panel met with a wide range of interlocutors and both Government and non-Government entities. At the joint informal consultations with the two other committees, to which Yemen, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Yemen and the three expert bodies that support the three committees were also invited to participate, participants underlined the need for targeted international support to Yemen to combat terrorism and identified a range of opportunities to enhance coordination and cooperation among the relevant United Nations and Security Council entities in delivering support. The participants emphasized the need for the Panel of Experts and the Al-Qaida Monitoring Team to share information relevant to the potential designation of individuals and entities linked to political spoilers in Yemen and Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, including possible links between them, as well as pertaining to their financial sources. The briefing by the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Yemen was an opportunity for the Committee to hear directly from him on the state of play of the political transition in Yemen and the obstacles it faces. While the informal consultations were held before the designation of the three individuals, the formal meeting was convened afterwards. At that meeting, to which Yemen, the GCC countries and the GCC organization were invited to participate, the participants heard a briefing by the Panel of Experts on the implementation frameworks in place in the countries visited by the Panel. In the discussion that ensued, meeting participants expressed support for the objectives of resolution 2140 (2014), which seeks to deter and constrain the activities of potential spoilers of the political transition. Committee members encouraged Member States to respond in a timely manner to the information requests submitted by the Panel of Experts on Yemen on implementation-related aspects of the assets freeze and the travel ban. I would like to reiterate that encouragement today. On 25 November, the Committee approved a cooperation agreement with INTERPOL, which provides for an exchange of relevant information between INTERPOL, the Committee and the Panel of Experts and allows for the issuance of INTERPOL- Security Council special notices regarding the designated individuals. The agreement entered into effect on 4 December 2014, when INTERPOL conveyed its agreement to the procedures for cooperation. Before I conclude, I would like to draw the Council’s attention to the efforts that have been undertaken to promote cooperation, synergies, information-sharing and transparency in relation to the work of the Committee. To date, the Committee has met on three occasions with representatives of Yemen, and twice with those of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. On three further occasions, I informally briefed those delegations at the working level. The Committee also met twice with the Special Adviser of the Secretary- General on Yemen, and on one occasion with two other subsidiary bodies of the Security Council with responsibilities relating to Yemen. In addition, the Committee regularly issued press releases after any significant discussion or decision had been undertaken. I am also happy to note that both my first and my current reports to the Council have been presented in a public meeting. The Committee welcomes the cooperation that has been extended to the Panel of Experts by Yemen and other countries. It looks forward to the further deepening of such cooperation.

I thank Ambassador Murmokaité for her briefing. I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on the subject.