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On 14 January, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius presented to members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) Lithuania’s main activities as a member of the United Nations Security Council last year and plans and challenges for 2015, such as maintaining the focus on aggression against Ukraine, the fight against terrorism, the protection of civilians in conflict zones around the world, global security, issues around human rights.

According to the Minister, halfway through its non-permanent membership term Lithuania notes important outcome of its work and the overall activities on the Security Council: in 2014, the Security Council held 36 % more meetings than in 2013 (and set all-time record). Lithuania and Luxembourg were the most active participants in ministerial meetings of the Security Council.

The Minister also noted that the issue regarding the situation in Crimea and Ukraine was included on the Security Council’s agenda on Lithuania’s initiative. Since February, Lithuania has initiated 8 meetings of the Security Council to discuss the situation in Ukraine; this issue has already been discussed 26 times. Lithuania was one of the co-authors of the UN General Assembly’s resolution, titled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”. Lithuania also regularly raises issues around human rights violations in the Russia-annexed Crimea.

According to L.Linkevičius, the issue of Ukraine, which was included on the Security Council’s agenda in 2014, will require further priority attention, while Africa and the Middle East will traditionally remain among other key issues. From a thematic perspective, the fight against terrorism will be a priority issue and will become even more important after the terrorist attacks in Paris. The protection of civilians in armed conflict will continue to receive a lot of attention.

In May 2015, Lithuania will chair the Security Council for the second time and plans to offer to hold a general debate on the safety and security of journalists in conflict zones, the threat posed to civilians by small arms and light weapons. Lithuania will continue to actively raise the issue of ensuring respect for the rule of law.

According to the Minister, just as in February, 2014, Lithuania intends to highlight cooperation between the European Union and the UN, and the EU’s role in supporting international peace and security.

This year, Lithuania will continue to chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee, the Sanctions Committees for the Central African Republic and Yemen. Lithuania’s Chairmanship of these Committees in 2014 was evaluated very well by other members of the Security Council and the UN Secretariat.

Lithuania was elected a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the two year term of 2014-2015. In 2015, the new five non-permanent members will be Angola, Spain, Malaysia, New Zealand and Venezuela.