2374 Committee Chair Outlines Work Overseeing Mali Sanctions, Major Technological Advancement with Use of Virtual Simultaneous Interpretation

Despite the extraordinary circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Security Council's Mali sanctions committee held several important consultations in 2021 - including the first virtual meeting of any subsidiary body to employ simultaneous interpretation - the Security Council heard today during a briefing on the body's recent activities.

Juan Ramón de la Fuente Ramírez (Mexico), Chair of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 2374 (2017) concerning Mali, also provided an overview of the work of the Group of Experts assisting the Committee. He said the Committee met via teleconference on 9 February to hear the presentation of the Coordinator of the Group of Experts on the midterm report mandated by resolution 2541 (2020), which it officially relayed to the Security Council on 17 February.

The Committee subsequently met virtually with the representatives of Mali, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco and Senegal to discuss the implementation of the sanctions regime, he said. This was the first virtual meeting of a subsidiary body of the Security Council which had simultaneous interpretation, he said, adding that it represented an advance in the body's provisional working procedures.

On 23 July, he noted that the Committee held informal face-to-face consultations to consider the final report of the Panel of Experts, which was formally submitted to the Council, pursuant to resolution 2541 (2020), on 6 August. An addendum to that report was issued on 29 September.

The Committee also issued three press communiqués, he continued, noting that the first two were to signal the release of the midterm and final reports in March and August, while the third, on 13 September, focused on the travel ban pursuant to resolution 2374 (2017).

He noted that, during the period under review, the Committee received one request for an exception to the prohibition on international travel. Eight individuals are presently on the Committee's sanctions list.

Concluding, he noted that resolution 2590 (2021) extended the mandate of the Group of Experts until 30 September 2022, and added that the appointment of experts is presently paused and under discussion.

The meeting began at 3:02 p.m. and ended at 3:09 p.m.