Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2707 (2023), Security Council Renews Panel of Experts, Sanctions on Yemen

The Security Council today decided to renew for 12 months a travel ban and assets freeze imposed on specific individuals and entities in Yemen and extend for 12 months the mandate of the Panel of Experts tasked with assisting the Council's Yemen sanctions committee.

The 15-member organ, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, unanimously adopted resolution 2707 (2023) (to be issued as document S/RES/2707 (2023)) and decided to renew until 15 November 2024 the measures imposed by paragraphs 11 and 15 of resolution 2140 (2014).

It also decided to extend until 15 December 2024 the mandate of the Panel of Experts on Yemen and expressed its intention to review the mandate and take appropriate action regarding the further extension no later than 15 November 2024. The Council requested the Secretary-General to take measures to expeditiously re-establish the Panel of Experts, in consultation with the sanctions committee until 15 December 2024.

Through the resolution, it also requested the Panel of Experts to provide a midterm update to the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2140 (2014) no later than 15 April 2024, and a final report including information as set out in paragraph 16 of resolution 2624 (2022) no later than 15 October 2024 to the organ, after discussion with the Committee.

James Kariuki (United Kingdom) thanked the Council for its show of unity in adopting the 12-month technical rollover and said its continued positive engagement on the file is crucial to securing further progress in the fragile peace process. It sends a clear signal that the Council continues to be fully supportive of an inter-Yemeni process under UN auspices, he added, voicing the organ's support for the efforts of Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and Yemeni stakeholders in securing a durable peace in the country.

Dmitry A. Polyanskiy (Russian Federation) said a technical rollover of the current resolution, which foresees restrictions for 12 months, is the best way to maintain momentum for finding a peaceful solution to the Yemeni crisis. He criticized, however, the Council's decisions on Yemen, which he said increasingly contradict positive political developments in the region. He welcomed results-oriented efforts, particularly those led by the States in the region and the Special Envoy. The "cynical actions" by the United States highlight Washington, D.C.'s, attempt to use the current international sanctions against Yemen "to promote narrow mercantile aims that are far from achieving peace". He further criticized the United States for sending military goods to Ukraine from the Persian Gulf in December 2022 and stressed that those actions contradicted Council resolutions and international law. He urged the Council to develop normative legal basis for the Yemeni settlement, warning of possible setback in the progress achieved so far.