Ambassador José Filipe Moraes Cabral, Permanent Representative of Portugal, who will speak in his capacity as Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1970 (2011).

I thank you, Mr. President, for convening this meeting and giving me the opportunity to present the first report of the Committee established recently pursuant to Security Council resolution 1970 (2011), on the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

The text of this report, which will be posted in full on the website of the Committee, which is already available, gives us a picture of the activities undertaken until today by the Committee. I will now read out the main elements of the Committee’s report.

The mandate of the Committee, first set out in resolution 1970 (2011), was subsequently expanded by resolution 1973 (2011) to also apply to the measures decided in that resolution. Broadly speaking, the Committee’s tasks include overseeing the arms embargo, travel ban, assets freeze and ban on flights of Libyan aircraft. Currently, there are 18 individuals designated as being subject to the travel ban, and 13 individuals and 5 entities designated as being subject to the assets freeze.

Since the adoption of the two resolutions, the Committee has met twice in informal consultations followed by a formal meeting to conduct its work. Moreover, prior to its first meeting, the Committee considered and approved on an expedited basis an urgent request for an exemption to the aforementioned ban on flights, in accordance with paragraph 17 of resolution 1973 (2011), to allow a Member State to evacuate its nationals from Libyan territory using a Libyan-company-owned aircraft.

After briefly discussing several proposals in informal consultations on 25 March, the members of the Committee agreed to adopt these proposals in a formal meeting immediately afterwards. Thus, at its first meeting, the Committee adopted provisional guidelines for the conduct of its work. It approved a note verbale that contained a reminder to all Member States to report to the Committee on the implementation of the relevant provisions of resolution 1970 (2011) regarding the arms embargo, the travel ban and the assets freeze within 120 days of the adoption of the resolution. The Committee also approved an update to its lists of individuals and entities. Finally, it agreed to the issuance of a press release on its work. All of these documents will be made available on the Committee’s website.

In addition, in the prior consultations under other matters, the members of the Committee were alerted to forthcoming proposals on additional designations by members of the Committee. They also heard a brief update from the Secretariat on the status of recruitment for the Panel of Experts, to be made up of up to eight experts, as established by resolution 1973 (2011). Following a preliminary discussion of a query received from a Member State on the scope of the assets freeze, the members of the Committee agreed to consider a draft reply under the written non-objection procedure. An urgent request for guidance from another Member State, which involves providing clarification as to whether the assets freeze applies to the subsidiary of a designated entity, is also under consideration.

I have now concluded the outline of the most important aspects of the report. For my part, I would like to use this opportunity to highlight some elements concerning the work of the Committee in overseeing the sanctions regime imposed by resolutions 1970 (2011) and 1973 (2011).

As I mentioned earlier, the Committee has already held two meetings. The Committee was able to quickly adopt provisional guidelines and is now fully operational to carry out its work. The Committee will be working on further designations of individuals and entities concerning the assets freeze, which, according to paragraph 19 of resolution 1973 (2011), have to be made within the next three weeks. The Secretariat is also working to recruit experts to establish the Panel of Experts that will assist the Committee in carrying out its mandate and report to the Council on its findings and recommendations. We hope to have the Panel established soon.

The prompt response of the Council, by adopting resolutions 1970 (2011) and 1973 (2011), is a clear signal of its determination to address the situation in Libya and enable the Libyan population, through a national dialogue, to fulfil its legitimate aspirations to political reform in a peaceful and sustainable way while preserving the independence, territorial integrity and national unity of their country as stated in resolution 1973 (2011).

The efficient implementation of the sanctions regime is crucial in that regard — hence the importance of Member States engaging actively in its implementation. I wish here to remind Member States of their reporting obligations resulting from resolution 1970 (2011) and to stress how important it is for the Committee to promptly receive national implementation
reports, which are due within 120 days, meaning by 26 June.

I should like to say one final word concerning the transparency of the work of the Committee, to which we are committed and which we will always try to improve. Even if it is rather early in the Committee’s existence and there is only a short history on which to report, I am very glad that the first briefing is taking place here at an open meeting before the general membership. The success of sanctions lies in the active contribution of States to their implementation and their commitment and understanding of the regimes, which is only strengthened by transparency. We will try to keep it that way, as we intend to organize, whenever needed, informal briefings to the general membership on the work of the Committee.