Monrovia, Liberia – President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is set to take Liberia’s peace and security agenda to the highest level of the United Nations in December, when the country assumes the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.
The upcoming leadership role is expected to place Liberia at the center of international deliberations on conflict, peacekeeping and global security, with the government preparing an agenda that places young people, women and environmental pressures alongside traditional security concerns.
Foreign Affairs Minister Sara Beysolow-Nyanti disclosed the government’s preparations Thursday during the Ministry of Information’s regular press briefing, joined by officials from the gender, youth and environmental sectors.
Rather than limiting Liberia’s Security Council agenda to conventional questions of armed conflict, the government plans to push broader connections between development and security.
Youth, women, climate-related conflict, natural resources and the future of UN peacekeeping have been identified as major areas for Liberia’s diplomatic engagement.
The government considers the issues central to its ARREST Agenda and says they are also aligned with President Boakai’s priorities.
The approach could give Liberia an opportunity to draw international attention to challenges confronting countries emerging from conflict, particularly the role of young people and women in preventing instability and sustaining peace.
Climate change and natural-resource management are also expected to feature prominently, reflecting growing international concern over the ways environmental pressures can contribute to competition, displacement and conflict.
Another major component of Liberia’s proposed agenda is reform of UN peacekeeping.
Liberia’s own history gives the country considerable experience with peacebuilding and international peace support operations, making the issue particularly relevant to its planned Security Council leadership.
The government will begin publicly advancing these themes during high-level preparatory conferences planned for September 23 in New York.
The September meetings are expected to serve as a diplomatic launchpad for Liberia’s December presidency, bringing together key government actors to outline what Monrovia hopes to accomplish when it assumes the Council’s rotating leadership.
Beysolow-Nyanti also sees the preparations as an opportunity to strengthen Liberia’s relationships with international partners.
She indicated that the government wants Liberia’s increased visibility at the United Nations to support broader national objectives, including presenting the country’s development progress and creating space for new investment partnerships.
That dual approach of advancing international peace and security while promoting Liberia’s domestic development agenda will be a defining feature of the country’s upcoming role.
When Liberia assumes the presidency in December, President Boakai is expected to chair the Council’s proceedings, while Liberia’s UN ambassador, Lewis Brown, will provide diplomatic representation and support the government’s engagement with other Council members.
For a country with a long history of conflict and recovery, the presidency offers Liberia an unusual opportunity to speak on global peace from the perspective of a nation that has itself experienced the consequences of instability.
The government’s preparations suggest Monrovia wants to use that experience to make its December presidency a platform for influencing the international conversation on how peace can be built, protected and sustained.
