AUSTRALIA officially starts its two-year term on the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday. Australia was elected to the position in October following a four-year campaign started by former prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd.
It’s the first time since 1986 that Australia has had a seat on the UN Security Council.
“For the next two years Australia will have a direct hand in shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing security challenges,” Foreign Minister Bob Carr said in a statement on Monday.
“We’ll bring to the Council our unique experience in dealing with humanitarian crises and regional conflicts, born from past involvement in conflicts including Timor Leste, Bougainville and Afghanistan.”
Senator Carr said Australia’s UN priorities for early 2013 would include talks on the future of international involvement in Syria, and Security Council consideration of responses to the North Korean rocket launch on December 12.
The first meeting is expected next week.
The Security Council oversees 15 peacekeeping operations with 117,000 personnel deployed worldwide and 13 political and peace-building missions across four continents. After the US, the UN has the largest number of troops deployed overseas. Deployments are authorised by the Security Council.
The Council also manages 13 sanctions regimes and eight subsidiary bodies covering issues such as weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, women and children and armed conflict, and women, peace and security