20 May 2011- Pretoria, South Africa - From the 16 to 20 May twenty South African Diplomats attended a UNITAR-training on the “Working Methods of the United Nations Security Council”. The training was jointly organized by UNITARs’ Multilateral Diplomacy Programme (MDP) and the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). The main goal of the four day training was to enhance teamwork and efficient cooperation between the South African capital Pretoria and their Permanent Mission in New York on matters regarding their non-permanent membership of the Security Council. After the workshop the participants stated it was a very “enjoyable training” providing “unique insights” and “eye-opening activities” on the functioning of the Security Council.
Conduct of business and political aspects
The first two days of the training covered the political framework, informal dynamics, and working methods of the Security Council and its Secretariat. Former Special Representative to Guinea-Bissau, Ambassador Shola Omoregie, delivered the key insights to identify strategies and vital components to successfully advance South Africa’s agenda as a non-permanent member of the Council. During his sessions Ambassador Omoregie addressed not only the non-written conduct of business, but also political aspects relevant to the African context. He pointed out the preparatory steps and potential obstacles when drafting concise outcome documents of the Security Council, most importantly resolutions.
Statement writing skills
As language, semantics and the awareness of the audience matter the most when trying to reach agreements within the Ministry, and finally in the Security Council, the remainder of the workshop was dedicated to the statement-writing skills of the diplomats. The sessions polished the concise and clear writing of documents shared between the capital and the Permanent Mission in New York. In a very interactive two-day workshop trainer David Massey raised awareness to the power of wording and provided tools to design precise and efficient positional statements, briefing notes, and memoranda.