Global institutions & diplomacy

Assessment

France, holding the Security Council presidency for September, called an emergency Council session on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, reported on Sept 15, after Houthi forces seized Yemen's Red Sea coast and declared a naval blockade on Saudi-linked shipping, the second Yemen emergency meeting in a week after the Sept 10 briefing. BRICS leaders adopted the 140-paragraph New Delhi Declaration by consensus on Sept 12 at the close of the 18th summit, calling for UN reform and greater developing-country representation, urging maximum restraint in the Middle East and endorsing local-currency settlement while pointedly not naming the United States. The UN General Assembly's 81st session opened on Sept 8 under President Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh, with high-level week set for Sept 22-29 and Guterres's term ending Dec 31; Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett of Guyana led the second Secretary-General straw poll in August and further rounds are expected under the French presidency. The Secretariat budget is down 20 percent against 1.5 billion dollars of US arrears, nine of 18 ICC judges are under US sanctions, and sanctions on ICC officials take effect Sept 17.