Albania’s priorities in the UNSC
As an elected member of the Security Council, Albania intends to contribute to the preservation and strengthening of the multilateral rules-based order by addressing global challenges and promoting peace and security through resolution of current crises, peaceful conflict settlement and mediation.
We firmly believe that respect for the rule of law and the realization of human rights for all are the foundations for peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable societies.
Women, Peace and Security – One of the most effective ways to achieve sustainable peace and security is through consistent focus on the strengthened implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, ensuring more inclusive peace processes, gender equality, women empowerment and protection of women’s rights.
Albania will champion the Women, Peace and Security Agenda across the full breadth of the Security Council’s work. Putting women and girls at the center of peace and security, is a good investment in longer-lasting and more sustainable peace. We will make WPS a cross-cutting issue and include it in all country-specific discussions and mandates, as well as thematic discourse.
Albania will support the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all peace and security efforts, from peacemaking to peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and their involvement from the earliest stages in every peace and political process that the United Nations supports.
Albania will use its position in the Security Council to ensure the full implementation of the existing Security Council resolutions on Women Peace and Security and will request briefers as well as UN leadership to systematically share gender analysis and information about concrete efforts to ensure women’s equal participation in all areas of conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
Albania will advocate for the voice of women’s civil society organizations and human rights defenders to be heard and to be taken into account in relevant Council outcome and deliberations.
At the national level, Albania is committed to the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 1325. We have adopted a costed and budgeted National Action Plan and have increased the participation of women in the security sector.
as part of these efforts, Albania will also strengthen the Council’s actions and commitments to combating conflict- related sexual violence.
The use of sexual violence as a tactic of war and terror continues to be a common element in conflicts around the world. During the last decade of the 20th century our region, the Balkans, has witnessed firsthand sexual violence being used as a weapon of war, as well as the challenges faced by post-conflict societies in dealing with the trauma.
Albania will engage in strengthening the work of the Security Council and our collective response in protecting the rights of the survivors as well as ensuring accountability for perpetrators, including through use of sanctions and ad-hoc justice mechanisms.
In order to promote justice and reconciliation, and to contribute to sustainable peace, Albania will work to strengthen the survivor-centered approach and to better integrate preventive and early warning capacities, as well as accountability measures.
Human Rights and International Law – Albania is deeply committed to the protection and promotion of human rights, including through our foreign policy. Convinced that respect of fundamental rights and freedoms for all individuals and groups is a key precondition for long-lasting peace, security and sustainable development, we will work to advance human rights standards around the world.
Human rights are a core security issue. Serious and widespread violations of human rights result from crisis. But they are often also the catalyst and cause of violent conflicts. Sustainable peaceful solutions cannot be achieved unless human rights are respected. This is why progress in human rights related matters across the spectrum – civil, cultural, economic, political and social– are a fundamental component for crisis prevention.
Albania believes that increased promotion and human rights education are valuable tools for conflict prevention, peacebuilding and sustaining peace.
Albania will closely work with like-minded countries to increase the synergies between the Security Council and the Human Rights Council by inviting UN special mandate holders and the relevant civil society actors, to brief the Security Council on human rights situations in countries in crisis and to share their experience of human rights violations on the ground. We will also work to strengthen the role of OHCHR in the activities of the Security Council.
Countering Violent Extremism – Albania will support the strengthening of multilateral policies and practices that address all drivers of violent extremism conducive to terrorism, with a focus on countering terrorist narratives, both online and offline, in a balanced manner as set out in the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
Albania will bring in the work of the Security Council its long and positive experience of religious harmony and respect for cultural differences, as a good practice that stands against rising intolerance and violent extremism.
Climate and Security – Albania will work to ensure that the climate- security nexus remains on the Security Council agenda, in order to address the consequences of climate change and its links to security.
Human-induced climate change is not only an environmental phenomenon but also one of the main security threats of the 21st century. Wherever climate change threatens people’s livelihoods, the international community must step in before conflicts erupt or escalate.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the relationship between human health, nature and security. The continued loss of biodiversity and the unsustainable use and degradation of ecosystems have profound and adverse consequences for peace and security, our well-being and ultimately our survival. In this regard, the value of an integrated One Health approach that fosters cooperation on human, animal and environmental health, needs to be used as a strong prevention, including as a conflict prevention tool.
Working Methods
Albania is committed and will work closely with like-minded countries to increase the efficiency, accountability and transparency of the work of the Security Council.
