Australia's role on the Security Council's 1267 committee and opportunities for reform

On 10 May 2013, Australia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gary Quinlan, delivered his first briefing of the Security Council in his role as Chair of the 1267 Committee. In his briefing, Quinlan stressed that the threat posed by Al-Qaida to international peace and security remained a 'pressing dimension' of a number of issues on the Council's agenda, including international terrorism as well as specific country situations such as Somalia, Mali and Yemen. To underline the importance of the 1267 sanctions regime in addressing these challenges, Ambassador Quinlan reported that the Committee had recently extended sanctions specifically to individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida in the Maghreb.