Editing Office - Geneva

In 2018, in addition to the five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the Council was composed of the following non-permanent members: Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Peru, Poland and Sweden. 

In 2018, the Security Council held 288 meetings, adopted 54 resolutions and issued 21 presidential statements. It considered 48 agenda items and dispatched three missions to the field, to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Kazakhstan, which held the Presidency of the Council for the month of January 2018, held - for the first time in its history - a flag installation ceremony for the newly-elected members of the Council. 

On 30 March 2018, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) completed its mandate and in presidential statement S/PRST/2018/8, the Council expressed its appreciation for its important contribution throughout more than 14 years of operation in Liberia. 

On 14 November 2018, by resolution 2444 (2018) the Council decided to lift the arms embargo, travel ban, assets freeze and other targeted sanctions imposed on Eritrea by the Security Council in its resolutions 1907 (2009), 2023 (2011), 2060 (2012) and 2111 (2013). 

As a result, the Council decided to terminate the mandate of the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) while establishing a new Panel of Experts on Somalia mandated to, inter alia, monitor and investigate the implementation of the sanctions measures imposed on Somalia, namely, the arms embargo, the travel ban, the assets freeze, and the charcoal ban. 

In connection with the conflict in Yemen, on 21 December, by resolution 2451 (2018), the Council authorized the Secretary-General to establish and deploy, for an initial period of 30 days, an advance team to begin monitoring and to support and facilitate the immediate implementation of the Stockholm Agreement (S/2018/1134).