Meeting following a reported strike on a bus transporting Belarusian civilians in the Russian Federation, many speakers in the Security Council today called for an independent investigation to establish the facts surrounding this incident as calls for a broader ceasefire echoed yet again in the chamber.
The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the latest violence between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which resulted in civilian casualties. He calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the protection of civilians.
The United Nations welcomes the 13 December release by Belarusian authorities of 123 political prisoners, including the 2022 Nobel Peace laureate, Ales Bialiatski, as well as civic activist Maria Kolesnikova, commending the efforts of the United States in facilitating this and calling for the release of all remaining political prisoners.
“The world is not powerless” in countering the threat posed by the military junta in Myanmar, an independent human rights expert told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, urging States to impose sanctions on the regime and denounce its ‘fraudulent’ election to be held in 2025.
In Malawi, the United Nations and its partners are supporting the Government to respond to severe drought, which has prompted national authorities to declare a state of emergency in 23 of the country’s 28 districts. Nearly 2 million farming families and over 40 per cent of Malawi’s agricultural land has been impacted.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Rasul Baghirov of Azerbaijan as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Belarus, with the host Government’s approval. His start date is 29 March.
The Russian Federation’s recent announcement of plans to station non-strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus represents the first “nuclear sharing” agreement made since the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons entered into force in 1970, the senior United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council today, emphasizing that — against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict — the risk such arms will be used is higher today than at any time since the end of the cold war.
The Government of Belarus’ deliberate diversion of Ryanair Flight 4978 under the false pretext of a bomb threat is an act of unlawful interference that deliberately endangered the safety and security of the flight and the lives of those on board, Salvatore Sciacchitano, President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), told the Security Council today, citing the report of the agency and the work of its fact-finding investigation team.
In Belarus, an Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) team has been granted limited access to the Polish border, where it delivered aid with help from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The agencies are advocating to move people to safer locations away from the border.
