Reckoning with recent reports of the deployment of foreign troops and the authorization to use long-range weapons to strike across borders, speakers in the Security Council today discussed how best to achieve peace in Ukraine as civilians there ready themselves to face a third winter under increasingly harsh conditions.
The Security Council, meeting once again amid the 19-month brutal war raging in Sudan that has led to the world’s largest displacement crisis, rejected today a draft resolution intended to bolster measures to protect civilians and increase humanitarian aid access.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural) approved nine draft resolutions today, including texts on trafficking in women and girls, forced marriage, extreme poverty and the moratorium on the death penalty.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the goal of a zone free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East is “becoming more urgent by the day,” with “regional conflicts raging and tensions reaching a boiling point”.
“The current conditions are among the worst we’ve seen during the entire war and are not set to improve,” Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, warned the Security Council during a meeting on ending the war in Gaza and Lebanon and securing durable peace in the Middle East, as Member States echoed the need for a ceasefire and voiced concern over developments that jeopardize the two-State solution.
The General Assembly today adopted six draft resolutions underscoring the imperatives of continued cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations. Delegates also raised specific concerns on matters capable of advancing or jeopardizing these partnerships.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the fifth session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction, in New York today:
Citing an “apocalyptic” situation in northern Gaza, delegates in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today reaffirmed their funding commitments and support for UNRWA’s life-saving work and urged the Israeli Knesset to stop its attempts to dismantle the Agency, as that could fuel “hopelessness and radicalization”, and lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
The Security Council today decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) until 15 November 2025, mandating it to advance a multi-year strategic vision to create the political, security and institutional conditions conducive to national reconciliation and durable peace.
As the Security Council took up the annual briefing from the chairs of its three counter-terrorism committees today, speakers underscored the urgent need for unity and coordination among the three bodies to strengthen the collective response against terrorist groups whose growing influence and expansion continues to threaten international peace and stability.
