Meetings Coverage

​​​​​​​The United Nations Secretary-General today urged Security Council members to update the diplomatic toolkit, used for decades to prevent catastrophic war, to meet the deteriorating global peace and security environment and move towards a world free of nuclear weapons.  As António Guterres told Council members that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was ready to send a mission from Kyiv to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, Gustavo Zlauvinen, President of the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, warned members that the norm against the use of such arms, one of the most important achievements of the post-Second World War era, is increasingly threatened.

The Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime biodiversity treaty continued its fifth session today, with the facilitators of informal discussions on various elements updating on progress made during the first week.

The Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime biodiversity treaty continued its fifth session today, with the facilitators of informal discussions on various elements updating on progress made over the last two days.

The Intergovernmental Conference to draft the first-ever treaty on the ocean’s biological diversity opened its fifth and likely final session today, amid calls for flexibility, openness and the spirit of compromise that prevailed in 1982, when the landmark “constitution for the oceans” was adopted, setting out the legal framework for all activities in the oceans and seas.

Encouraged by the extension of a truce in Yemen until 2 October, the United Nations top official for the country told the Security Council today that he aims for an expanded agreement that would lead to a durable ceasefire and resumption of a Yemeni-led political process as speakers voiced their concerns about the ongoing humanitarian crises and the blocking of roads to Taiz.

The situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has deteriorated rapidly to the point of becoming “very alarming”, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi warned the Security Council today, in a meeting requested by the Russian Federation and marked by resounding calls to allow the Agency’s technical experts to visit the area to address mounting safety concerns.

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Da’esh, and its affiliates continue to exploit conflict-related fragility to plan and conduct terrorist attacks while the international community faces a rash of overlapping challenges that risk complicating counter-terrorism responses and fuelling extremism, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, as members debated how best to address this proliferating threat.

Highlighting the links between effective governance, peace, security and development in Africa, speakers urged greater international investment and support for nationally led efforts, stressing “Africa knows best” how to resolve its own problems, as the Security Council concluded a two-day open debate on stopping violence and building the capacity for peace and growth on the continent.

The Security Council held an emergency meeting today to assess a fragile truce between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza after three days of deadly fighting, with the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process calling on all sides to abide by the agreement and delegates denouncing the deliberate targeting of civilians, notably children.

​​​​​The Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons concluded its first week today, with gripping first-hand accounts by those who survived the horrors of atomic production, testing and use, and who moved the debate from one of concepts and proposals towards a timeless appeal to uphold a collective moral conscience in saying “never again”.