A political horizon for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be established amidst escalating violence and extremism on both sides, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as members condemned ongoing unilateral actions that render the prospect of a sustainable solution ever more remote.
Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, speakers in the Security Council today examined the justification and consequences of arms supplies from the West to Kyiv, with many arguing that these weapons support that country’s self-defence against the Russian Federation’s invasion and others expressing concern that such military assistance makes a peaceful settlement a distant hope.
Rarely has the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea been “more painfully closed” to the outside world than it is today, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as several members opposed the organ’s consideration of the human rights situation in that country, as it does not pose a threat to international peace and security.
Movement through the Lachin Corridor — connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world — must be reopened immediately, speakers told the Security Council today, as they called on both Armenia and Azerbaijan to refrain from the politicization of humanitarian aid to meet the civilian population’s needs and normalize relations for a future peace treaty.
Despite relative calm since the expiration of a truce in October 2022, Houthi militias in Yemen continue to threaten the country’s fragile security, humanitarian and economic situations, speakers told the Security Council today, calling for urgent action by all parties to relaunch the political peace process.
Continued violence in parts of Sudan, particularly sexual and ethnically targeted violence, risks engulfing the country in a prolonged conflict with regional spillover, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, as they warned that the country’s descent into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe continues to deepen.
The Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) efforts to organize the next round of consultations with Syria continue to be unsuccessful, a senior official of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council today, stressing that full cooperation by Damascus is essential to closing its chemical weapons file.
Adopting a presidential statement today, the Security Council reiterated its commitment to address conflict-induced food insecurity in situations of armed conflict during a day-long open debate on the matter, in which 80 speakers voiced alarm and urged unity to address the growing scale of food insecurity and human suffering due to conflict and violence.
Amid Colombia’s ongoing efforts to establish peace with several domestic armed groups, the Security Council today expanded the mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in that country to monitor and verify the implementation of a ceasefire between the Government and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
The General Assembly today adopted two resolutions — including one on entry into force of a previously adopted agreement on the oceans and conservation of biodiversity — while rejecting an amendment proposed by the Russian Federation that would have deleted three critical paragraphs of the text.