Meetings Coverage

The international community’s collective failure to end the conflict in Syria should haunt the entire Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, as he provided a grim snapshot of the situation on the ground.

The final peace agreement in Colombia offered the prospect of lasting peace rooted in inclusive democracy after generations of conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki‑moon said today as the President of the South American nation presented the pact to the Security Council.

Amid “gulfs of mistrust” that had divided citizens from Governments, slowed the delivery of life-saving aid to millions in need and fomented divisions of “us” and “them”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the seventy-first annual debate of the General Assembly today, pressing world leaders to commit to new heights of solidarity in forging a better future.

The General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants today, thereby mapping a route towards a collective, rights-based response to record displacement numbers around the world.

Acting on the recommendations of its General Committee, the General Assembly this morning adopted the work programme and agenda for its seventy-first session, which contained 173 items, and endorsed the recommendation that its general debate be held from 20 to 24 September 2016.

The two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was at risk of being replaced by a one-State reality of perpetual violence and occupation, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council today, encouraging both sides to take the difficult steps needed to change that destructive trajectory.

Reaffirming its support to Afghanistan ahead of next month’s major donor conference, the Security Council today adopted a presidential statement calling on Member States to continue their assistance to the conflict-affected country.

The Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) until 31 December 2016, determining that the situation in that country constituted a threat to international peace and security.

While political space had been opened and progress was being made in the fight against terrorism, the political divisions underlying the conflict were deepening, the Security Council heard today during a briefing on the latest developments in Libya.

Welcoming the recent peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — People’s Army (FARC-EP), the Security Council this morning approved the deployment of 450 observers to assist the parties in laying down their arms and ending a half century of conflict in the South American nation.