The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Central African Republic — a landlocked country replete with dirt roads unusable due to rains for two thirds of the year — needs adequate transport and logistics resources to fulfil its mandates to protect civilians and help extend State authority across the country, the Mission Chief told the Security Council today, as members called for tighter border control to stanch the flow of weapons to armed groups there.
On a complex global landscape marred by conflict, United Nations peacekeeping remains vital for protecting civilian populations, averting festering hostilities and preventing violence, speakers stressed today as the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations held the first meeting of its 2024 session, further underscoring the need for missions to adapt to evolving threats.
Speakers disagreed on sanctions, the rules governing self-defence, the role of the International Court of Justice and the work of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization as that Committee opened its 2024 session with a spirited debate on how to best implement the Organization’s founding document.
The Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza owing to a negative vote of the United States — a permanent member of the Council — marking the second time Washington, D.C., has blocked such a text since early December 2023.
A dramatic spike in hostilities between the Congolese national forces and the 23 March Movement (M23) armed group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has exacerbated the country’s humanitarian crisis, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council today, as she also condemned the violence in Kinshasa on 10 February targeting UN personnel.
The international community must continue to accompany Somalia along its path to full ownership of its security responsibility, senior officials told the Security Council today, as members warned that any security vacuum could be exploited by Al-Shabaab insurgents and undermine the advances made so far in the country’s political, economic and security situations.
As the 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories continue to face current and future challenges — including the existential threat of climate change — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed today that the Special Committee on Decolonization remains crucial to their successful evolution.
Despite the finalization of the constitutional and legal framework for elections, key Libyan institutional stakeholders appear unwilling to resolve the outstanding politically contested issues that would clear the path to the long-awaited elections, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today, as delegates underscored the need to increase synergies between the political and national reconciliation aspects.
Tackling the threat of terrorism through comprehensive approaches remains a priority, the Security Council heard today from senior counter-terrorism experts, with many speakers emphasizing that force alone is not the solution.
The Commission for Social Development, acting by consensus on the final day of its sixty-second session, approved and forwarded three resolutions and one draft decision to the Economic and Social Council for adoption — including one on recognizing and valuing the unacknowledged, unpaid work of caregivers.
