BRUSSELS, 8 September — Israeli settlement expansion would kill hope for an agreement towards the establishment of two sovereign States existing side by side peacefully, experts told the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which concluded this afternoon.
BRUSSELS, 8 September — Invoking universal jurisdiction and a referral to the International Criminal Court were among the legal strategies available to hold Israel accountable for its illegal activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, experts said this morning during the second plenary session of the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine.
BRUSSELS, 7 September — Israel’s illegal settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory directly ran counter to its stated objective to realize a two-State solution, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message to the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which opened here today.
BRUSSELS, 7 September — Israel was changing the demographic composition on the ground by transferring Jewish settlers into the Occupied Palestinian Territory and driving out Palestinians, experts told the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine this afternoon during its first plenary session.
The Security Council today renewed an arms embargo on non-State actors in Liberia for nine months while terminating other sanctions on the country, including a travel ban and asset freeze on those deemed a danger to its stability.
In a historic move today, the General Assembly adopted a resolution transmitting to its seventieth session a sweeping post-2015 development agenda aimed at eliminating poverty and hunger, protecting the planet and fostering peace, to be acted on during a high-level summit later this month.
The Security Council in the past month was strengthened by discussion of root causes of conflict, humanitarian concerns and other issues not previously on the schedule, the Permanent Representative of Nigeria, President of the body for August, said in a wrap-up meeting this morning.
With Guinea-Bissau facing political turbulence barely a year after the re-establishment of constitutional order, the top United Nations official there expressed hope today that political leaders would rise to their “historic responsibility” to preserve the gains made so far in the interest of the country and people.
Welcoming the 26 August signature by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on the agreement to resolve the conflict in that country, as well as earlier signatures by other parties, the Security Council this afternoon confirmed its intention to move swiftly to update the mandate of the United Nations Mission there, known as UNMISS, to support implementation of key tasks in the accord.
The more than four-year-long conflict in Syria was characterized by a “callous disregard for human life” that “seemingly knows no bounds”, the top United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council today.
