Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly decided today to convene a one-day high-level plenary meeting in late September to address the existential threats posed by sea-level rise.

A staggering 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza — 1.9 million civilians — have been forcibly displaced amid Israel’s military operations, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council today, as delegates categorically rejected any statements proposing that Palestinians should be resettled outside of Gaza, including from members of the Israeli Government.

Following strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen launched by the United States and United Kingdom on 11 January — a day after the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding that the Houthis cease attacking merchant and commercial vessels — a senior United Nations official today warned the 15-nation organ of the consequences of further escalation and urged restraint by all concerned parties.

The Final Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the former Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) remains as relevant today as the day it was signed, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council today.

Amid growing fears of widespread insecurity in West Africa and the Sahel, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today of the need to reconfigure the region’s security coordination mechanism, including the possible deployment of an African Union standby team.

Following naval interception by the United States and United Kingdom of a barrage of missiles and drones fired from Houthi-controlled territory into the Red Sea on 9 January, the Security Council today adopted a resolution demanding that the Houthis immediately cease all attacks on merchant and commercial vessels.

Nearly two years after the major escalation of war in Ukraine, there is no let-up in the death, destruction, forced displacement and human suffering, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as delegates condemned Moscow’s intensified air strikes against civilian targets and critical infrastructure in Ukraine, as well as the continued military support for its war provided by Iran, Belarus and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Speakers in the General Assembly today examined the recent use of veto by the United States against an amendment to Security Council resolution 2720 (2023) on Gaza that would have called for “an urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access” and for “urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities”.

Following attacks on the MSC United and Maersk Hangzhou in late December 2023 — the latest in a series of incidents threatening maritime safety in the Red Sea — senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today of the imperative to safeguard global supply chains and avoid exacerbating regional tensions.

A senior United Nations official today condemned all attacks on cities, towns, and villages in Ukraine and the Russian Federation during the second Security Council meeting in 24 hours on the subject, as aerial bombardments between the two countries escalate.