Meetings Coverage

The Security Council this morning extended for one year sanctions on those threatening stability in Yemen, as well as the mandate of the Panel of Experts who assist the committee that oversees those measures.

As the United Nations approached its seventieth anniversary, the Charter tenet of national sovereignty remained valid, but a State’s responsibility for its people and its participation in global cooperation were also increasingly vital, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed as he opened a day-long Security Council debate this morning.

While huge efforts had been made to adapt the development system to evolving country needs, the United Nations must use its credibility, impartiality and access to specialized knowledge more effectively in order to deliver fit-for-purpose results over the next 15 years, the Economic and Social Council heard today, as it opened its 2015 operational activities segment.

Citing growing cooperation among all stakeholders concerned to eradicate colonialism across the globe, a senior United Nations political official this morning called for innovative, practical ways to address the issue of self-government, as the Special Committee on Decolonization opened its 2015 session.

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization today elected by acclamation Nadia Kalb (Austria) of the Western European and Other States Group for third Vice-Chair of that body’s bureau.

Welcoming the significant progress made by Burundi since the adoption of the Arusha Agreement in 2000 in restoring security and stability, the Security Council today noted that challenges remained to be overcome to prevent a reversal of such improvement, especially in the context of the 2015 elections.

“Horrific and brutal” acts of terrorism in Libya had “shaken our collective conscience” and must prompt swift action in support of the political process there, said the United Nations top official in that country as he briefed the Security Council this afternoon.

Failing to rectify persistent governance and security issues in Gaza and the slow pace of reconstruction six months after the conflict with Israel had fostered an increasingly worrisome “toxic” environment, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today.

By a unanimous vote this morning, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) for a period of 12 months, welcoming recent progress made towards the country’s peace, security and stability.

Continuing its 2015 session today, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations tackled a plethora of peacekeeping concerns from the use of new technology and civilian protection mandates to pre-deployment planning and training to troop reimbursement rates.