Meetings Coverage

As fighting wound down in Libya and urgent humanitarian needs were met, the most important job for the United Nations was ensuring that multilateral, regional and international efforts complemented each other and were responsive to Libyan wishes, Secretary-Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council today.

In the wake of attacks against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the Security Council today extended its mandate for one year, until 31 August 2012, condemning all terrorist attacks against it in the strongest terms.

Recent violence accompanying a customs dispute between Kosovo and Serbia was a stark reminder of the threats to the former’s security, the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative there told the Security Council today, emphasizing that both sides must refrain from actions leading to an escalation of tensions and demonstrate confidence in their European Union-mediated dialogue.

The Security Council today committed itself to strengthening its partnership with countries contributing military and police contingents to United Nations peacekeeping operations as it held a day-long review of peacekeeping involving some 48 speakers.

Recent terror attacks and escalating violence in the Middle East showed the urgent need to make progress towards the two-State solution, but the political deadlock persisted, B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the Security Council this morning.

The head of the newly established United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa this morning called on the Security Council to provide ongoing support for its efforts to stem cross-border threats to security in the region such as piracy, illicit small arms traffic, rebel militias and massive refugee returns due to the instability in Libya.

The States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea today opened its doors to fill a vacancy in the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, in the midst of that body’s annual session at Headquarters.

A complex amalgam in Somalia of accelerated political progress and the unexpected withdrawal of insurgents from the capital — amid a deadly famine devastating large swaths of the country — made increased international support to the nation urgent at this critical time, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today. “This is an extraordinary moment for Somalia,” Augustine Mahiga said via video teleconference from Mogadishu.

Expressing “profound regret” over the many hundreds of deaths in Syria and condemning what it called widespread violations of human rights against civilians by Syrian authorities, the Security Council today called for an immediate end to violence in the Middle East country and urged all sides to act with utmost restraint.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded its work today by adopting observations and recommendations arising from its consideration of eight country reports that it took up during its forty-ninth session.