The General Assembly voted to elect incoming members of the Security Council for two-year terms starting in 2016. Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay will all join the Council. A chart showing the Council’s membership in 2016 is available in the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
This morning, the Security Council decided unanimously to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) for another year, at the force levels recommended by the Secretary-General.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was deeply alarmed by the escalating violence and widespread loss of civilian life in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, underlining that only robust political action could prevent further escalation.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has expressed anger at the murder of a staff member today in Kandahar. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Nicholas Haysom, has confirmed that the staff member, Toorpaki Ulfat, was a respected human rights defender. Initial reports indicate that she was killed by gunfire from unknown persons on a motorcycle.
The Secretary-General congratulated members of the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for receiving the 2015 Nobel Prize for Peace. He also saluted the Tunisian people, saying that the recognition belonged to all those who had given birth to the Arab Spring and were striving to safeguard the sacrifices of so many.
In light of the bribery accusations of former General Assembly President John Ashe, the Secretary-General is asking the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to begin an audit of the United Nations dealings with and use of any funds received from the Global Sustainability Foundation and the Sun Kian Ip Group.
The Special Envoy for Yemen welcomed statements by the Houthis reaffirming their acceptance of Security Council resolution 2216 (2015). This is an important step as that text and others, along with the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and the outcomes of the National Dialogue are at the core of the United Nations-led peace process.
The Secretary-General says he was shocked and deeply troubled to learn of bribery-related allegations against John Ashe, former President of the General Assembly, which “go to the heart” of the integrity of the United Nations.
The Secretary-General strongly condemned the airstrikes in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that resulted in the death and injury of medical workers and patients at a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital and called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the attack in order to ensure accountability.
The Secretary-General welcomes the ratification by Somalia of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and encourages the United States, the only State yet to ratify the 1989 treaty, to do so.