Countries have largely failed to cooperate in efforts to prevent the global spread of coronavirus, the top United Nations official warned the Security Council during a 24 September videoconference meeting, calling for a rethink of global governance and multilateralism.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ briefing to the Security Council on global governance post-COVID-19, held today:
With relative calm prevailing in Syria and the need to alleviate the suffering of its people all the more urgent amid the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the time to press ahead towards a lasting political settlement, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy told the Security Council during an 18 September videoconference meeting.
The Security Council, in a videoconference meeting on 18 September, announced its decision to renew the mandates of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) — and the Special Adviser leading it — until 21 September 2021.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Abdou Abarry (Niger):
With the number of people suffering from food insecurity projected to double in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, those in conflict zones still face the most severe threats of hunger and even famine, experts told the Security Council during a 17 September videoconference meeting on conflict-induced hunger, as they issued a clarion call for donors to step up their support.
It is starkly evident that people affected by conflict are also disproportionately impacted by climate shocks, the head of an international humanitarian organization told the Security Council in a 17 September videoconference meeting, calling for more in-depth policy reflections on the links between environmental degradation, climate risk, humanitarian needs, and peace and security.
The international community must swiftly step up support to change the course of spiralling violence and growing humanitarian needs across South Sudan, a civil society representative and the heads of the United Nations Mission and agency working in the country told the Security Council, briefing the 15-member organ in a 16 September videoconference meeting.
While the confirmed number of COVID-19 cases in Syria currently stands at 3,618, reports from inside the country are pointing to a much broader spread of the disease, and it will not be possible to gauge the extent of the outbreak without more laboratory testing nationwide, Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Security Council during a videoconference meeting on 16 September.
Sudan’s representative once again urged the Security Council, during a videoconference meeting on 15 September, to lift the sanctions that it imposed on Khartoum over the conflict in Darfur, as the 15-member organ took up the latest report of its Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005).
