While advances in digital technology offer incredible opportunities to create a better future for all, “breakthroughs must be oriented towards the good”, the leader of the United Nations told the Security Council today during a day-long debate on evolving cyberspace threats, during which speakers spotlighted myriad examples of the opposite.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the UN Security Council’s high-level debate on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Addressing Evolving Threats in Cyberspace”, in New York today:
Amid a political stalemate, insecurity and arms embargo violations, the commencement of voter registration for municipal elections is a positive note in Libya’s troubled and divided landscape, the Security Council heard today.
Amid an unconscionable escalation of attacks impacting Ukrainian civilians, world leaders came together at the “Summit on Peace in Ukraine” — hosted by Switzerland on 15 and 16 June — a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as many delegates welcomed the summit’s common vision in several key areas, including nuclear safety, the exchange of prisoners of war and the return of deported and unlawfully displaced Ukrainian children.
With famine impending, human rights violations on the rise and fighting escalating between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the international community must work towards an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, senior United Nations officials and a women’s rights activist told the Security Council today.
As the United Nations’ disarmament chief urged just and lasting peace in Ukraine before the Security Council today, its members — meeting again, at the Russian Federation’s behest, on Western arms deliveries to that country — alternately reiterated Kyiv’s right to defend itself, pointed to Moscow’s procurement of arms from third States and called for dialogue ahead of a peace summit that will occur in Switzerland on 15-16 June.
Violence often starts with words — words of hatred that spread intolerance, divide societies, and promote and endorse discrimination, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as members examined the international community’s response to such harmful attitude and rhetoric.
On 3 June 2024, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo held informal consultations on “DRC-mined gold, tantalum and tungsten: illicit trading in DRC and internationally”.
On 3 June 2024, the Coordinator and members of the Panel of Experts briefed the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2127 (2013) concerning the Central African Republic on the Panel’s final report submitted in pursuance of resolution 2693 (2023).
Parties that violate the arms embargo in Sudan may be subject to targeted sanctions, the senior United Nations official on that file warned, while Sudan’s representative said that the current sanctions regime has disrupted his country’s ability to maintain security by depriving its Armed Forces of equipment while the Rapid Support Forces continuously violate the measure.
