Security Council: No name

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela):

The Israeli-Palestinian-Israeli conflict had reached a pivotal point, and with no signs of an end to the violence that erupted in October, the onus was on both sides to shape their future before the opponents of peace decided their fate for them, the Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today.

The Chair of the “751/1907” Somalia-Eritrea Sanctions Committee provided an update to the Security Council today on the recent findings of its Monitoring Group, as delegates called for improved coordination to staunch the illegal charcoal trade in Somalia, and pressed Eritrea for “frank and sincere” cooperation over its reported involvement in the Yemen conflict, support for armed groups in Ethiopia and progress on the question of Djibouti war prisoners.

The security situation in Yemen had deteriorated since the first round of peace talks two months ago, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy told the Security Council today, stressing that a new cessation of hostilities and spirit of compromise would pave the way for a fresh round of talks and agreements on the country’s return to a peaceful and orderly transition.

The drawn-out political crisis in Guinea-Bissau was taking a toll on development and could only get worse in the absence of “a frank and sincere dialogue” involving all parties concerned, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the West African country told the Security Council today.

On 12 February 2016, at its third formal meeting, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2206 (2015) concerning South Sudan held an exchange of views on the implementation of the sanctions measures in pursuance of paragraph 16(g) of the resolution and paragraph 3(b) of the Committee’s Guidelines with the representatives to the United Nations of South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.

After nearly a year of fighting that had caused immeasurable suffering in Yemen, it was more urgent than ever to address the human catastrophe unfolding in that war-torn country, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the Security Council today, urging it to impress upon the warring parties the importance of facilitating unconditional humanitarian access and protecting civilians.

The humanitarian crisis in Iraq was expected “to widen and worsen” in 2016, despite some recent success in rolling back Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), the senior United Nations official in that country told the Security Council today.

Speakers today called for the United Nations to strike a balance between the fundamental principle of State sovereignty and the need to protect human rights, as the Security Council held a day-long debate on the tenets of the Organization’s Charter.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela):