Security Council: No name

The Security Council today stressed the importance of promoting and protecting the human rights of women and girls, as well as increasing women’s participation in conflict prevention, resolution and peacebuilding, as it reviewed progress on implementation of its landmark resolution 1325 (2000) on Women and Peace and Security.

The Security Council this morning adopted its annual report to the General Assembly for the period 1 August 2010 to 31 July 2011.

Welcoming positive developments in Libya and taking note of the Declaration of Liberation following the death of long-time leader Muammar al-Qadhafi, the Security Council this morning ended the authorization under which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had conducted an air campaign with the mandated aim of protecting civilians, as of 31 October 2011.

The following Security Council press statement on Liberia was issued today by Council President U. Joy Ogwu (Nigeria):

After Libya’s “Declaration of Liberation” on 23 October, following the death of long-term ruler Muammar al-Qadhafi, the international community must remain “focused and measured” in its engagement with the transitional authorities there, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council this morning, as it met to consider the situation in that country.

Briefing the Security Council this afternoon on the situation in Darfur, the senior United Nations official for peacekeeping highlighted progress in the implementation of the provisions of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, and agreement between the Sudanese Government and the Justice and Liberation Movement.

The recent prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas showed that it was possible with sufficient exercise of political will to overcome long-standing impasses in the Middle East, the United Nations political affairs chief told the Security Council this morning, ahead of a full-day debate on the Middle East that included some 50 speakers.

Gravely concerned by the growing threat of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, and by the increased violence employed by pirates, and also strongly condemning the practice of hostage-taking by suspected pirates, the Security Council acted today on a resolution to consider further the establishment of specialized anti-piracy courts in Somalia and other States in the region.

Strongly condemning what it called human rights violations by authorities, and abuses by other actors, in Yemen following months of political strife, the Security Council this afternoon demanded that all sides immediately reject violence, and called on them to commit to a peaceful transition of power based on proposals by the major regional organization of the Arabian Gulf.

At its thirty-second meeting, on 30 September 2011, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict agreed, in connection with the consideration of the first report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Iraq (S/2011/366), covering the period from January 2008 to December 2010, to address the following message to the armed groups mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General through public statements by the Chair of the Working Group: