The Security Council today decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) for six months, while calling on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any ceasefire breaches in the “area of separation” where no military activity of any kind is permitted.
Providing his final briefing on the Syrian political process to the Security Council today, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General appealed to the Council to finally unite in efforts to end what he called the “dirty, brutal, horrific war”.
The Sahel is awash with challenges — from food insecurity and terrorist-related security threats to the negative impacts of climate change — but it has the potential to change for the better through an ongoing focus on sustainable development, speakers in the Security Council agreed today.
Once limited to transiting cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs to destinations abroad, West and Central African countries have now become both users and producers of those substances, the United Nations anti-crime chief told the Security Council today, noting that the region accounted for 87 per cent of all pharmaceutical opioids seizures identified in his office’s latest report.
Confirming the existence of tunnels dug under the “Blue Line” separating Lebanon and Israel, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council today that they represent a violation of Council resolution 1701 (2006).
A window for peace has finally opened in South Sudan, with more political progress made in the last four months than over the last four years, the head of United Nations peacekeeping said today, telling the Security Council that the fragile situation in the country will continue to require international support.
The Security Council today encouraged the Peacebuilding Commission to present it with concise and targeted recommendations on efforts to sustain peace in specific situations, ahead of reviews of mandates of United Nations operations.
The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process expressed deep concern today over the weakening of the international consensus around a two-State resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, as he briefed the Security Council on continuing violence, provocation and settlement activity on the ground.
Serbia and Kosovo must avoid steps that could further exacerbate tensions and set back dialogue towards normalizing relations, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council today.
Against the backdrop of increasingly complex and evolving threats to global peace and security, divisions within the Security Council – including between its five permanent and 10 elected members – continue to hamstring the work of the committees and working groups tasked with tackling them, said the Chairs of the 15-member organ’s subsidiary bodies in their annual briefing.
