Following widespread protests and political upheaval in Venezuela — a country plagued by food shortages, deteriorating basic services and an inflation rate of more than 1 million per cent — all actors must exercise maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation, said a senior United Nations official during an emergency meeting of the Security Council today.
Climate change poses risks to international peace and security through massive displacement of people and increased competition for scarce natural resources, speakers told the Security Council today while expressing divergent views on what the 15-member organ can do about it.
The broad public consensus in Colombia in support of the country’s 2016 peace agreement — which ended more than 50 years of bloody civil strife — must be preserved and bolstered, with swift action to address lingering violence and terrorist acts, the Secretary-General’s newly appointed Special Representative told the Security Council today.
The prospects for a viable, contiguous State of Palestine have dwindled as Israel continues its illegal settlement expansion in occupied Palestinian territory, speakers told the Security Council today, noting also that the lack of progress on intra-Palestinian reconciliation persists, and that violence between the Israelis and Palestinians shows no signs of abating.
Without the international community’s support in Libya, spoilers will sabotage the political process and unravel the fragile and easily reversible progress made amid an already grim backdrop of sporadic violence and rising humanitarian needs, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the country warned today in a briefing to the Security Council.
Speakers in the Security Council today debated the future of sanctions imposed on Sudan more than 13 years ago, as the 15-nation body took up the latest report of the Panel of Experts appointed to monitor those measures against individuals and entities obstructing peace in the Darfur region.
While violence continues to exacerbate the crisis in and beyond Mali, greater efforts must be made to address resilience, governance and development deficits in the Sahel region, with all parties to the Bamako peace agreement making every effort to sustain a positive momentum and speed up its implementation to make meaningful progress without delay, the United Nations Assistant Secretary‑General for Africa told the Security Council today.
The Security Council today decided to establish a special political mission to support implementation of the ceasefire agreement reached in Stockholm on 13 December 2018 between the Government of Yemen and the Houthi militia covering the city and port of Hodeidah, as well as the ports of Salif and Ras Issa.
Despite varied disputes over preliminary voting results in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all stakeholders must remain steadfast in pursuing peace ahead of the nation’s first‑ever democratic transfer of power after decades of conflict, the Security Council heard today in briefings on the political landscape and prospects ahead.
Ensuring full respect for human rights will be key for the success of several elections due to take place in 2019 in West Africa and the Sahel amidst a highly challenging security environment, the head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) told the Security Council today.
