Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council, meeting twice today independently from but concurrently with the General Assembly, elected four candidates to the International Court of Justice for nine‑year terms, beginning on 6 February 2018.

Detailing two additional arrest warrants for grave crimes in Libya, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court reaffirmed to the Security Council today that her Office continued its crucial work in the strife-filled country, despite challenges arising from security constraints and insufficient resources.

The Security Council today reiterated the need for the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to fully investigate the killing of two members of the Group of Experts on that country and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Urging all parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina to step up the pace of reforms and to refrain from polarizing actions and rhetoric, the Security Council today renewed its authorization of the European-led multinational stabilization force (EUFOR ALTHEA) for one further year before commencing a debate on the situation in the country.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) had been identified as responsible for the use of sulfur mustard at Umm Hawsh, and Syria as accountable for the use of sarin at Khan Shaykhun, Edmond Mulet, Head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)‑United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, told the Security Council this afternoon.

The Security Council today renewed for another year its authorization for international naval forces to join in fighting piracy off Somalia’s coast, underscoring that such crime exacerbated instability in the country and fuelled corruption and terrorism.

The Security Council this afternoon resolved to include, on a case by case basis, policing as an integral part of the mandates and decision-making structures of United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions.

Calling on the Myanmar Government to end the excessive military force and intercommunal violence that had devastated the Rohingya community in Rakhine State, the Security Council this afternoon urged the implementation of agreed‑upon mechanisms to assist return of those who have fled and to ensure access for humanitarian aid.

Urgent, decisive action was needed by leaders in the Central African Republic in partnership with the international community to reverse a new spiral of violence that interrupted progress in the political transition, the top United Nations official there told the Security Council this morning.

The number of forcibly displaced people around the world was now approaching 66 million, and that sharp rise reflected the weakness of international cooperation in responding to the crisis, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told the Security Council today.