Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council adopted its annual report to the General Assembly today for the period 1 August 2015 to 31 December 2016.

Calling upon all parties in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and north-east Nigeria to urgently take steps that would enable a more effective humanitarian response, the Security Council today expressed its grave concern about the unprecedented level of global humanitarian needs and the threat of famine currently facing more than 20 million people in those countries.

The Security Council today further strengthened its sanctions regime against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, condemning in the strongest terms that country’s ballistic missile launches and reaffirming its decision that Pyongyang shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.

Effective implementation of sanctions required support from all Member States, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs told the Security Council today, emphasizing that when used effectively, they should lead to comprehensive political strategies for preventing and peacefully resolving conflicts.

The Security Council, in a presidential statement today, expressed deep concern over the political situation in Burundi — including increasing numbers of refugees and reports of torture, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings — and strongly urged the Government and all parties to immediately cease and reject such violence.

The Security Council today urged Member States to act cooperatively to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons and called upon them to counter threats posed by improvised explosive devices and to become party to related international and regional instruments.

Despite declining violence in some parts of Syria in recent months, the country’s humanitarian and protection situation remained extremely difficult for civilians, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today renewed the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for six months today, while asking the Secretary-General to conduct a strategic review of the mission.

Burundi’s socioeconomic Situation continued to deteriorate due to the ongoing political situation in the East African country, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy said today as he briefed the Security Council on developments there.

The Security Council stressed today the urgent need for swift implementation of the 31 December 2016 political agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so that the Government could organize peaceful, credible, inclusive and timely elections by December 2017 — as agreed in that accord — leading to a peaceful transfer of power.