The Security Council today extended the arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban imposed on the Central African Republic until 31 January 2017, as well as the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the relevant Sanctions Committee through 28 February 2017.
Despite repeated calls to the Security Council and the parties to the conflict in Syria, the humanitarian community remained without access to the majority of the estimated 4.6 million people living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas, the senior United Nations humanitarian official said today during a briefing to the 15-member body.
With a relentless wave of extremist terror gripping the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians had an opportunity to restore hope to a region torn apart by intolerance and cruelty, Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon told the Security Council today, urging it to “act now” to prevent the two-State solution from slipping away forever.
The Security Council today decided to establish a political mission of unarmed international observers to monitor and verify for one year the laying down of arms by the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC-EP), should they agree to end a civil war that has raged for half a century, the longest in Latin America.
With the resumption of hostilities in Darfur marking the end of a period of relative calm, it was critical that the Government of Sudan extend its full support to the implementation of strategic United Nations priorities, peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous stressed today during a morning briefing to the Security Council.
The Security Council today decided to downsize the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), decreasing its military component from 5,437 to 4,000 personnel by 31 March 2016 amid calls to lift the sanctions against the Government, given its recent progress in consolidating peace and stability.
The situation of civilians in armed conflict zones — who were increasingly becoming targets themselves — remained “grim and bleak” even in the twenty-first century, stressed high-level briefers as the Security Council took on the issue of protection of civilians today.
Siege and starvation had become systematic in Syria, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs told the Security Council today during a meeting that heard calls for immediate, unhindered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to besieged and hard-to-reach areas of the country, as well as warnings that using starvation as a weapon amounted to a war crime.
Briefing the Security Council today, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa painted a mixed picture of the situation in the region, noting the completion of peaceful elections in several nations, as well as the continuing threats of terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.
Rising political tensions associated with the electoral process and the increasing number of security incidents and human rights violations posed a real risk of civil unrest and widespread violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Security Council heard today during its periodic briefing on the situation.
