The humanitarian crisis in Iraq was expected “to widen and worsen” in 2016, despite some recent success in rolling back Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), the senior United Nations official in that country told the Security Council today.
Speakers today called for the United Nations to strike a balance between the fundamental principle of State sovereignty and the need to protect human rights, as the Security Council held a day-long debate on the tenets of the Organization’s Charter.
Speakers called today for greater transparency in the procedures and practices of committees established to monitor United Nations sanctions and improve communication with affected countries, as the Security Council held a general debate on the working methods of its subsidiary bodies.
The Security Council today renewed until 12 March 2017 the mandate of the Panel of Experts monitoring sanctions imposed on those behind instability in Sudan’s western Darfur region, expressing regret that members of the Government as well as armed groups continued to disregard its demands, while also signalling its intention to impose measures against parties perpetuating violence.
Despite recent territorial losses inflicted upon Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the international community urgently needed “unity and action” to combat the continuing threat posed by the terrorist group, the ranking United Nations political official stressed today as he briefed the Security Council.
The Security Council decided today to maintain the current personnel ceiling of more than 12,800 in the military and police components of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Central African Republic and to increase the number of corrections officers, determining that the situation in the strife-torn nation remained a threat to international peace and security.
Protecting civilians, making progress in Mali and Côte d’Ivoire and creating a special mission to monitor disarmament in Colombia had been at the centre of the Security Council’s work over the past four weeks, Elbio Rosselli (Uruguay), its President for January, said during the monthly wrap-up meeting today.
President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi had portrayed an optimistic and positive picture of recent developments in his country, while the radical opposition camp had expressed concern that “genocide was in the making”, France’s representative told the Security Council today during a briefing on its visiting mission to Burundi and Ethiopia from 21 to 23 January.
While security remained a paramount concern in Somalia, politics was increasingly displacing violence as a means of resolving differences, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today, pressing it to provide a “powerful” basis for the United Nations and its African Union partners to contribute decisively to the country’s future.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for six months, until 31 July, and decided to increase its force levels to 888, while welcoming progress in negotiations between the island nation’s Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on a comprehensive and durable settlement.
