The Security Council today decided to extend until 15 June 2016 the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), under the leadership of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, and in full accordance with the principles of national ownership.
The Security Council, expressing its deep concern over allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers, today asked the Secretary-General to replace all military or police units from any contributing country that had failed to hold perpetrators accountable.
Briefing the Security Council today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon laid out a number of steps to address “the shameful issue” of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers, amid disagreement over a draft resolution aimed at addressing the matter.
The United Nations humanitarian chief, in a briefing to the Security Council, called today for greater international pressure on the parties to the conflict in Yemen in order to better protect civilians, facilitate relief access to all parts of the country, and encourage the resumption of peace talks and a cessation of hostilities.
The Security Council today condemned in the strongest terms the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 6 January 2016 “in violation and flagrant disregard” of the relevant resolutions, its actions thereby constituting a challenge to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to peace and stability in the region and beyond.
With Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) a growing threat to Libya, as well as the wider region and beyond, the fight against violent extremism in that country could only be sustainable if it was led by a national unity Government, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative there told the Security Council today.
Determining that the situation in South Sudan remained a threat to regional peace and security, the Security Council today renewed until 15 April sanctions — including a travel ban and asset freeze — imposed by resolution 2206 (2015) and directed at those blocking peace in the country.
Polarization of the political landscape in Kosovo in recent months had reached a level where progress was being impeded, but there was also an opportunity to shift the focus onto more fundamental post-conflict issues, the Security Council heard today during its first briefing of the year on the situation there.
The Security Council today decided to appoint Serge Brammertz as Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanisms for Criminal Tribunals for a term beginning on 1 March 2016 and ending on 30 June 2018.
Voicing deep concern over the situation in Ukraine, the Chair-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) stressed the need for greater confidence- and security-building measures amid the conflict there.
