Fifteen years after the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, the Security Council this afternoon continued Tuesday’s high-level debate on strengthening implementation of that and subsequent resolutions, urging “action instead of talk”.
The Security Council this morning decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) for one year, until 15 October 2016, at the Secretary‑General’s recommended force levels of up to 2,370 troops and 2,061 police.
The United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia (UNSOA) required “significant” strengthening, the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support told the Security Council today, with its efforts reprioritized around strategic objectives set by the 15‑member body and within areas of African Union operations with the Somali National Army.
The Security Council today outlined sweeping actions to improve implementation of its landmark women, peace and security agenda, covering its work on countering violent extremism and terrorism, improving working methods and broadly taking up the gender recommendations of a just-completed global study it had requested two years ago.
The Security Council today extended for two months the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS), with some members expressing concern over provisions on the potential use of unarmed unmanned aerial systems, sanctions, and technical support establishing a hybrid court to prosecute the perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes in the world’s youngest nation.
The Security Council this morning decided to authorize Member States for a period of one year to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya that they had reasonable grounds to suspect were being used for migrant smuggling or human trafficking from that country.
Haiti’s success in conducting the first round of long-awaited legislative elections, reforming its criminal code and maintaining a generally stable security environment was evidence of “a new order” that was paving the way for the United Nations to rethink the size and strength of its future presence on the island nation, agreed speakers in the Security Council today.
The mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) had not yet been fulfilled, Martin Kobler, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the Mission told the Security Council today, stressing that “we have a duty and responsibility to ensure that the Congo is secure and stable, and that the progress that has been attained thus far will be irreversible.”
The path to peace in Mali was fraught with unexpected obstacles, and implementation of the peace agreement had been delayed by violations of the ceasefire agreements and actions by terrorist groups and trans-border criminal elements, Mongi Hamdi, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Mali and head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) told the Security Council this morning.
Rampant instability and terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa could only be stemmed through a united, comprehensive approach that addressed root causes, speakers stressed to the Security Council today in an all-day high-level open debate presided over by the Russian Foreign Minister with a briefing by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
