Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for one year until 31 August 2016 without changes in deployment.

Security sector professionalization should be at the core of the mandates and activities of United Nations peace operations where appropriate, a top peacekeeping official told the Security Council this morning.

If the international community did not take immediate measures to end the fighting in Yemen, the top United Nations humanitarian official in the region cautioned the Security Council today, there would be nothing left to fight for.

The recurrent violent incidents and radicalization in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, threatened to further destabilize an already tense environment for Israel and Palestine, a United Nations senior political affairs official told the Security Council today, urging both sides to work together to reduce tensions and prevent extremist attacks.

Violent extremism, massive population movements, cyber attacks, transnational crime and other evolving threats to global security required strengthened cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, speakers at an all-day debate in the Security Council stressed today.

Expressing grave alarm over the continuing crisis in Syria and its toll of over 250,000 dead and 12 million displaced, the Security Council this afternoon affirmed its support for the approach of Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura in moving forward a political solution to the conflict.

Ebola could be “soundly defeated” by the end of the year if the intensity of case detection and contact tracing was sustained, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) told the Security Council today, outlining reforms to improve the organization’s performance and crediting unwavering leadership, especially in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, for a “night-and-day” difference in the situation from less than a year ago.

The Security Council today decided to establish for one year a Joint Investigative Mechanism of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which would identify “to the greatest extent feasible” individuals, entities, groups or Governments perpetrating, organizing, sponsoring or otherwise involved in the use of chemicals as weapons in Syria.

The “fragile” political and security situation in the Central African Republic was slowly improving following the holding of the Bangui National Forum in May, the top United Nations official in that country told the Security Council today, warning that support was needed from the international community to sustain that positive momentum.

Transnational crime, illicit exploitation of resources, climate change, natural disasters and other factors that threatened small island developing States must be addressed globally and in the context of international stability, speakers today stressed in an all-day open debate in the Security Council.