Security Council: Meetings Coverage

A year after the adoption of resolution 2139 (2014), the situation in Syria had dramatically worsened, characterized by “breath-taking levels of savagery”, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today authorized an increase of 750 military personnel, 280 police personnel and 20 corrections officers for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), over the levels authorized by resolution 2149 (2014).

It might already be too late to realize the paradigm of “two States for two peoples”, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today, of the view that during his tenure he had been part of a peace process in which “a can is kicked down an endless road”.

The Security Council today extended until 31 March 2016 the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), including its intervention brigade.

Being a child soldier was like being ripped from childhood and thrown into an adult world, the Security Council heard today from Junior Nzita Nsuami, who described his forcible recruitment at age 12 into a decade of war and violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as the 15-member body held an open debate on children and armed conflict.

As negotiations between the permanent five members of the Security Council plus Germany, known as the P5+1, and Iran continued, measures imposed in Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1929 (2010) were in full effect, the Chair of the Iran Sanctions Committee told the 15-member body today, recalling that States were obliged to implement them.

Underscoring the seriousness and urgency of the situation in South Sudan, the Security Council today called on all parties to armed conflict to issue clear orders prohibiting all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses without further delay.

Reaffirming its strong commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen, the Security Council today, in an emergency meeting, condemned the ongoing unilateral actions taken by the Houthis that were undermining the political transition process and jeopardizing the country’s security and stability.

After 15 years of international efforts, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had emerged from civil war into a unified country, with a clear, shared and celebrated identity, and free of much of the terror of armed groups, the United Nations most senior official in that country told the Security Council today in a message laced with caution that the overall security situation was not still stable, let alone irreversible.

The Security Council today expressed deep concern at recent incidents across the Blue Line and in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) area of operations, underlining that such events could lead to a new conflict that “none of the parties — or the region — can afford” and urging all parties to abide “scrupulously” by their obligation to respect the Force’s safety.