Security Council: Meetings Coverage

Rape was a “cheap and devastating weapon” affecting thousands of women, children and men and demanded the Security Council’s singular attention and action, senior officials told the 15-member body as more than 60 delegates expressed a range of views during a day-long debate on conflict-related sexual violence.

Following a period of calm, violence had returned to Darfur, the Security Council heard today as it evaluated the effectiveness of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping operation there.

While the restoration of constitutional order and the start of talks between the Government and armed groups were "signs of hope" for Mali to overcome its deep crisis, great difficulties remained, with serious consequences for security in the entire Sahel region, the country’s senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.

Protest-related human rights violations in Ukraine must be urgently investigated and verified, and security forces must maintain public order in accordance with human rights standards, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović told the Security Council today.

Twenty years after the genocide in Rwanda, the Security Council condemned without reservation any denial of the genocide and urged member States to develop educational programmes to help prevent similar events.

Warning that the situation in Ukraine was “more combustible than ever”, a senior United Nations political official told an emergency session of the Security Council this evening that without urgent action to de-escalate the crisis, the likelihood of further bloodshed and violent clashes would grow by the hour.

The Security Council today established a new peacekeeping mission for the Central African Republic for an initial period of one year, authorizing an initial deployment of up to 10,000 military and 1,800 police personnel.

Adjusting to new dynamics that have altered the nature of conflict in Darfur, the Security Council today endorsed the Secretary-General’s revised strategic priorities for the joint African Union-United Nations presence in the restive western region of Sudan.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) until 31 March 2015.

Continuing attempts by trained, well-armed and deep-pocketed terrorist and militant groups to impose their will through violence in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, were threatening the country's stability and had stifled its legislative process, the senior United Nations official in Iraq told the Security Council today.