The multifaceted challenges facing the Mediterranean amplify the region’s fragility and pose a fundamental obstacle to peace and security, the Security Council heard today as delegates underscored that the region’s youth are both the greatest victims of the security challenges and a key to resolving them.
The obstinance of the rival Governments and other key players in Libya is exacerbating the country’s political impasse and obstructing plans to hold elections this year, risking further instability, the UN’s top official there told the Security Council today.
In the wake of recent attacks on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant — Europe’s largest — the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned the Security Council today that the first-ever war to be fought amid the facilities of a major nuclear power programme is bringing the prospect of nuclear accident “dangerously close”.
While April 2024 marks two years since the United Nations-brokered truce — providing relief for the humanitarian situation long past its expiry — the crisis in and near the Red Sea continues to threaten progress and stability in Yemen, senior United Nations officials warned the Security Council today, as some delegates noted Iran’s role in supporting the Houthis and destabilizing the region.
A day after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles from its territory towards Israel - most intercepted - the people of the Middle East are confronting a real danger of a devastating full-scale conflict, the UN chief told the Security Council today during an emergency meeting, as delegates urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint.
Western countries’ provision of military assistance to Ukraine is intended to support that country’s self-defence against the Russian Federation’s aggression, their representatives told the Security Council, refuting Moscow’s argument that such aid is turning Kyiv into a terrorist State.
Alarmed by the Russian Federation’s intensified attacks across Ukraine, including on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on 7 April and Kyiv’s largest power plant today, speakers at a Security Council meeting once again voiced concern about the rising death toll and deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country and demanded Moscow to cease its strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure, as UN senior officials urged respect for international humanitarian law and an immediate end to the war.
Colombia remains a model for conflict resolution despite prevailing violence and other challenges, speakers told the Security Council today during a quarterly meeting on a country that has emerged from a decades-long war between the Government and a major rebel group.
The Security Council today decided to refer a renewed consideration of the State of Palestine’s 2011 application for United Nations membership to its Committee on the Admission of New Members, which would then meet at 3 p.m.
Following Israeli airstrikes on 1 April that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, a senior United Nations official briefing the Security Council urged immediate concerted action to investigate, prosecute and stop such violations of international humanitarian law and to give humanitarian staff unimpeded access to those in need, as delegates raised concern about the imminent famine in the occupied territory.
