Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today decided to modify the sanctions regime imposed on Côte d’Ivoire for a period ending on 30 April 2015, and to extend the mandate of the Group of Experts tasked with monitoring those measures until 20 May 2015.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 30 April 2015.

The Security Council capped its open debate on security sector reform today with the adoption of its first stand-alone resolution on the topic, reaffirming the importance of such reform in stabilizing countries recovering from conflict and resolving to prioritize reform aspects in both peacekeeping and special political mission mandates.

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.