Security Council: Meetings Coverage

Following the successful completion of the Southern Sudan self-determination referendum, it was imperative to quickly overcome remaining challenges in implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, a senior peacekeeping official told the Security Council today.

Civilian protection initiatives, such as in Libya, would not be comprehensive unless they systematically included “efforts to end sexual violence before it has begun”, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict told the Security Council today. “Even in the ‘tyranny of the emergency’, before hard evidence emerges, and though it may not be obvious what gender has to do with ‘arms embargoes’ or ‘no-fly zones’, we must remember women,” Margot Wallström said.

Critical challenges in Côte d’Ivoire following the surrender of recalcitrant former President Laurent Gbagbo — whose greed brought on an utterly unnecessary four-month, post-electoral crisis — included restoration of order, prevention of further human rights abuses, national reconciliation and rebuilding and completion of the peace process, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General told the Security Council this morning.

Underlining the importance of prosecuting suspected pirates operating off the coast of Somalia as armed robbery and other maritime violence continued unabated, the Security Council this morning decided to urgently consider the establishment of special Somali courts operating in the country, as well as the East African region.

While Iraqi political leaders had formed a power-sharing Government in December 2010, ending a nine-month stalemate following national elections in March of last year, the Iraqi people were still concerned over the country’s lack of adequate employment, basic services and accountability, the United Nations top political official on Iraq told the Security Council today.

Recognizing the interconnected nature of earthquake-devastated Haiti’s long-term recovery and development challenges and expressing concern for the most vulnerable groups of Haitian society, the Security Council today called on the international community to continue supporting Haitian authorities strengthen core governance structures and ensure that vulnerable people had access to basic social services, justice and protection.

While it was still very difficult to know how long it will take for conflict in Libya to be resolved, the responsibility for finding a solution lay with the Libyan people themselves, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, told the Security Council today during a briefing on his second mission to the country and other recent events there.

Demanding an immediate end to the surge in violence against civilians in Côte d’Ivoire, the Security Council this evening imposed targeted sanctions against recalcitrant former President Laurent Gbagbo and his close associates, while reaffirming the mandate of the United Nations mission there to protect civilians, including to prevent the use of heavy weaponry against them.

The Committee established to monitor sanctions recently imposed on Libya is now “fully operational”, its Chairman, José Filipe Moraes Cabral of Portugal, told the Security Council this afternoon, stressing the need for Member States to fully engage with the Committee to make the sanctions regime effective.

The deteriorating security situation in Côte d’Ivoire has had a serious toll on the lives of the West African country’s people, Atul Khare, Assistant-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Security Council today as he conveyed the request of regional leaders for more stringent measures against recalcitrant former President Laurent Gbagbo.