One week ahead of the one-year mark of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, the Security Council met today to discuss the collapse of the Minsk agreements, with several delegates noting that what was once intended to be a blueprint for the 2014 crisis has turned into Moscow’s leverage to limit the sovereignty of Ukraine.
The Security Council, acting unanimously today, decided to renew for nine months a travel ban and assets freeze imposed on specific individuals and entities in Yemen, while extending for 10 months the mandate of the Panel of Experts tasked with assisting their Yemen sanctions committee.
Speakers warned the international community that tensions are deepening as coastlines vanish, territories are lost, resources become scarce and masses are displaced, as the Security Council held its first ever open debate today on the impact of sea-level rise on international peace and security.
With cycles of conflict becoming more intense, frequent and complex, the global community must prioritize risk assessments that raise red flags about potential violence against children, senior officials told the Security Council today, as members took stock of progress made in implementing their “children in armed conflict” agenda.
Despite international efforts to defeat Da’esh, the group still poses a considerable threat in many parts of the world, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, as members stressed the need to complement the relatively blunt instrument of force with more nuanced, context-specific approaches to remedy socioeconomic inequalities in countries awash with terrorism.
The Security Council today heard urgent calls, from within and outside the United Nations, for de-escalation of the conflict in Ukraine as delegates weighed the multifarious risks posed by arms flows against the need to assist that country defend itself.
There are reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Government is responsible for the use of weaponized chlorine gas against residents of the city of Douma in April 2018, the head of the international body responsible for overseeing the global endeavour to eliminate chemical weapons told the Security Council today, as members split on the validity of the investigation on which that conclusion was based.
As the war in Ukraine approaches its one-year anniversary — with profound spillover effects across global food and energy sectors — a critical agreement between the parties to facilitate the safe export of food and fertilizers must be protected and urgently implemented, the United Nations top humanitarian official told the Security Council today, with speakers calling the Black Sea Grain Initiative a rare “beacon of hope against a bleak backdrop”.
In its first three months in office, Iraq’s new Government has shown its commitment to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the country, including endemic corruption, poor public service delivery and high levels of unemployment, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, while underscoring the need of accountability.
The Security Council, acting unanimously today, decided to renew for another year the long-standing United Nations peacekeeping presence in Cyprus, while underlining its concern over continued violations of the military status quo on the Mediterranean island.