Security Council: Meetings Coverage

In a vote held simultaneously with the General Assembly, the Security Council today elected Joan E. Donoghue of the United States, by secret ballot, to the International Court of Justice to fill the remainder of the term left vacant by the resignation of Judge Thomas Buergenthal of the United States (see documents S/2010/442 and S/2010/443). She will serve until 5 February 2015.

Liberia had made “tremendous progress” since the end of its devastating civil war, but would require international assistance to keep making progress in the foreseeable future, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council this morning.

While the primary responsibility for the protection of civilians and for preventing the mass rapes that occurred in August in the Democratic Republic of the Congo lay with the State, failures could be traced to the peacekeeping mission there as well, the head of an investigative mission on the incidents told the Security Council in a briefing this afternoon.

The hard decisions needed to take Nepal’s peace process forward lay firmly in the hands of the Himalayan country’s leaders, and were beyond the mandate and capacity of the United Nations Mission there, known as UNMIN, the Secretary-General’s representative told the Security Council this morning.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for one year, calling strongly on all parties to respect the Blue Line, the cessation of hostilities and relevant resolutions in the wake of recent violent incidents.

Avowing that more effective legal prosecution of Somalia coast pirates would help deter future attacks and strengthen the rule of law, the Security Council today stressed the importance of finding a long-term solution to the problem of such prosecution and imprisonment and voiced its support for the appointment of a Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the issue, during a debate that heard from some 30 speakers.

“We are nearing a turning point in the efforts to promote direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco told the Security Council today, expressing the United Nations conviction that direct and meaningful talks was the only avenue to a comprehensive, sustainable solution to the decades-old conflict.

The Government of Chad had made significant strides towards assuming its responsibilities in civilian protection, but the sustainability of its specialized forces, as well as security in the north-east Central African Republic needed urgent attention as peacekeepers withdrew, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today.

The expansive “surge” of United Nations peacekeeping of past years had reached a plateau and the priority now was consolidation of existing missions and accelerating reforms, the Under-Secretary-General of Peacekeeping Operations said today, as he introduced briefings by five Force Commanders to the Security Council.

The Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) for another year, until 31 July 2011, calling on Member States for continued support. Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 1936 (2010), the Council determined that the mandate of the Mission would remain unchanged, taking into account the request of the Iraqi Government, but expressed an intention to review the mandate in 12 months or sooner, if requested by the Government.