Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today extended through 12 March 2025 the mandate of the Panel of Experts charged with assisting its Sudan sanctions committee, requesting a final report on its findings and recommendations by 13 January 2025.

April will mark one year since the outbreak of brutal fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council today, calling on all parties in Sudan to “honour the values of Ramadan” by observing a cessation of hostilities during the holy month.

Calling for sustained international engagement towards an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbours, the head of the Organization’s mission in that country called on its de facto authorities to reverse its repressive policies towards women.

While South Sudan is not currently ready to hold elections later this year, they can still take place before the end of the transition period, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as speakers discussed the support necessary for that to happen amid increasing internal and external challenges.

The Security Council met this morning to discuss the situation in Syria. Briefing the Council was Adedeji Ebo, Director and Deputy to the High Representative, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.

Adopting a presidential statement today, the Security Council stressed its ongoing determination to combat impunity and ensure that all persons indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda — including the remaining fugitives — are brought to justice.

The Security Council met this morning to hear a briefing on the situation in Syria. Addressing the Council were Geir Pedersen, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, and Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Three senior United Nations officials warned the Security Council today of imminent famine in the Gaza Strip, urging immediate action to avert humanitarian disaster in a territory where many Council members alleged the use of hunger as a weapon of war.

The ultimate path to peace in Ukraine lies in upholding the Charter of the United Nations and international law as guides to a world free of war, the Organization’s top official told the Security Council today, declaring that the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour — started two years ago — directly violated both.

A full-scale Israeli military operation in the densely populated Rafah area — where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering near the only point of entry for goods — would be devastating, the head of United Nations peace efforts in the Middle East told the Security Council today, as he appealed for additional access points to northern Gaza to increase the flow of aid and reduce congestion in the south.