Syria must change its attitude and cooperate fully with the body charged with verifying its compliance with international law governing chemical weapons, the United Nations disarmament chief told the Security Council today, as speakers diverged over the propriety of that body’s efforts so far.
The Security Council renewed for another year its authorization for Member States to inspect vessels on the high seas off Libya’s coast that they have reasonable grounds to suspect are being used for migrant smuggling and human trafficking from that country, and to seize those vessels that are confirmed as being used for those purposes.
Welcoming statements by the leaders of Israel and the State of Palestine during the seventy-seventh General Assembly session as a positive sign toward resuming the peace process, speakers in the Security Council today called for those words to be turned into action and progress be delivered on a two-State solution, especially in light continuing settlement activity and violence against civilians.
The so-called “referenda” conducted by de facto authorities in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine have been held during active armed conflict in the country and cannot be called a genuine expression of the popular will, the United Nations senior political and peacebuilding official told the Security Council today, as members condemned the Russian Federation’s “sham referenda”, while others called for a return to peace talks.
Afghanistan’s future depends on mutual engagement between the Taliban and the international community, a senior United Nations official for the country told the Security Council today, as members diverged over both the merits of that assessment and the correct path towards economic recovery in the only country in the world that bans secondary education for girls.
Support for national law enforcement and financing for humanitarian aid are urgently needed to address three converging crises in Haiti that have resulted in a desperate, deteriorating situation, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today in the wake of large-scale unrest in the country following the Government’s recent decision to cease subsidizing fuel.
Pointing to dangerous and disturbing developments that portend more destruction in Ukraine, the Secretary-General of the United Nations called for full cooperation with the International Criminal Court in its investigation into alleged atrocities committed in that country, as high-level representatives of the Security Council and regional countries met to discuss accountability for the ongoing war.
Despite consensus by key signatories on a road map to complete South Sudan’s democratic transition to elections and a new Government, the country’s humanitarian situation is more dire than ever, with increasing violence and sexual assaults, the Government struggling to fulfil terms of the peace accord, and the entire country facing devastating food insecurity, briefers told the Security Council today.
The recent escalation of tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a stark reminder that it has the potential to further destabilize the region, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today as the two countries agreed on a ceasefire after recent reports of fighting.
Dire food insecurity in many conflict-affected countries requires both urgent action from the Security Council to prevent and end the violence and increased humanitarian funding from the international community in order to avert catastrophic famine for millions of people, senior United Nations officials told the 15-member organ today.
