The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan (document S/2019/727), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:
The Special Envoy for Syria called for a nationwide ceasefire leading to sustained calm and enabling access to the equipment and resources needed to combat COVID-19, as he briefed the Security Council on efforts to forge a political settlement to the nine-year conflict, during a 29 April videoconference meeting.
Tragedy looms in Syria where, after nearly a decade of war, the health‑care system is in no position to cope with a full-blown COVID-19 outbreak, putting millions in even greater need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations top humanitarian official told the Security Council during a 29 April videoconference meeting.
The Security Council, recalling the link between armed conflict, violence and conflict-induced food insecurity and the threat of famine, called today on all parties to respect humanitarian principles and to comply with their international humanitarian law obligations regarding the production of, and access to, food.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President José Singer Weisinger (Dominican Republic):
Despite improving relations between Sudan and South Sudan, progress is unlikely in determining the final status of the Abyei Area in the short to medium term, especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council during a 28 April videoconference meeting.
Notwithstanding limited strides in youth empowerment, the world’s young people continue to suffer disproportionately from conflict, poverty and now the most severe effects of COVID-19, experts told the Security Council in a 27 April videoconference meeting, as they urged Governments to make youth a centrepiece of — and active participants in — their pandemic recovery plans.
Political leaders in Belgrade and Pristina should take a cue from health‑care workers jointly fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, put aside their political agendas and engage anew in a European Union-facilitated dialogue that leads to sustained peace, the top United Nations official in Kosovo told the Security Council during a 24 April videoconference meeting.
Plans to close the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) by 31 October have been rendered impractical by the spread of COVID-19 and challenges envisioned around the June rainy season, the head of United Nations Peace Operations told the Security Council in a 24 April videoconference meeting, as delegates outlined their views on extending the drawdown beyond the current mandate.
While Israelis and Palestinians are cooperating in unprecedented ways to combat the expanding COVID-19 pandemic, Israel must do more to safeguard the health of all people under its control, the senior United Nations official in the region told the Security Council in a 23 April videoconference meeting.
