In a year rocked by the novel coronavirus that infected 84 million people, devastated economies and laid bare humanity’s starkest inequalities, the Security Council — working through peacekeepers, aid workers and logistics experts on the ground — pressed forward with its mandate to protect civilians and build peace in the world’s most complex conflict zones.
Insecurity across West Africa and the Sahel has expanded into areas previously considered safe, with militants continuing to stage deadly attacks, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the region told the Security Council today, as delegates called for consolidating gains in democratic governance recently expressed by several countries in their successful conduct of elections.
With extreme poverty on the rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time in more than two decades, senior officials briefing the Security Council today called for redoubled efforts to break the “vicious cycle” of poverty, fragility and conflict still devastating many nations.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Security Council open debate on “Challenges of Maintaining Peace and Security in Fragile Contexts”, in New York today:
Outstanding issues related to Syria’s initial declaration of its chemical weapons stockpile and programme still cannot be considered “accurate and complete”, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council today via video‑teleconference, during her regular monthly briefing on the implementation of resolution 2118 (2013).
The Security Council’s agenda for January will feature two high-level open debates — one on challenges in maintaining peace and security in fragile countries and the other on stronger international cooperation in combating terrorism, the organ’s President for the month said during a video press conference today.
The Security Council, acting through its temporary silence procedure amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, adopted a resolution today encouraging Member States to engage more actively with its committee overseeing sanctions on individuals and groups related to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and Al-Qaida.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Jerry Matthews Matjila (South Africa):
The Security Council decided during a 22 December videoconference meeting to terminate the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) on 31 December 2020, withdrawing all uniformed and civilian personnel other than those needed for liquidation by 30 June 2021.
Iran must refrain from further steps to reduce its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on its nuclear programme, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council during a 22 December video‑teleconference meeting of the 15-nation organ, during which several members acknowledged a possible United States return to that landmark agreement.
