Security Council

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Nicolas de Rivière (France):

The United Nations team that is assisting Iraq to investigate atrocities committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) is making “significant progress” in gathering evidence with the potential of marking a paradigm shift in the prosecution of members of the terrorist group, its chief told a Security Council videoconference meeting on 15 June.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Nicolas de Rivière (France):

Persistent terrorist attacks, maritime insecurity and rising political tension are just some of the backdrops against which countries of Central Africa are now battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the senior United Nations official in the region told the Security Council during a 12 June videoconference meeting, noting that 22,000 cases of the virus have already been confirmed across 11 countries.

Building a politically stable, more secure Mali requires “collective and sustained commitment”, along with continued support for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the country, Secretary‑General António Guterres told the Security Council during a 11 June videoconference meeting.

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court urged the Security Council and wider international community to encourage Sudan to do more to help bring Darfur war crimes suspects to justice, during a 10 June videoconference meeting that took place a day after the surrender of a key fugitive.

Sudan’s representative urged the Security Council during a videoconference meeting on 9 June to begin lifting the sanctions that it imposed on Khartoum over the conflict in Darfur, as the 15-member organ took up the latest report of its Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) amid concerns over COVID-19’s impact on internally displaced persons in the country.

If the current chemicals used for Al-Shabaab’s homemade explosives become scarce, the group would shift to other sources of explosive materials or precursors, possibly through illicit smuggling, the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia said during a 9 June videoconference meeting.

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals — the successor to two dedicated courts for war crimes committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia — saw major strides forward in recent months, including capturing a high-profile fugitive sought for more than 20 years, its senior officials told the Security Council during an 8 June videoconference meeting.

COVID-19 has added a layer of complexity to the highly volatile security situation in the Sahel, with terrorists capitalizing on the pandemic to undermine State authority and launch unrelenting attacks against national and international forces, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council in a 5 June videoconference meeting.