Security Council

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Raimonda Murmokaitė (Lithuania):

To end the worsening suffering in South Sudan, the international community must find a way to help its people bring about urgently needed peace, eliminate drivers of conflict and resume development, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council this afternoon.

In the face of “horrendous crimes” which continued to be perpetrated against civilians by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant/Sham (ISIL/ISIS), efforts to free Iraq from that common enemy must be rooted in bolstered unity and the acceleration of national reconciliation, top United Nations officials told the Security Council this morning.

During its informal consultations on 8 May 2015, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2206 (2015) concerning South Sudan was briefed by Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Underscoring the human suffering caused by the widespread availability of small arms and light weapons in conflict zones at an all-day open debate in the Security Council today, speakers called for the urgent management of such deadly materiel through national action, implementation of treaties and strengthened international cooperation.

The international community must be more proactive in exploring solutions to tangibly help Libya restore stability and strengthen accountability for violations of international law, said the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as she addressed the Security Council this afternoon.

With renewed momentum for European integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and new Government components in place, national leaders should work together to end the “stagnation” of progress in time for the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the accords that ended fighting there, the High Representative for the country told the Security Council this morning.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Raimonda Murmokaitė (Lithuania):

Addressing the growing crisis of migrant trafficking — exemplified by the recent tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea — was a shared international responsibility that required a complex combination of efforts, the Security Council heard today, as speakers stressed the need for concerted action in source, transit and destination countries.

At its fifty-fourth meeting, on 8 May 2015, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict agreed, in connection with the examination of the first report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in South Sudan (S/2014/884), to address the following message to all parties to the armed conflict in South Sudan, in particular the SPLA, the SPLA-IO and armed groups operating in their support such as the White Army, through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group: