Security Council

In a high-level meeting on the Sahel this morning, the Security Council called for the finalization of an integrated strategy for the North-African region encompassing security, governance, human rights, humanitarian needs and development, while it strongly condemned terrorism, human rights abuses and the destruction of historic sites in Mali.

The outgoing members of the Security Council — India, Germany, Portugal, Colombia and South Africa — delivered briefings this morning on the work of the subsidiary bodies they had chaired during their two-year tenure.

On 5 December 2012, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) approved the addition of the entry specified below to its Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1989 (2011) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations:

The President of the new global mechanism for criminal tribunals tasked with prosecuting war crimes committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s and the 1994 Rwanda genocide today told the Security Council that making criminal justice sustainable in the long run greatly depended on demonstrating that it could be efficient, effective and affordable for the international community.

As the international community considered responses to the multiple crises in Mali, including authorization of an African-led military force, Malians themselves needed to be at the centre of efforts to restore their democracy to health and fully recover their territory, the United Nations political affairs chief told the Security Council this morning.

Yemenis had learned that the “gun as a tool to answer the legitimate aspirations has passed, and a peaceful solution can emerge from the ashes of conflict”, the United Nations top official in that country told the Security Council today in a briefing on recent developments.

The Security Council in December planned to intensify its focus on the Sahel, particularly the crisis in Mali, along with continued consideration of a range of situations around the world, the Permanent Representative of Morocco said as he briefed correspondents at Headquarters on the programme of work for his country’s presidency of the body.

The following Security Council press statement was issued on 1 December by Council President Mohammed Loulichki (Morocco):

On 30 November 2012, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo added the following two individuals to the List of Individuals and Entities Subject to the Measures Imposed by paragraphs 13 and 15 of resolution 1596 (2005).

With women caught in the crossfire in Mali, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other conflict-affected countries, the world must ramp up support and efforts to ensure their vital voices were heard, heeded and included in peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and beyond, top United Nations officials told the Security Council today during a day-long debate on women and peace and security.