Security Council

During the month of October, the Security Council would hold two open debates in which non-Council Member States could participate, respectively, on “women, peace and security” and on the situation in the Middle East, Council President Le Luong Minh, the Permanent Representative of Viet Nam, said today.

Citing ever greater risks to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, which were challenging Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) to effectively bind every State to enforce domestic controls to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of non-State actors, concerned organizations grappled with the text’s far-reaching legislative and technical obligations today, as a comprehensive review of implementation continued at Headquarters.

With hundreds of instances of nuclear material going missing each year, the nightmare scenario of non-State actors gaining access to weapons of mass destruction made Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), and the work of its Committee, more critical today than ever before, stakeholders at all levels said today as a comprehensive review of that resolution’s implementation began.

The Security Council decided this morning to specifically mandate peacekeeping missions to protect women and children from rampant sexual violence during armed conflict, as it requested the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative to coordinate a range of mechanisms to fight the crime.

The Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) is holding an open meeting from 30 September to 2 October at United Nations Headquarters in New York as part of the Comprehensive Review of the status of implementation of the resolution.

The formation of an effective Afghan Government and the development of its strategies demanded decisions that would determine prospects for ending the intensified conflict in the country, the top United Nations official there told the Security Council this morning.

The Security Council today expressed its concern at the delay in publication of the provisional voters list for the first round of free, fair and transparent presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire to be held on 29 November.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister today called on the Security Council to ensure the security of his country’s embassy in Honduras, where deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya has taken shelter since 21 September.

At a historic summit meeting presided over by President Barack Obama of the United States and addressed by 13 other Heads of State and Government, the Security Council pledged its backing this morning for broad progress on long-stalled efforts to staunch the proliferation of nuclear weapons and ensure reductions in existing weapons stockpiles, as well as control of fissile material.

On 23 September 2009, the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved the amendments specified with strikethrough and underline in the two entries below to its Consolidated List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1822 (2008) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.