The Security Council today failed to adopt its first-ever resolution on outer space — one that would have affirmed the obligation of all States parties to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, including not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.
A report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) states that explosive weapons were responsible for nearly half of the more than 47,500 children killed or maimed in more than 24 different conflict zones between 2018 and 2022. The vast majority of these instances occurred in populated areas.
On 15 April 2024, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) enacted the amendments, specified with strikethrough and/or underline, in the entry below on its Sanctions List of individuals and entities.
In Madagascar, the United Nations and its partners are supporting the Government’s response to Tropical Cyclone Gamane. According to the Government, the tropical cyclone — which hit the country on 3 April — killed 19 people, injured 3 others and left some 22,000 people displaced.
The Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have extended until 30 April 2025 the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the Sanctions Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea due to a veto cast by the Russian Federation — a permanent member of the Council — while numerous speakers underscored that Moscow’s veto fuels suspicion and weakens the global non-proliferation architecture.
Ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of a resolution aiming to prevent non-State actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, the head of the Security Council Committee tasked with its implementation today briefed the organ on the work of that subsidiary body over the past year.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, observed on 4 April:
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that intense Israeli bombardment and ground operations — as well as heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups — continue to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip.
With geopolitical tensions escalating the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades, reducing and abolishing nuclear weapons is the only viable path to save humanity, the UN chief told the Security Council, as delegates expressed deep concern about the continuous erosion of the international non-proliferation architecture.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the UN Security Council’s open debate on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, in New York today:
