All efforts by the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to organize the next round of consultations with Syria continue to be unsuccessful, a senior official of the United Nations for disarmament affairs informed the Security Council today, underscoring yet again the urgent need for full cooperation by Damascus.
Stalled efforts to restore implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have been complicated further by allegations that Iran transferred unmanned aerial vehicles to the Russian Federation for use in Ukraine, speakers told the Security Council today, with members — divided from the start — voting on whether to allow Ukraine to participate in the debate in the first place.
On 29 June 2023, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) enacted the amendments, specified with strikethrough and/or underline, in the entries below on its Sanctions List of individuals and entities.
The issue of supplying weapons to Ukraine divided both those briefing the Security Council today and the discussion that followed, as contentions that arms transfers have escalated the conflict met assertions that the embattled country has the inherent right to defend itself from the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion.
Over 200,000 people have fled the crisis in Sudan to seek refuge in Chad. United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths has allocated $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to host communities in eastern Chad who need food and livelihood support.
The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned of the imminent risk of forced eviction in the old city of Jerusalem. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 970 Palestinians, including 424 children, are at risk of forced eviction in East Jerusalem.
Following the recently failed launch of what the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has described as a military reconnaissance satellite, a senior United Nations official today stressed to the Security Council that diplomacy — and not isolation — is the only way forward, as she underlined that the 15-nation organ’s lack of unity and action does little to slow the Korean Peninsula’s negative trajectory.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Preventing the diversion of arms transferred to Ukraine is essential for security and stability in that country and beyond, a senior United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council today, as members alternately called for dialogue over proliferation or underscored Ukraine’s right to defend itself from the permanent member that requested the meeting.
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and the Government of Japan are calling on young people to apply for an innovative learning programme that will empower them to make their contribution to a world free of nuclear weapons.
