Disarmament

In Sudan, according to preliminary reports from local authorities and United Nations partners, over 31,000 people have been displaced following intercommunal violence in Ganis town in Blue Nile State. Humanitarian organizations continue to provide the displaced and other affected people with assistance.

International efforts to clarify Syria’s declarations on its chemical weapons programme still have not progressed, the United Nations disarmament chief told the Security Council today, as some delegates sparred over the contents of the fact-finding mission’s latest report.

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria said today that humanitarian needs there are unprecedented.  Today, 14.6 million men, women and children require aid, which is an increase of 1.2 million people from 2021 and the highest level since the crisis began.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The United Nations Children’s Fund is providing emergency relief in Bangladesh to people stranded by recent floods — including 1.6 million children — and is dispatching, among other things, 400,000 water purification tablets for 80,000 households and emergency medical supplies for district health facilities.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the opening of the first Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, in Vienna today:

After China and the Russian Federation vetoed a draft resolution in the Security Council on 26 May aimed at tightening the sanctions regime against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the General Assembly today held a debate on the issue, with speakers expressing diverging views on that country’s actions related to nuclear non-proliferation and security in the Korean Peninsula.

In a late-breaking meeting today, the Security Council failed to adopt a resolution that would have strengthened sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea over its recent ballistic missile launches, with the representatives of China and the Russian Federation denouncing the measure as counterproductive and inhumane.

On 24 May 2018, the United Nations Secretary-General published his Agenda for Disarmament, aiming to set our world on a path towards sustainable peace and security.

The United Nations is not aware of any biological weapons programmes in Ukraine, a senior disarmament affairs official told the Security Council today, as it met to consider new information submitted by the Russian Federation alleging the existence of such weapons.