Urban warfare will continue to devastate, kill and maim civilians around the world unless States adopt effective tools to reverse the current trend of impunity and all parties abide by international humanitarian law, briefers told the Security Council today during an open debate on war in cities and protecting civilians.
The General Assembly concluded today its debate on the Secretary-General’s priorities for 2022, as delegates called for strengthened international cooperation and multilateralism as key to achieving those strategic objectives.
Libya’s newly established road map committee aims at advancing the electoral process following postponed December 2021 elections and moving the nation along the path towards stability, United Nations and civil society briefers told the Security Council today.
At the start of a year in which the world continues to be destabilized by an ever-raging pandemic and multiplying conflicts and crises, Secretary-General António Guterres briefed the General Assembly today on his urgent priorities for 2022, calling upon countries to mobilize against a “five-alarm global fire”, referring to COVID-19, the climate crisis, an unprincipled global financial system, lawlessness in cyberspace, and a rise in violent conflict.
Rejecting and condemning Holocaust denial, the General Assembly urged Member States today to develop educational programmes that will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the atrocity to prevent acts of genocide.
Five years after its signing, the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace in Colombia is setting down ever deeper roots, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council today, as he called on the Government, political parties, former combatants and Colombians across the diverse nation to intensify implementation of the landmark accord ahead of congressional elections.
Eight months after a fragile ceasefire ended full-scale fighting in the Gaza Strip, the senior United Nations official for the Middle East peace process told the Security Council that the situation is once again characterized by daily clashes and rising tensions, as he warned delegates against piecemeal approaches and diplomatic “half measures” that will only let the conflict fester further.
Despite best efforts to ensure that peace is built by and for women, the prospects for their participation in the very negotiations intended to secure their future are “vastly worse” than before the pandemic, the High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Security Council today, as she and other experts warned of an insidious uptick in a host of actions by spoilers aimed at silencing their voices.
While Sudan remains at a delicate stage of its political transition following its 2018 popular uprising and an October 2021 military coup, accelerated cooperation with the International Criminal Court is the only viable path to ensuring long-delayed justice for the survivors of crimes against humanity in Darfur, the body’s top prosecutor told the Security Council today.
With warring parties locked in a cycle of distrust and disagreement over competing priorities, efforts to resolve the conflict in Yemen — now in its eighth year — are hitting the same obstacles as in years past, the senior United Nations mediator told the Security Council today as delegates explored ways to harness the power of women in charting the country’s future.
