Amid escalating violence and lack of participation by one party in Yemen’s recently relaunched peace talks, the international community must commit to supporting dialogue, protecting civilians and preventing the country’s further decline into chaos, the senior United Nations official tasked with shepherding the negotiations stressed today as he briefed the Security Council.
Conference participants tackled a myriad of topic clusters and exchanged views on procedural mechanisms, monitoring, reporting and review modalities, along with the use of terms, as the intergovernmental conference drafting a legally binding treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea governing marine biodiversity in ocean waters beyond national jurisdiction continued its consideration of environmental impact assessments today.
The intergovernmental conference drafting a legally binding treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea governing marine biodiversity in ocean waters beyond national jurisdiction entered its second week at Headquarters today with speakers discussing turning their attention to how the instrument will address environmental impact assessments.
The General Assembly adopted three resolutions today, including one on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which it passed by a recorded vote of 159 in favour to 2 against, (Dominican Republic, United States) with no abstentions.
In its first‑ever meeting to address the links between corruption and conflict, the Security Council today considered ways to effectively disrupt the illicit siphoning of money by leaders and other practices that weaken State institutions, thereby making a country susceptible to conflict.
Member States shared views today on area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, during the fourth day of the intergovernmental conference to draft a legally binding treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of high seas biological diversity.
The Syrian Government and its partners — currently poised at the brink of a massive military strike against the north‑west province of Idlib — must urgently rethink its strategy, the Security Council heard today, as delegates sounded the alarm about such repercussions as mass civilian casualties and the flood of up to 700,000 refugees into neighbouring countries, Europe and beyond.
Despite progress being made, not only was the international community’s confidence in Syria’s full elimination of its chemical weapons programme dependent upon the United Nations being able to close outstanding issues, but the lack of an accountability mechanism was a missing step in taking to task those responsible for using chemical weapons, a senior United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council today.
The 2018 International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concluded today with two panel discussions, one exploring media coverage of the Palestinian refugee story 70 years after the Nakba, and the other focused on the protection of journalists covering the Israeli‑Palestinian conflict.
The United Kingdom’s delegate, in an emergency session today, briefed the Security Council on her country’s decision to bring charges against two nationals of the Russian Federation in connection with the reported Salisbury nerve agent attack, prompting the latter to reject those allegations as a vehicle for “anti‑Russian hysteria” and part of a “post-truth world” crafted by Western countries.
