Meetings Coverage

The Security Council discussed its programme of work for September during a public meeting today, while considering whether to include on its agenda the topic of human rights violations in Nicaragua.

An intergovernmental conference to draft the first‑ever treaty addressing biodiversity on and beneath the high seas opened its first substantive session at Headquarters today with speakers emphasizing the urgency of forging an agreement — ideally by consensus — as soon as possible, but acknowledging the significant challenges that lay ahead.

Despite emergency support from dozens of partners, the United Nations agency charged with providing health care, education and other basic services to some 5 million Palestine refugees will soon lose its ability to carry out much of its critical work, the director of the agency’s New York office told the Palestinian Rights Committee today.

The Security Council today renewed for one year sanctions imposed by resolution 2374 (2017) concerning Mali, also extending until 30 September 2019 the mandate of the expert panel established to monitor their implementation.

The Security Council extended today the mandate of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) until 31 August 2019, calling on that Government to develop a plan to increase its naval capabilities, with the goal of decreasing the Mission’s Maritime Taskforce and transitioning activities to the country’s armed forces.

The Security Council adopted its annual report to the General Assembly today for the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.

Guinea‑Bissau, having made crucial strides towards overcoming its long‑standing political impasse, must hold free, fair and inclusive elections as scheduled in November or risk rolling back its fragile progress, senior officials briefing the Security Council emphasized today.

With conflicts taking on transnational dimensions, peace agreements growing more elusive and political will waning, the United Nations must be “bold and creative” in harnessing the avenues and capacities available for mediation, Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council today in an open debate on the topic.

One year after the start of the Rohingya refugee crisis, the Security Council considered today the report issued by the independent fact-finding mission dispatched to that country, which alleges that national security forces committed gross human rights violations and abuses that “undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law”.

Escalating military clashes and renewed air strikes in north‑west Syria — especially Idlib Governorate, covered under an international “de‑escalation zone” agreement — represent a worrying trend, threatening some 3 million residents as well as the already fragile delivery of aid, a senior United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council today.