The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, citing a lack of real progress towards ending hostilities and resuming dialogue in South Sudan, today recommended no changes to the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as set out in resolution 2327 (2016).
Delegations considering an instrument that would prohibit nuclear weapons concluded their first-read through of the entire draft this morning, before proceeding to informal discussions in the afternoon.
Warning that the situation in Afghanistan was unusually tense and that a recent tide of violent terrorist attacks had brought underlying political tensions to the surface, the United Nations top official in the country urged all parties to exercise calm and the Government to take steps to improve public trust in its security sector in particular.
The Security Council today extended its arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1 July 2018, expanding those sanctions to cover individuals and entities engaging in or providing support for acts that included planning, directing, sponsoring or participating in attacks against the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) peacekeepers or United Nations personnel, including members of the Group of Experts.
The obligations of States parties to assist victims of nuclear weapons use or testing took centre stage today, with participants divided over whether to impose that primary burden on the nuclear weapons-possessor responsible, as the Conference working to codify a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons continued negotiations.
On the fiftieth anniversary of the Six-Day War, achieving a negotiated two-State outcome was the only way to lay the foundations for an enduring peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Security Council heard today, as it held its regular briefing on the situation in the Middle East.
Regional actors and international partners must press for confidence-building measures that would be conducive for holding an inclusive and credible political dialogue in Burundi, Assistant Secretary-General Tayé-Brook Zerihoun told the Security Council this afternoon as it considered the situation in that country.
The Special Committee on Decolonization today sent a draft resolution to the General Assembly calling on the Government of the United States to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that would allow the people of the island to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
Building upon the progress it had made in 2016, the Peacebuilding Commission would now seek to review its working methods to enhance efficiency and flexibility, the Security Council heard today in its regular briefing on the intergovernmental advisory body’s work.
Continuing their deliberations on a legally binding instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons, Member States suggested today ways in which to improve the proposed text as well as various amendments to several of its draft articles.
