The Security Council today welcomed the merging of the Office of the Special Envoy for the Sahel with the United Nations Office for West Africa, encouraging the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the region to ensure a unified management structure for the new United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).
Violence by Boko Haram had led to massive forced displacement and a widespread humanitarian crisis in West Africa’s Lake Chad Basin, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, as speakers called for increased international support for regional efforts to combat terrorism and meet the needs of 9.2 million people facing unimaginable desperation across four countries.
Taking consensus action today, the General Assembly adopted an oral decision paving the way for Member States to continue discussions on reforming the Security Council during its seventy-first session.
The Economic and Social Council concluded its coordination and management segment this afternoon with the adoption of 10 draft resolutions and 5 draft decisions.
Continuing its coordination and management session, the Economic and Social Council today adopted 5 resolutions and 11 decisions on topics ranging from crime prevention and criminal justice to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and narcotic drugs to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for six months, until 31 January 2017, encouraging the country’s Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders to grasp with determination the current opportunity to secure a comprehensive and durable settlement of the crisis dividing their island nation.
The Security Council today extended until 15 November 2017 the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), adapting it to the new circumstances prevailing in that country.
Opening a three-day coordination and management session today, the Economic and Social Council considered a range of issues — from regional cooperation to the participation of non-governmental organizations at United Nations proceedings —adopting seven resolutions and seven decisions.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) until 31 July 2017, emphasizing the importance of efforts to support the country’s stabilization, particularly those areas liberated from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh).
The United Nations humanitarian affairs chief called today for the immediate establishment of a weekly, 48-hour pause in fighting so that urgently needed assistance could reach 250,000 people trapped in besieged eastern Aleppo and other hard-to-reach places in Syria.
