The United Nations humanitarian chief, in a briefing to the Security Council, called today for greater international pressure on the parties to the conflict in Yemen in order to better protect civilians, facilitate relief access to all parts of the country, and encourage the resumption of peace talks and a cessation of hostilities.
With Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) a growing threat to Libya, as well as the wider region and beyond, the fight against violent extremism in that country could only be sustainable if it was led by a national unity Government, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative there told the Security Council today.
Determining that the situation in South Sudan remained a threat to regional peace and security, the Security Council today renewed until 15 April sanctions — including a travel ban and asset freeze — imposed by resolution 2206 (2015) and directed at those blocking peace in the country.
The Security Council today condemned in the strongest terms the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 6 January 2016 “in violation and flagrant disregard” of the relevant resolutions, its actions thereby constituting a challenge to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to peace and stability in the region and beyond.
Polarization of the political landscape in Kosovo in recent months had reached a level where progress was being impeded, but there was also an opportunity to shift the focus onto more fundamental post-conflict issues, the Security Council heard today during its first briefing of the year on the situation there.
The Security Council today decided to appoint Serge Brammertz as Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanisms for Criminal Tribunals for a term beginning on 1 March 2016 and ending on 30 June 2018.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened the first part of its resumed seventieth session today with a review of its 2016 provisional work programme, the 2016-2017 programme budget for the United Nations resilience management system and the role of the Joint Inspection Unit, among other matters.
Voicing deep concern over the situation in Ukraine, the Chair-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) stressed the need for greater confidence- and security-building measures amid the conflict there.
A decade after world leaders agreed on the responsibility to protect at a Headquarters world summit, the principle remained a worthy yet elusive concept, with success seen in some places, but with Syria standing out as a glaring example of the international community’s failure to put it into practice, delegates said during a General Assembly thematic panel discussion today.
The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) for one year today, amid a political crisis in that country and ahead of the Council’s visit to West Africa in March.
