Unanimously adopting two separate resolutions this evening on Libya, the Security Council, in the first, called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and extended the United Nations Support Mission there (UNSMIL) until 15 September, and in the second, adjusted the arms embargo on the country in light of the terrorist threat there.
From Syria and Iraq to Libya and Yemen, the cultural and religious fabric in the Middle East, intricately woven over centuries, was being torn apart by terrorists intent on eliminating the very diversity that had given rise to many of the world’s great civilizations, the Security Council heard today as speakers implored it to help end the fighting and urgently protect the region’s minorities.
Taking action without a vote, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved seven draft texts relating to, among other things, oversight, accountability, procurement, and nine items from the programme budget for the current biennium, as it concluded the first part of its resumed sixty-ninth session.
A year after the adoption of resolution 2139 (2014), the situation in Syria had dramatically worsened, characterized by “breath-taking levels of savagery”, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today.
The Security Council today extended until 31 March 2016 the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), including its intervention brigade.
It might already be too late to realize the paradigm of “two States for two peoples”, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today, of the view that during his tenure he had been part of a peace process in which “a can is kicked down an endless road”.
The Security Council today authorized an increase of 750 military personnel, 280 police personnel and 20 corrections officers for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), over the levels authorized by resolution 2149 (2014).
The rich contributions of women enslaved during the era of the transatlantic slave trade — who suffered dual forms of oppression due to their race and gender — were too often forgotten, said high-level speakers as they addressed the General Assembly’s annual event commemorating the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Being a child soldier was like being ripped from childhood and thrown into an adult world, the Security Council heard today from Junior Nzita Nsuami, who described his forcible recruitment at age 12 into a decade of war and violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as the 15-member body held an open debate on children and armed conflict.
Underscoring the seriousness and urgency of the situation in South Sudan, the Security Council today called on all parties to armed conflict to issue clear orders prohibiting all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses without further delay.
