Meetings Coverage

Recent violence accompanying a customs dispute between Kosovo and Serbia was a stark reminder of the threats to the former’s security, the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative there told the Security Council today, emphasizing that both sides must refrain from actions leading to an escalation of tensions and demonstrate confidence in their European Union-mediated dialogue.

The Security Council today committed itself to strengthening its partnership with countries contributing military and police contingents to United Nations peacekeeping operations as it held a day-long review of peacekeeping involving some 48 speakers.

Recent terror attacks and escalating violence in the Middle East showed the urgent need to make progress towards the two-State solution, but the political deadlock persisted, B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the Security Council this morning.

The head of the newly established United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa this morning called on the Security Council to provide ongoing support for its efforts to stem cross-border threats to security in the region such as piracy, illicit small arms traffic, rebel militias and massive refugee returns due to the instability in Libya.

The States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea today opened its doors to fill a vacancy in the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, in the midst of that body’s annual session at Headquarters.

A complex amalgam in Somalia of accelerated political progress and the unexpected withdrawal of insurgents from the capital — amid a deadly famine devastating large swaths of the country — made increased international support to the nation urgent at this critical time, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today. “This is an extraordinary moment for Somalia,” Augustine Mahiga said via video teleconference from Mogadishu.

Expressing “profound regret” over the many hundreds of deaths in Syria and condemning what it called widespread violations of human rights against civilians by Syrian authorities, the Security Council today called for an immediate end to violence in the Middle East country and urged all sides to act with utmost restraint.

The Security Council today tightened its sanctions regime on Somalia and Eritrea to include individuals and entities identified as political or military leaders recruiting or using child soldiers in Somalia’s armed conflicts, and targeting civilians or committing attacks against schools and hospitals in the conflict-torn Horn of Africa country.

As the General Assembly concluded its debate today on challenges to achieving the human right to water and sanitation in the context of the Millennium Development Goals, delegates shed light on their nations’ struggles to resolve the practical implications of that quest.

Expressing strong determination to support the peace process in Sudan’s troubled western region, as well as concern over worsening violence there, the Security Council today decided to extend the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) for another 12 months.