The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Climate change poses risks to international peace and security through massive displacement of people and increased competition for scarce natural resources, speakers told the Security Council today while expressing divergent views on what the 15-member organ can do about it.

The United High Commissioner for Human Rights today condemned this week’s protests in Venezuela and called for effective investigations into the violence that has led to several deaths and injuries.  She urged all sides to conduct immediate talks to defuse the increasingly incendiary atmosphere.

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold its forty-ninth session from 28 January to 15 March.  The plenary parts of the session will be held from 4 to 8 February and from 4 to 8 March.

A powerful exhibition tracing the journey of Ruth Maier, a young diarist who perished in the Holocaust, is now on display at the United Nations Visitors Lobby in New York.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the Global Forum of Local Governments (Ii Foro Global De Gobiernos Locales), being held in Sevilla, Spain, from 24 to 26 January:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President José Singer Weisinger (Dominican Republic):

Continuing its 2019 regular session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 26 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and deferred action on the status of 59 others.

Fourteen new cases of Ebola were reported in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest one-day increase since the beginning of the outbreak on 1 August 2018, United Nations humanitarian affairs officials reported yesterday. Nine of the new cases were detected near Butembo, a city of a million inhabitants.