The Special Committee on Decolonization opened its 2018 session today, electing by acclamation Walton Alfonso Webson (Antigua and Barbuda) as its Chair and agreeing to proceed with a visiting mission to New Caledonia in March, ahead of a referendum on self‑determination in that French‑administered territory.
Despite pleas for an immediate, united call to action to stop the bloodshed and killing that was plunging parts of Syria into “hell on Earth”, the Security Council remained divided in how to effectively halt hostilities in eastern Ghouta, where thousands remained trapped amid ongoing bombardment.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is calling for calm and restraint after reports of a refugee protest turning violent in Rwanda’s Kiziba refugee camp. The camp hosts over 17,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, around 77 per cent of which are women and children.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Mansour Ayyad Sh. A. Alotaibi (Kuwait):
The Security Council must swiftly and effectively discharge all its power and responsibilities to overcome emerging threats and prevent massacres, genocide and the killing of civilians around the world and immediately in Syria, members heard today while they considered the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres arrived in Munich, Germany, on Thursday, 15 February, to attend the Munich Security Conference.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was in Libson, Portugal, on Monday, 19 February, to receive an honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Lisbon.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council briefing on “purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter in the maintenance of international peace and security”, in New York today:
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The Secretary-General said that he was deeply saddened by the terrible suffering of the civilian population in eastern Ghouta in Syria, noting 400,000 people lived in hell on earth. He appealed to all those involved for an immediate suspension of all war activities in the region.
