Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed’s closing remarks at the memorial for Babatunde Osotimehin, the late Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in New York today:

Speakers voiced support for the requirement that all States parties destroy their existing nuclear arsenals, as the Conference convening to codify a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons and lead towards their total elimination entered its second day.

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

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that at least 750,000 children could be cut off from safe drinking water after a surge in fighting in eastern Ukraine.  Almost 3 million people in the country rely on water infrastructure which is now in the line of fire.

On 16 June 2017, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

Despite progress towards peace in Mali, terrorist attacks remained a major obstacle, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in that country told the Security Council today, as the State’s Foreign Minister called for the Council’s authority to deploy a regional counter-terrorism force so as to keep the nation on the road to reconciliation.

Although some progress had been made in the ongoing investigations of chemical weapon use in Syria, Security Council members must avoid politicizing the issue, the United Nations disarmament chief urged the 15-nation body as she briefed them on the matter today.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Sacha Sergio Llorentty Solíz (Bolivia):

Expressing grave concern about the humanitarian situation in Yemen, the Security Council today adopted a presidential statement calling on all parties to engage constructively and in good faith to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in that country.

The pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons was becoming more urgent than ever before, particularly in the midst of a deteriorating international security landscape, the senior-most United Nations disarmament official said today.