Despite repeated delays and instances of malpractice, the election of a new Parliament marked a milestone in Somalia’s post-conflict transformation, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country told the Security Council today.
The Security Council extended the arms embargo and other sanctions imposed on the Central African Republic today, also renewing the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the relevant Sanctions Committee, adding new provisions, and for the first time, distinguishing sexual violence as a separate asset-freeze listing criterion.
On 26 January 2017, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1518 (2003) approved the removal of the following entry from its List of Individuals and Entities subject to the assets freeze set out by paragraphs 19 and 23 of Security Council resolution 1483 (2003) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.
The Secretary-General has issued terms of reference for an impartial, independent mechanism to help investigate and prosecute those responsible for the most serious crimes committed in Syria since March 2011.
The new Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
Heavy fighting in Yemen — notably around Sana’a, Taiz and the border with Saudi Arabia — was all the more tragic because a viable peace proposal was within reach of both parties to the conflict there, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy told the Security Council today, while pressing both sides to demonstrate the political courage needed to stop the nearly two-year-long war.
Describing reports of severe suffering, starvation and indiscriminate attacks on civilians amid the ongoing fighting in Syria, humanitarian officials briefed the Security Council today, offering glimpses of hope while urging sustained action to end the six-year-long conflict in that country.
The Economic and Social Council today adopted two draft decisions on the theme of its 2017 session and on the dates of its upcoming coordination and management segments, as well as elected a new Vice-President.
The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) until 31 July 2017 today, while encouraging the divided island nation’s leaders to “grasp the current opportunity” of recent progress in negotiations to secure a comprehensive settlement of the dispute between them.
Opening their eleventh session today, members of the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee elected that body’s 2017 Bureau and the Chairs of its country-specific configurations, in addition to discussing its goals for the coming year.
