The Security Council resolution on dismantling and eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities established a new norm ensuring that the use of such weapons by anyone anywhere constituted a threat to international peace and security, the 15-member body’s President for September said today.

A team from the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has arrived in Damascus, following endorsement by the OPCW and Security Council of a plan to oversee destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. Initial efforts will focus on verifying information provided by Syrian authorities.

The Security Council, in a presidential statement today, stressed that the magnitude of the humanitarian tragedy in Syria requires prompt action for the safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance in the whole country. It urged immediate steps to expand relief operations and lift bureaucratic obstacles.

The Security Council's work programme for October would include three open debates — on working methods, the Middle East and women, peace and security — as well as the first-ever high-level meeting on cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan said today as he assumed presidency of the 15-member body.

Noting the significant role of migrants in the development of both origin and destination countries, senior United Nations officials today stressed the need to protect their rights and integrate their contributions to society into the post-2015 development agenda.

At a Headquarters press conference today, Assembly President John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda) welcomed civil society’s participation in determining the post-2015 development agenda as the “new norm”, and highlighted, among other changes, steps towards a new openness during the sixty-eighth General Assembly session.

Migration had always been a fundamental human phenomenon, and the human rights of migrants must be respected and enforced whether their crossing was considered “illegal” or not, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

At a major meeting on international migration, the Secretary-General offered condolences to the many African migrants who died in the Mediterranean after their ship sank. Stressing that the incident emphasized the issue’s importance, he said that the international community should take the tragedy as “another spur to action”.

As the number of urban areas increased around the globe, transforming the world’s political, economic and social landscape, it was vital to ensure people’s access to transport and essential basic services, Joan Clos, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The 15 members of the Security Council are expected to arrive later today in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first leg of a five-day visit to the Great Lakes region of Africa. The delegation stopped in Brussels, where it met with the Political and Security Committee of the European Union.