The General Assembly elected five new non-permanent members of the Security Council. Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia will each serve a two-year term starting in January.

Speaking at today’s Security Council meeting on women, peace and security, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized that women must be involved at every stage of efforts to reaffirm the rule of law and noted that, for the first time in history, five United Nations peacekeeping operations were being led by women.

Governments must seriously address issues concerning land, natural resources and extractive industries in territories populated by indigenous peoples worldwide to ensure those peoples’ rights and privileges were not trampled upon, said Paul Kanyinke Sena, Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Martin Kobler, and his Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, both briefed the Security Council by videoconference, offering an overview of the Kampala Dialogue negotiations. Consensus had been reached on most points and both parties agreed to reconvene soon to overcome differences.

The Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, briefed the Security Council this morning on the situation in the Middle East, informing the Council about the discussions taking place in the region, including the Syria catastrophe and the Middle East peace process.

Governments should endeavour to update the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted more than five decades ago, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment told reporters at a Headquarters press conference today.

The treaty establishing the world’s first nuclear-weapon-free zone won the 2013 Future Policy Award for sustainable disarmament, beating 24 other nominated policies, Jakob von Uexkull, Chair of the World Future Council, announced at Headquarters today.

The Secretary-General and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali condemned the deadly suicide attack that killed and injured several Chadian peacekeepers. Offering condolences to the families of the fallen peacekeepers, the Secretary-General stressed that such actions would not deter the United Nations from supporting peace being restored.

The critical need to enhance Africa’s cross-border trade and sustainable development while building a mutually beneficial infrastructure informed the decision to promote the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, the Chief Executive Officer of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development told reporters at a Headquarters press conference today.

The current human rights picture in Eritrea was “bleak”, with thousands taking grave risks to flee intolerable situations at home, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in that country told reporters at Headquarters today.