In the wake of hundreds of reported Israeli air strikes across Syria since 8 December 2024, the Israel Defense Forces’ public confirmation that it built multiple positions in the area of separation and statements by Israeli leaders on their intent to stay in Syria for the foreseeable future, senior UN officials told the Security Council today that all parties must uphold their obligations under the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.
Russian Federation airstrikes in Ukraine continue to kill and maim civilians — including children at a playground last week — the United Nations top humanitarian official told the Security Council today. In what he called an “era of savage cuts”, he also appealed to Council members to provide at least the security and resources needed to save as many survivors of this war as possible.
The Security Council met today to consider the role of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, with some members advocating for its restructuring or gradual drawdown, while others emphasized its ongoing relevance in supporting regional stability and facilitating dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
Ahead of the ministerial meeting on peacekeeping that will be held this May in Berlin, speakers in the Security Council today both urged the importance of technological advances to ceasefire monitoring and acknowledged that such efforts alone will not create the sustainable peace that the United Nations seeks to achieve in conflict zones around the world.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Jérôme Bonnafont (France):
Following the recent discovery of a mass grave in Gaza — in which the bodies of 15 humanitarian workers were interred — the United Nations human-rights Chief warned the Security Council today of a high and increasing risk that atrocity crimes are being committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Preserving a regional framework for cooperation on peace and security remains critical in West Africa and the Sahel, where military takeovers, undemocratic governance, terrorism, poverty and climate change continue to pose serious challenges, speakers told the Security Council today.
What is the Council going to do to ensure accountability for the killing of aid workers and to prevent more such deaths, a senior United Nations humanitarian official asked the 15-member body today, as she detailed the unprecedented attacks that such workers face in conflict zones around the world.
The Security Council in April will convene two of its annual meetings on peacekeeping operations and on displaced persons and refugees at a “particular time for multilateralism” as “we are confronting a number of crises, including armed conflicts and funding”, its President for the month told reporters at a Headquarters conference today.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Christina Markus Lassen (Denmark):
