The Security Council, in a videoconference meeting on 28 August, announced its decision to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) until 31 August 2021 while reducing the maximum number of authorized troops from 15,000 to 13,000.
Since its unanimous adoption on 28 April 2004, resolution 1540 (2004) has been a vital component of the international non-proliferation architecture and main guidance for the international community’s efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, their means of delivery and related materials to and by non-State actors.
The spread of COVID-19 in Syria is likely more severe than official data suggests, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council during a videoconference meeting on 27 August, adding that food insecurity remains a nationwide concern and that humanitarian convoys are suffering delays after the 15-member organ in July reduced the number of authorized border crossings to one.
Despite positive first steps by Iraq’s new Prime Minister, the country continues to operate in “the eye of multiple storms”, from popular discontent to mounting hunger to economic woes wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council during a 26 August videoconference meeting.
The recent agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates could change dynamics across the Middle East, the senior United Nations official in the region told the Security Council during a video-conference meeting on 25 August.
The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fifth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Somalia (document S/2020/174), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:
Gauging the global threat posed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) amid the COVID-19 pandemic, counter-terrorism officials cautioned the Security Council during a 24 August videoconference meeting that Member States must address pressing issues — particularly the repatriation of detained foreign fighters and their families — to prevent the group from spreading its influence across countries and regions.
With elections slated for November delayed due to COVID-19, Somalia is at a critical juncture, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, pressing federal and state leaders to agree on voting modalities and bolster the capacity of national security forces meant to assume responsibilities in 2021.
On 19 August 2020, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo amended the list entries of the following individuals and entities included on its list of individuals and entities, subject to the assets freeze and travel ban set out in paragraphs 1 to 6 of resolution 2293 (2016), as renewed by paragraph 1 of resolution 2528 (2020), adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations:
Preparations are well under way to convene the Small Body of the Syrian‑owned and Syrian-led Constitutional Committee in Geneva on 24 August, but ending the conflict in the country also requires constructive diplomacy among key international players, the senior United Nations negotiator facilitating peace negotiations told the Security Council during a 19 August videoconference meeting.
