Security Council

The Security Council today failed to adopt a text that would have described as “illegal” Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 while reiterating demands that all settlement activity cease immediately.

The Security Council today authorized a three-month extension of the temporary redeployment of infantry and aviation units from the United Nations Mission in Liberia to the Organization’s Operation in Côte d’Ivoire.

There was a pressing need to launch the internationally-mandated dialogue between authorities in Kosovo and Serbia, long delayed by political turmoil in Kosovo, and to work towards viable cooperation on peace and security as well as other critical issues facing the region, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today.

Setting out the priorities for the 2011 term in the Chair of the OSCE, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister stressed today the values that the regional body held in common with the United Nations and called for greater cooperation to expand peace, advance human rights, generate sustainable development and build a safer world.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti (Brazil):

The Security Council stressed today the need to take into account the economic and social dimensions of conflict, in addition to the political factors of maintaining international peace and security, as more than 60 speakers, including Government ministers, the Secretary-General and a World Bank official, took part in a day-long debate.

Welcoming the 7 February official announcement of the Southern Sudan referendum’s final results, which showed 98.83 per cent of voters choosing independence, the Security Council called today on the international community to lend its full support to all Sudanese people as they built a peaceful and prosperous future.

The following Security Council press statement was issued on 18 January by Council President Ivan Barbalić (Bosnia and Herzegovina):

On 8 February 2011, the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved the addition of the two entries specified below to its Consolidated List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1904 (2009) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

Security Council members welcomed today the European Union’s work to help realize United Nations peace and security goals in a wide range of situations around the world, following a briefing by the regional organization’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Surveying a few of those situations, Catherine Ashton emphasized that security, development and democracy, good governance and respect for human rights were all interlinked.