Security Council

The Security Council committee monitoring the implementation of sanctions on Iran was continuing to explore options for an effective response to a pattern of repeated violations, its Chairman told the Council this morning.

The Security Council will have an open debate on the impact of illicit arms trafficking on peace and security in the Central African region on 19 March, Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet of Gabon, this month’s Council President, said today at Headquarters.

On 1 March, the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved the deletion (de-listing) of the two entries specified below from its Consolidated List. The assets freeze and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1904 (2009) therefore no longer apply to the following two entities:

Welcoming the steps taken by the Iraqi Government to support the international non-proliferation regime and adhere to global disarmament standards, the United Nations Security Council today underlined its readiness to consider lifting the trade sanctions it imposed on Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, including on materials that were capable of being used for chemical and biological weapons or ballistic missiles.

Recognizing the important role of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) in promoting peace, stability and development in the nascent South-East Asian nation, the Security Council today extended the Mission’s mandate until 26 February 2011 at current levels, while endorsing the Secretary-General’s intention to reconfigure its police component, including its drawdown, in line with the phased resumption process of policing responsibilities by the national police.

The following Security Council press statement on the Framework Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in Darfur was read out today by Council President Gérard Araud (France):

With the top United Nations anti-drug official urging concerted global action to “break the vicious circle between insecurity and underdevelopment” being increasingly fuelled by criminal networks, drug smugglers and human traffickers, the Security Council today called on the world body’s Member States to increase international and regional cooperation to tackle transnational organized crime.

Though Timor-Leste had made “remarkable progress” since 2006, when a dispute over discrimination among military forces sparked protests and widespread violence that drove thousands of people from their homes, the top United Nations official there warned the Security Council today that the tiny country was still fragile and faced a raft of socio-economic challenges that could prove even more daunting to tackle.

Keeping the spotlight squarely on the vast needs in earthquake-devastated Haiti while rallying global support for the tiny, vulnerable country’s long-term recovery, the top United Nations humanitarian and peacekeeping officials said today that it was now imperative that the international community bolster efforts by the Haitian Government to remove mountains of rubble and provide adequate shelter and sanitation facilities.

Expressing concern over the continuing deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, a senior United Nations political official today urged both sides to embrace a recent proposal to begin indirect talks mediated by the United States.