At its sixty-sixth meeting, on 22 June 2017, 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 Sudan (S/2017/191), covering the period from 1 March 2011 to 31 December 2016, agreed to address the following messages through a public statement issued by the Chair of the Working Group.
Recent developments at Old City holy sites in Jerusalem have shown a grave risk that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will escalate into a religious one and drag both sides into a vortex of violence with the entire region, Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council.
On 3 July 2017, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan held informal consultations to consider the report of the Chair’s visit to Sudan, which took place from 14 to 18 May 2017.
The Security Council today renewed the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) until 30 June 2018, while deciding to draw down the mission’s troop and police strength in that western region of Sudan over the next year.
At its eighth formal meeting, held on 16 December 2016, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan met with representatives to the United Nations of the Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya and Uganda, with the aim of continuing to strengthen the dialogue between the Committee and the invited delegations.
With the level of armed hostilities significantly lower than in previous years, the focus of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) should be readjusted as the mission reduced the number of peacekeepers deployed in that region of western Sudan, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council today.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up emergency operations to help people urgently in need of help in Yemen, which is on the brink of famine. In Syria, WFP delivered food this week to seven hard-to-reach areas in Raqqa and Deir, where regular aid service had been suspended for over three years due to conflict.
The pervading toxic culture of impunity must be tackled in order for justice to prevail in Darfur, the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor told the Security Council today as it remained split on how the matter was being handled.
The Secretary-General’s report “Reinvigorating the AIDS Response to Catalyse Sustainable Development and United Nations Reform” was presented today at the General Assembly. The Deputy Secretary-General, in presenting the report, said that “the AIDS pandemic is far from over”, and stressed that countries “need to do a better job of reaching young women and adolescent girls”.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Sacha Sergio Llorentty Solíz (Bolivia):
