Syria

The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations briefed the Security Council today saying that the 31 December 2016 agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had contributed to defusing tensions there.  However, he noted that major efforts would need to be made to ensure all parties follow and implement the agreement.

In his first time speaking before the Security Council as Secretary-General, António Guterres spoke about the importance of conflict prevention, saying that it had proved difficult to persuade decision-makers at national and international levels that prevention must be their priority.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) launched today two international emergency appeals totalling $813 million to meet the critical humanitarian needs of refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and those affected by the conflict in Syria. 

Humanitarian colleagues in Iraq report that more than 133,000 people have been displaced due to ongoing operations in Mosul, which began in October.  Some 87 per cent have sought shelter in camps for internally displaced people.  To date, available camp space is still keeping pace with the rate of displacement.

Jan Egeland, the Special Adviser on the Humanitarian Task Force for Syria, stresses the need for access in Wadi Barada, which supplies most of the water to Damascus, Syria, where some 5.5 million people have no water. The United Nations has received reports of the displacement of at least 7,000 people from the Wadi Barada area north of the city due to recent fighting.

On 1 January, António Guterres took over as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations.  After taking office he issued a statement appealing for peace and asking that 2017 be a year for peace.

At its 51^st meeting, on 26 November, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict agreed, in connection with the examination of the first report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic (S/2014/31), to address the following message to all parties to the armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic through a public statement by its Chair: