From Gaza and Ukraine to Sudan and Afghanistan, women, youth and children are bearing the brunt of conflicts, war and an ever-increasing global rollback of human rights, the Security Council heard today, as speakers outlined best practices to improve the participation of women and young people in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
The Security Council today unanimously adopted a presidential statement aimed at addressing security, political and humanitarian challenges in West Africa and the Sahel.
In the wake of a day-long open debate on protecting civilians in armed conflict that it held on 21 May, the Security Council today adopted a resolution calling on States to respect and protect United Nations and humanitarian personnel in accordance with their obligations under international law, recalling those established 75 years ago in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
The Security Council today unanimously adopted a presidential statement aimed at strengthening the role of African countries in addressing global security and development challenges, as speakers debated the intricate and complex dynamics between peace and development in those States and across their continent.
The Security Council met this morning to continue its open debate that began on 21 May concerning the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The debate was held in connection with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Security Council resolution 1265 (1999), which first established the protection of civilians as a crucial issue of international peace and security, and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Amid ongoing armed conflicts across the globe that killed at least 33,000 civilians in 2023, the international community must not only ensure compliance with international law but “full” protection for civilians, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today during its annual open debate on the matter.
Saving lives and ensuring humanitarian access in Rafah and across the Gaza Strip are urgent priorities, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, as delegates urged Israel to stop its military offensive in Rafah.
The large-scale influx of arms and ammunition into any armed conflict raises significant concerns for peace and security, even after the conflict has ended, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as many delegates underscored that the Russian Federation — while urging Western countries to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine — has itself violated the 15-member organ’s resolutions by procuring weapons from Pyongyang and Tehran to use in the conflict.
The Security Council again failed to adopt a resolution on outer space today — following the Russian Federation’s veto of a similar text on 24 April — with members voting in the same manner that saw the defeat of a proposed amendment to that text, which was then incorporated into the draft under present consideration.
Amid calls from Security Council members today to draw down the United Nations mission in Iraq, the senior United Nations official in that country briefed the 15-member organ on both progress and ongoing challenges at many State levels, while emphasizing it is time to “turn the page on the darker images of Iraq’s past”.
