Security Council

The Security Council will convene its signature event of the month on 20 May — an open high-level debate on maritime security, held under the overarching theme of maintaining international peace and security, the Council’s President for May announced today at a United Nations Headquarters press conference.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) by nine days, until 9 May, apparently to allow more time for members to discuss the matter amid escalating tensions in the country.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, in New York today:

Warning the Security Council today that the Russian Federation’s three-year “war of choice” continues to kill and injure Ukrainian civilians, a senior United Nations official called for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire despite offers of temporary truces.

At a critical juncture in Middle East history, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning to the Security Council: the prospect of a two-State solution — where Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace and security — is in grave danger of vanishing.

In what he described as possibly his last address to the Security Council, the head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned today that “violence has become the defining currency of our age” — from Sudan to Ukraine, from the Sahel to Myanmar and beyond — and urged the 15-member organ to fulfil its responsibility for maintaining peace.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Jérôme Bonnafont (France):

Four and a half months since the fall of the Assad regime, the situation in Syria is “extremely fragile”, the United Nations top official for the country warned the Security Council today.

Eight years after the signing of Colombia’s peace accords, significant challenges remain, the Head of the United Nations special political mission in the country told the Security Council today, warning that violence is resurging in some areas.

The situation in Haiti has reached a pivotal moment and is further deteriorating and approaching what is likely to become “a point of no return”, requiring urgent international attention and political will to address the rapid erosion of that country’s statehood, briefers told the Security Council today..