United Nations Security Council

Syria's rebels work to form government, restore order after Assad ouster

The United Nations Security Council met behind closed doors late on Monday, and diplomats said they were still in shock at how quickly Assad's overthrow unfolded over 12 days

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 6 as UNSC plans to meet over Syria issue

Palestinian medical officials said Monday that Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip overnight killed at least six people, including one woman. The strikes came as ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow on Sunday and received asylum from his longtime ally, according to Russian media, hours after rebels seized control of Damascus. The UN Security Council plans to hold emergency closed consultations on Syria later Monday at Russia's request. Among the dead in the overnight Israeli strikes were Raed Ghabaien, who was released from Israeli detention in 2014, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the casualties were taken. He was killed along with his wife when an Israeli strike hit their tent in the central town of Zuweida, the hospital records showed. Two other people were killed in a strike that hit their house late Sunday in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp. Another two were killed in a strike in the Wadi Gaza area early Monday. An Associated Press journa

India gets re-elected to UN Peacebuilding Commission for 2025-2026

The commission, established in 2005, was tasked with advising the UN General Assembly and the Security Council on issues of peacebuilding and sustaining peace

US vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding cease-fire in Gaza

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas militants in Israel in October 2023. The council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the resolution 14 of its 15 members voted yes including US allies Britain and France but it was doomed by the veto. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the United States worked for weeks to avoid a veto of the resolution sponsored by the council's 10 elected members, and expressed regret that compromise language was not accepted. We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages, he said. Hamas would have seen it as a vindication of its cynical strategy to hope and pray the international community forgets about the fate of more than 100 hostages from more than 20 member states who have been held for 410 days. The ...

Unsatisfied with pace of progress on UNSC reform: Indian UN envoy

India is unsatisfied with the pace of progress on Security Council reform, the country's envoy at the UN said, noting that there are countries who prefer the status quo and those that oppose expansion in the permanent category at all costs as they feel their neighbours may have a chance to become a member. The Security Council structure, as it stands today, is a reflection of 1945. It does not reflect today's realities, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said during a conversation here on Tuesday. Harish delivered the keynote address on Responding to Key Global Challenges: The India Way' at an event at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Harish gave an expansive overview of the India way on key global issues ranging from reformed multilateralism, terrorism, demography, India's digital revolution to the country's youth, climate change, democracy, healthcare and vaccines. The event was co-sponsored by the MPA

India calls for urgent UNSC reform, stresses need for representation

Harish pointed to three key factors hindering it: the ineffective intergovernmental negotiation process, the insistence on consensus by some countries, and lack of representation for the Global South

UNSC voices 'strong concern' for peacekeepers after Israeli attacks

The UN Security Council expressed strong concern Monday as Israel has fired on and wounded UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon during intensified fighting, reiterating its support for their role in supporting security in the region. It's the first statement by the UN's most powerful body since Israel's attacks on the positions of the peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL began last week, drawing international condemnation. UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Lacroix told reporters that Secretary-General Antnio Guterres confirmed Monday that peacekeepers will remain in all their positions even as Israel has urged the peacekeepers to move 5 kilometers (3 miles) north during its ground invasion in Lebanon. Israel has been escalating its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon across a UN-drawn boundary between the two countries. The sides have been clashing since the Iranian-backed militant group started firing rockets a year ago in solidarity with its ally Hamas in Gaza. Hamas' deadly attacks

US backs India, Japan, Germany in UNSC reform, proposes seats for Africa

The United States has reaffirmed its support for new permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, including India, but may not support extending veto powers to new members

India calls for decisive, transparent approach to reform in UNSC talks

Central to India's position is need for text-based negotiations within IGN framework, Patel pointed out that, unlike other multilateral processes, discussions on UNSC reform have that yet to adopt

Palestinians plan UN resolution enshrining court demand to end Israel hold

The Palestinians said Thursday they are planning to introduce a U.N. General Assembly resolution in September enshrining the recent sweeping ruling by the U.N.'s top court that declared Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories unlawful and setting a time frame for it to end. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the U.N. Security Council that the resolution, which would not be legally binding, is essential to spur the end of Israel's occupation. We are sick and tired of waiting, he said. The time for waiting is over. The International Court of Justice on July 19 issued an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel's rule o ver the lands it captured 57 years ago. It called for the occupation to end and for settlement construction to stop immediately. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, who spoke to the

Without reforms, UNSC 'ill-equipped' to address global challenges: G4

A reform of the UN Security Council that does not address the lack of representation, particularly in the permanent category, would only "exacerbate" the current imbalances in its composition and render it "ill-equipped" to address current global challenges, India has said on behalf of the G4 countries. Recent global geopolitical events have clearly shown that the UN Security Council is unable to deliver on its primary responsibilities to safeguard international peace and security when the world needs it the most, Charg d'Affaires and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN Ambassador R Ravindra said on Monday. He was delivering a statement on behalf of the G4 countries -- Brazil, Germany, Japan and India -- at the UNSC High-Level Debate on Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Addressing the Historical Injustice and enhancing Africa's effective representation in the UNSC'. The realities of 1945, when the Council was established, have long been superseded by ..

UN chief pushes for Security Council reforms, permanent seat for Africa

In a high-level debate on Monday, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, addressing Security Council said that the composition of the UNSC has failed to keep pace with a changing world

UN approves transparent procedures for people to get off sanctions lists

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved more transparent procedures Friday for the hundreds of individuals, companies and other entities who are subject to UN sanctions and want to get off the blacklists. The resolution, co-sponsored by Malta and the United States, also authorizes the establishment of a new informal working group by the Security Council to examine ways to improve the effectiveness of U.N. sanctions. Malta's UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier told the council before the vote that the resolution is a clear signal of this council's commitment towards due process. It authorises a new focal point to directly engage with those seeking to get off sanctions lists and gather information from a variety of sources to share with the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions, which makes the decisions on delisting, she said. And it requires the reason for the committee's decision to be given to the petitioner. After the vote, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood

Taliban's morality police intimidating Afghans, instilling fear: UN

The Taliban's morality police are contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans, according to a UN report published Tuesday. Edicts and some of the methods used to enforce them constituted a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the report said. The Taliban set up a ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice after seizing power in 2021. Since then, the ministry has enforced decrees issued by the Taliban leadership that have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, like dress codes, segregated education and employment, and having a male guardian when they travel. The punishments attached to non-compliance with instructions and decrees are often arbitrary, severe and disproportionate, said the report from the UN Mission in Afghanistan. Sweeping bans with a discriminatory effect on women have been introduced. Human rights violations, as well as the unpredictability of enforcement measures, contribute to a climate of fear and

Only comprehensive reform can enable UNSC to manage global conflicts: India

India has asserted that as the United Nations turns 80 next year, it is "high time to reform the Security Council by expanding its permanent and non-permanent categories to enable it to manage today's global conflicts effectively. Delivering India's statement at the UN General Assembly debate on the Annual Report of the UN Security Council, Pratik Mathur, Minister in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, said that since performance assessment has become one of the focus areas at the United Nations as part of the discussions on global governance reforms, the Security Council, too, needs to prove its credibility and improve its performance. Speaking today in 2024, a year before the United Nations turns 80, it is thus high time to bring the Council in line with its Charter responsibilities to act on behalf of the entire membership, Mathur said on Tuesday. Mathur said this will not be achieved without enhancing the Council's membership in both permanent and non-permanent categories. Mat

Russia, China raise concerns with US over UN resolution on Gaza ceasefire

Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire plan for the Gaza Strip a week ago that he described as an Israeli initiative

Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, Somalia set to get seats on UNSC

Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia were set to get seats on the UN Security Council in a secret ballot Thursday in the General Assembly. The 193-member world body is scheduled to vote to elect five countries to serve two-year terms on the council. The 10 non-permanent seats on the 15-member council are allotted to regional groups who usually select their candidates but sometimes can't agree on one. There are no such surprises this year. Last year, Slovenia soundly defeated Russia's close ally Belarus for the seat representing the East European regional group, a vote that reflected strong global opposition to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This time, the regional groups put forward Somalia for an African seat, Pakistan for an Asia-Pacific seat, Panama for a Latin America and Caribbean seat, and Denmark and Greece for two mainly Western seats. The five council members elected Thursday will start their terms on Jan. 1, replacing those whose two-year terms end on D

UNSC rejects Russia-backed resolution on banning weapons in space

The United States said Monday that Russia last week launched a satellite that could be part of weaponizing space, a possible future global trend that members of the United Nations Security Council condemned even as they failed to pass a measure against it. The Security Council resolution drafted by Russia rivaled one backed by the U.S. and Japan that failed last month. The rival drafts focused on different types of weapons, with the U.S. and Japan specifying weapons of mass destruction. The Russian draft discussed all types of weapons. The U.S. and its allies said the language that the 15-member council debated on Monday was simply meant to distract the world from Russia's true intention: weaponizing space. The culmination of Russia's campaign of diplomatic gaslighting and dissembling is the text before us today," U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, denied that his nation was trying to mislead the world. Backed by China a

UN to vote on granting Palestine new rights, reviving its membership bid

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new rights and privileges to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent, and U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution. Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be peace-loving, and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012. We've been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries

India calls for revitalisation of UNGA, reform in global governance

He further highlighted that for the revitalisation of the General Assembly, the sanctity of the Annual General Debate and its associated elements must be restored, Pratik Mathur said