US and Qatari diplomatic efforts to bring a lasting peace to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have not yet led to improved conditions on the ground, where the security situation remains dire, the UN Security Council heard on Friday.
Terror attack survivors came together to bear witness at UN Headquarters on Thursday, emphasising that their voices must not be sidelined in shaping policy and driving efforts to prevent future atrocities.
Recent elections in Libya are a sure sign of the people’s desire to choose their own representatives, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the country said in the Security Council on Thursday.
With intensifying Israeli activity in and around Gaza City reportedly continuing on Thursday, UN chief António Guterres renewed his urgent call for a ceasefire, as Palestinians fled intense airstrikes, artillery shelling and gunfire.
Israeli airstrikes and shootings near aid hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial US and Israel-backed initiative, have seen a dramatic increase in deaths and injuries leading to amputations, compounding the suffering of Palestinians struggling to stave off malnutrition and starvation as the conflict continues.
The UN Special Envoy for Syria briefed the Security Council on Thursday, saying that amid a strained ceasefire and military skirmishes in Syria, the political transition “remains on a knife’s edge”.
The threat posed by the terrorist group ISIL – known more widely in the Middle East as Da’esh – remains dynamic and diverse, with Africa currently experiencing the highest level of activity worldwide.
In recent days, reported attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan’s Darfur State have forced some humanitarian groups to stop providing critical cholera services as the outbreak continues to spread.
Photo by: OSESGY/Abdel Rahman Alzorgan
Jacob Al-Sufyani: In light of the escalation in Gaza, to what extent have the...
Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, briefed the Security Council’s open debate on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) on Tuesday, presenting the Secretary-General’s annual report and stressing the need to support survivors in conflict zones where services are increasingly inaccessible.
This Tuesday, the UN honoured fallen colleagues and reminded the world that aid workers should never be a target, as 2024 saw a shocking new record of 383 aid workers killed.
Hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza are intensifying as a devastating ground offensive looms, creating a limited opportunity for humanitarians to bring in shelter items, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed recent diplomatic efforts spearheaded by the United States towards a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, his Spokesperson said on Tuesday in New York.
The UN has strongly condemned recent attacks carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in several locations in North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
With the news on Tuesday that a record 383 aid workers were confirmed killed in the line of duty last year, one veteran UN aid worker based in Gaza reaffirmed the resolve of humanitarians everywhere to save lives and relieve suffering, no matter how challenging the situation.
From Haiti and Yemen to Somalia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Security Council has used its authority to enact targeted sanctions, including travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargoes, against individuals or entities it deems a threat to international peace and security. These measures are more precise than the comprehensive sanctions imposed on entire nations during the latter part of the 20th century. Sanctions continue to change, largely in response to humanitarian concerns and questions of due process.
Today, there are 14 ongoing sanctions regimes in place. They support political settlement of conflicts in the Central African Republic, Libya, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen. They aim to prevent escalating violence, insecurity, and criminal activities perpetrated by armed gangs in Haiti. They also seek to deter unconstitutional changes of government in Guinea Bissau. Additionally, they constrain the proliferation activities of the DPRK and the terrorist threats posted by ISIL (D’aesh) & Al-Qaida and Al-Shabaab. The Security Council Affairs Division (SCAD) in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) is responsible for assisting the Council in the design, implementation and evaluation of these sanctions regimes. Each regime is administered by a sanctions committee chaired by an elected member of the Council. There are currently nine monitoring groups, teams and panels that support the work of 10 of the 14 sanctions committees.
Security Council sanctions can be broadly considered as measures strategically imposed to restrict activities in a wide range of areas, aimed at achieving peace and security objectives. They are not meant to be punitive an end in themselves, but to be part of a comprehensive strategy, working in tandem with political dialogue, mediation, peacekeeping and special political missions to counter terrorism, prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and facilitate political settlements in countries emerging from conflict. The most common sanctions measures are arms embargoes, asset freezes and travel bans while others include commodity bans, maritime interdiction and restrictions on technical assistance.
Sanctions are designed to achieve their intended objectives through three primary mechanisms: coercion — imposing economic or political costs on a target to compel a change in behaviour; constraint — limiting an individual or group’s ability to act by restricting access to particular resources; and signaling — sending a clear message that certain behaviour are inappropriate and may lead to further measures.
One oft-cited successful sanctions regime is the Liberia sanctions regime, established by resolution 1521 (2003), in which the Council established a Committee to oversee an arms embargo, travel ban and trade sanctions on Liberia. The sanctions, which included a ban on diamond imports from that country, was lifted by the Council in 2007, in response to the Government’s cooperation with a mechanism set up to keep “conflict diamonds” from reaching world markets. The travel ban and asset freeze measures were lifted in 2015, and the sanctions regime was terminated in 2016.
However, while UN sanctions remain key instruments for maintaining international peace and security, views differ among Member States about their effectiveness. Some view arms embargoes and financial sanctions as essential for curbing violence and enforcing peace deals, while others argue that prolonged sanctions become ineffective and have unintended humanitarian consequences on civilians.
In response to humanitarian concerns over sanctions, the Council adopted resolution 2664 (2022), which introduced a humanitarian “carve out” to asset freezes across all UN sanctions regimes. Through this “carve out”, the Council ensured that “the provision, processing or payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources or the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities that support basic human needs” are not violations of UN sanctions. The text noted that this provision applied to all sanctions regimes equally, with the exception of 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions regime, which was initially covered for two years only. It has since been extended indefinitely through resolution 2761 (2024).
Prior to the adoption of resolution 2664, humanitarian organizations had to go through lengthy and often unclear administration processes to ensure compliance with sanctions regimes and to prove that aid gets to those in need without being diverted to sanctioned entities or individuals. The resolution has streamlined the process in most cases.
There have been other important developments in the UN sanctions landscape over the last few years. In October 2022, a new sanctions regime was established on Haiti. The sanctions regime on Mali was discontinued in August 2023 after the Council failed to reach an agreement on its renewal. On 28 March 2024, the Council failed to adopt a resolution that would have extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the DPRK Sanctions Committee due to a veto cast by the Russian Federation. On 19 July 2024, the Council passed resolution 2744 (2024), which strengthened the mandate of the Focal Point for De-listing by establishing new and improved delisting procedures for all individuals and entities on UN sanctions lists, other than the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List which fall under the purview of the Office of the Ombudsperson for the ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and the ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee itself. The text also established an Informal Working Group on general Security Council sanctions issues. On 30 July 2024, the Council, through resolution 2745 (2024), lifted the arms embargo on the Central African Republic while maintaining restrictions on the supply of arms and military assistance to armed groups. On 29 July of this year, the Council renewed those restrictions.
Russian drone strikes on Ukraine overnight including in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia reportedly killed at least 14 people – including three children.
UN aid teams in Gaza say that they’re only able to get less than half the lifesaving food support that is needed into the war-torn enclave.
Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Pobee, briefed the Security Council on the deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions in South Sudan on Monday.
Adam Ibrahim was working with the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, in his home country, Sudan, when conflict between rival armed forces erupted in early 2023 and he became a refugee alongside thousands of others who continue to flee the ongoing violence.
Without an urgent and unrestricted flow of aid, Gaza’s already dire humanitarian crisis could deteriorate further, the UN warned on Friday.
The United Nations has reiterated the importance of dialogue as US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to meet on Friday in Alaska, with Ukraine top of the agenda.
When Israeli forces in Gaza issue a new displacement order ahead of an incursion into a neighbourhood or city, Palestinian civilians are expected to pack their bags and flee – perhaps for the third, fourth, or tenth time.
From 11–15 August, UNOAU in collaboration with the UN C4ISR Academy for Peace Operations (UNCAP), the AU, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), held a joint team development and coaching workshop in Entebbe, Uganda.
The workshop aimed to strengthen strategic cooperation among the AU, UN and NATO by fostering mutual understanding, enhancing collaboration and building leadership capacity. It also focused on...
Sexual violence in conflict zones rose sharply in 2024, increasing by a quarter compared to the previous year, the UN reported on Thursday. More than 4,600 survivors endured abuses used as weapons of war, torture, terrorism and political repression.
Top UN human rights investigators said on Thursday that war crimes may have been committed in predominantly Alawite areas of Syria in a wave of deadly violence earlier this year.
UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have uncovered rocket launchers, mortar rounds and other unauthorized weapons, while the country grapples with a severe drought, threatening millions with life-threatening water shortages.
The UN Security Council has rejected the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) declaration last month of a rival administration in parts of Sudan it controls, warning the move threatens the country’s unity and risks worsening the brutal conflict between the militia and forces of the military government.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk has expressed outrage over Monday’s deadly large-scale attack by the Rapid Support Forces militia on El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, which has been besieged by the RSF since April last year.
Across the globe, consumers and small-scale fishers alike are facing a growing challenge: seafood fraud.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, briefing the Security Council on Tuesday, voiced concern over the latest clashes between Government forces and Houthi rebel militia.
UN-mandated independent investigators have uncovered “systematic torture” in Myanmar’s military-run detention facilities – including beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and gang rape – a pattern of atrocities which is intensifying across the country.
Public health conditions in Gaza are “catastrophic”, with hospitals operating far beyond capacity. Some life-saving medicines are totally out of stock, while deaths from malnutrition and disease are on the rise, the UN health agency warned on Tuesday.
The transformation over two decades of the once thriving Syrian city of Sweida from tourist destination to a landscape marked by violence and loss has been detailed by the chief of a UN migration mission who recently visited the area.
The UN organization which champions culture and education, UNESCO, has strongly condemned the targeted killing of six journalists in Palestine by an Israeli drone on 10 August.
During her final briefing as resident and humanitarian coordinator for Haiti, Ulrika Richardson struggled to describe the realities of life in Haiti.
