"SECURITY COUNCIL"

Security Council Media Stakeout.

On International Day of UN Peacekeepers, Peacekeeping Chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said United Nations peacekeepers, despite challenges, “preserve ceasefires from collapse” and “protect every single day hundreds of thousands of civilians.” UNIFEED

Captain Cecilia Erzuah, a peacekeeper from Ghana, received the Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award for promoting the role of women in peace and security. UNIFEED / FILE

The top UN political affairs official Rosemary DiCarlo urged the Security Council to offer more support for African Union (AU) peace operations, saying that “those missions demonstrated significant political will and commitment, but they also faced some recurrent problems.” UNIFEED

As South Sudan grapples with multiple challenges, Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of UNMISS, urged political leaders to galvanize momentum in peace processes so that free, fair, and credible elections can be held on time. UNMISS

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Volker Perthes, said that the increased suffering of the people in the country “is not a result of aid organizations not being there or aid organizations not doing anything. The suffering of the people is a result of a war.” UNIFEED / FILE

According to the UN, 339 million people will require humanitarian aid this year just to survive. Almost one third of these people live in countries subject to UN sanctions. UNIFEED

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, told the Security Council that “while the ceasefire is holding" between Israel and Palestine, "conflict mitigation efforts must also be met with steps by both sides – supported by the international community – to reset a trajectory out of the cycle of violence.” UNIFEED

Addressing the Security Council annual debate on the protection of civilians (PoC) in armed conflict, Secretary-General António Guterres said, “war is devastating lives around the world,” and stressed that “we must intensify our efforts to prevent conflict, protect civilians, preserve peace and find political solutions to war.” UNIFEED