| Calendar |
June 27
The Security Council briefs and holds consultations on Libya.
The 2011 annual session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) begins at UN headquarters through June 30.
June 28
Sha Zukang, Secretary Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and Amy Fraenkel, Regional Director for the United Nations Environment Programme speak at the
National Leadership Speaker SeriesConference at the National Press Club
in Washington. The conference is co-hosted by The U.S. Green Building Council and Local Governments for Sustainability
The Security Council adopts resolutions on the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). It also briefs and holds consultations on the United Nations Integrated Peace-Building Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS).
The Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly speak at the Thematic Debate on Global Governance.
The United Nations Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process begins in Brussels. The theme of the meeting is "The role of Europe in advancing Palestinian statehood and achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians," and it will end June 29.
June 29
The Women's International Forum holds a meeting on "Combating sexual violence: Prevention, protection and services for survivors," sponsored by the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.
In Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism will offer his assessment of two recently-adopted Security Council resolutions on the Al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions regime.
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Watch live coverage of the events listed above at www.un.org/webcast
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Displaced persons are transported to a safe area by a UN helicopter last month. United Nations Mission in Sudan forces work on the ground in Abyei, the main town of the disputed Abyei area on the border of Sudan and newly independent South Sudan. Sudanese troops will be replaced by the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), which was set up by the Security Council today and will be made up of Ethiopian troops. UN Photo/Stuart Price
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Security Council sets up UN security force for disputed Sudanese town of Abyei
The Security Council has established, for an initial six months, a United Nations peacekeeping force for the area around the Sudanese town of Abyei, which is contested by both north and south and has been the scene of renewed fighting in recent weeks.  | |
June 27, 2011 - A wide view of the Security Council as it unanimously adopts resolution 1990 (2011), establishing for six months a peacekeeping force in Abyei, the disputed area which straddles Northern and Southern Sudan and is claimed by both. The peacekeeping force will be known as the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
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Last week, representatives from the government of Sudan and their counterparts from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), representing Southern Sudan, reached an agreement that provides for temporary administrative arrangements for Abyei and the withdrawal of troops from both sides. Sudanese troops will be replaced by the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), which was set up by the Council today and will be made up of Ethiopian troops. By the resolution adopted today, UNISFA is mandated to ensure that the area is demilitarized from any forces other than those of the UN and the Abyei Police Service, provide de-mining assistance, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and free movement of humanitarian personnel. The Council took its decision "recognizing that the current situation in Abyei demands an urgent response and constitutes a threat to international peace and security," according to the text. Read more
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ICC issues arrest warrants for Libyan officials for alleged crimes against humanity The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi, one of his sons and the country's intelligence chief for crimes against humanity allegedly committed since the pro-democracy movement began in February.  | |
Muammar al-Qadhafi
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Hundreds of people are confirmed to have been killed since opposition forces rose up against the regime of Mr. Qadhafi in February as part of a wider pro-democracy movement across North Africa and the Middle East. Earlier this month, the Court's Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, told reporters that his office had gathered direct evidence detailing the orders issued by Mr. Qadhafi, the role of his son Saif al-Islam Qadhafi in recruiting mercenaries, and the participation of the head of the Libya's intelligence forces, Abdullah Al Sanousi, in attacks against protesters. The Court's Pre-Trial Chamber considered that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that the three suspects committed the alleged crimes and that their arrests appear necessary to ensure their appearances before the ICC, it stated in a news release. Libya is one of six investigations being carried out by the ICC, which is based in The Hague. The others are the Central African Republic (CAR), Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and Kenya. Read more Related Headlines Fighting and need for aid increase in north-western Libya - UN Tunisia becomes first North African nation to join International Criminal Court
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Somalia: Security Council calls for inclusive and comprehensive peace strategy
The Security Council has reiterated the need for a comprehensive and inclusive strategy to encourage the restoration of peace and stability in Somalia, stressing that a peace agreement signed in neighboring Djibouti in 2008 remains the basis for resolving conflict in the Horn of Africa country.
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June 24, 2011 - Nelson Messone, Permanent Representative of the Gabonese Republic to the UN and President of the Security Council for June, chairs a meeting of the Council on the situation in Somalia. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine
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Under the Djibouti Peace Agreement, Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia agreed to end conflict and form an inclusive government to end two decades of factional warfare and instability in the country.
After a Security Council meeting on the situation in Somalia on June 24, the UN body, in a presidential statement, reaffirmed "its support for the Djibouti Agreement and peace process in Somalia."
It called for cohesion, unity and focus on the completion of the transitional tasks set out under the Djibouti Agreement and Somalia's Transitional Charter. The Council urged the country's Transitional Federal Institutions to build broad-based representative institutions through an inclusive political process, taking into account the need to ensure the participation of women in public life.
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UN's Rwanda genocide tribunal convicts woman of genocide for first time
The first woman ever charged with genocide by an international court has been convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison by the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up in the wake of the mass killings in Rwanda in 1994.  | |
Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, former Rwandan government minister of family and women's development
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Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 65, a former Rwandan government minister of family and women's development, was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwandan (ICTR) on June 24 of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity (extermination, rape and persecution) and several serious violations of the Geneva conventions. As a Cabinet-level government official, Ms. Nyiramasuhuko was found to have ordered and directed subsequent killings and rapes and participated in a broader effort to wipe out the local Tutsi population. Prosecutors told the ICTR - which is based in Arusha, Tanzania - that roadblocks were set up to identify, abduct and kill Tutsis and Ms. Nyiramasuhuko and her son, in conjunction with soldiers, personally manned those roadblocks. Read more
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UN drugs and crime threaten global peace, warrant action, Security Council told
Illicit drugs and transnational organized crime can undercut security and development in countries and across regions, a top United Nations official told the Security Council, stressing the need for concerted action to tackle these growing threats. "The time has come for urgent action. We need to take practical and pragmatic responses to these problems," Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told a meeting of the Security Council on June 24. The Council's meeting on the impact of transnational organized crime and trafficking on global peace, security and development comes a day after the launch of the 2011 World Drug Report, which highlighted the fact that the global drug threat has not diminished. The report, produced by the Vienna-based UNODC, found that while global markets for cocaine, heroin and cannabis declined or remained stable, the production and abuse of prescription opioid drugs and new synthetic drugs rose. Read more
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Natural landmarks in Africa, Asia and Australia added to UN heritage list
Lake districts in China and Kenya, a coastline in Australia, a fishing delta in Senegal and a string of Japanese islands were added to the World Heritage List, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported on June 24.
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© National Museums of Kenya - Geyser spewing super hot water, Lake Bogoria (Lake system in Great Rift Valley) Kenya
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UNESCO identified the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, Australia's Ningaloo Coast, the Ogasawara Islands of Japan, the Saloum Delta in Senegal and the West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou as the newest entrants on the list, which includes more than 900 sites deemed by the UNESCO-backedWorld Heritage Committee to be of outstanding universal value.
The committee met at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO to discuss the latest nominations to the World Heritage List. A total of 35 nominations will be reviewed by the end of the committee's session on June 29.
Read more
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Week in Review
Yoko Ono and "Widows' Day" Supporters Open Exhibit at UN Headquarters
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June 22, 2011 - Performer Yoko Ono (center) speaks at the opening of the "Widows of the World" exhibit commemorating the United Nations' first International Widows' Day (annually June 23) at UN headquarters in New York. She is flanked by Sylvia Bongo Ondimba (left), First Lady of Gabon, and Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. UN Photo/Mark Garten
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Ban Ki-moon Appointed to Second Term as Secretary-General
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June 21, 2011 - Ban Ki-moon (right) shakes hands with Joseph Deiss, President of the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly, after being sworn in for the second time as UN Secretary-General. The General Assembly re-appointed Mr. Ban by acclamation to serve another five-year term beginning January 1, 2012. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
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