The Security Council has begun discussions on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal to set up a United Nations mission to provide support to the new authorities in Libya as they seek to rebuild the North African nation following this year's conflict.

 

September 1, 2011, Paris, France - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (front, center) poses for a group photo with heads of delegations at the International Conference in Support of the New Libya, or the "Friends of Libya" summit, at the �lys�e Palace in Paris, France. With Mr. Ban (front row, from left): Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal; Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada; Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy; King Abdullah Bin Al Hussein of Jordan; Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC); and Mahmoud Jibril, Prime Minister of the NTC. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

In a letter sent to the Council last week, Mr. Ban proposes the establishment of an integrated UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for an initial period of three months, to be headed by a Special Representative.

 

"The three-month initial deployment intended to allow for in-country engagement in further defining the needs and wishes of Libya for United Nations support, while delivering urgent advice and assistance," he writes.

 

The mission's mandate would include assisting national efforts to, among other things, restore public security and order and promote the rule of law; undertake inclusive political dialogue, promote national reconciliation, and embark on the constitution-making and electoral processes; extend State authority; and protect human rights and support transitional justice.

 

Opposition forces rose up against the regime of Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi in February as part of a wider pro-democracy movement across North Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Ban has repeatedly stressed the need to respond rapidly to requests from the Libyan transitional authorities for assistance after the regime is ousted and the conflict comes to an end.

 

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The United Nations Human Rights Council today appointed three experts to probe alleged abuses in Syria, where the number of people killed since the start of the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters earlier this year has now reportedly reached at least 2,600.

 

September 12, 2011, Geneva, Switzerland - A wide view of the Human Rights Council on the opening day of its eighteenth session. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferr�

Sergio Pinheiro of Brazil will chair the independent commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Syria since March, when the pro-democracy protests began.

 

Mr. Pinheiro, a former professor and human rights expert for the Council, will be joined by Yakin Ert�rk of Turkey, who is currently a professor of sociology and former UN official dealing with women's issues, and Karen AbuZayd of the United States, who most recently served as head of the UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees.

 

The Geneva-based Council decided three weeks ago to dispatch a commission of inquiry after considering the report of a fact-finding mission by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

 

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The head of the Security Council committee set up to monitor and enforce sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program said it had received new complaints about the country's launch of ballistic missiles and clarified concerns or issues over several other matters.

 

September 7, 2011, New York - A wide view of the Security Council at its meeting on the issue of Iran and nuclear non-proliferation, during which members were briefed by the Chair of the Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1737 (2006), also known as the Iran Sanctions Committee. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Ambassador N�stor Osorio of Colombia, outlining the work since late June of the committee established as a result of a Council resolution adopted in 2006, also detailed other ongoing investigations by the committee into previously reported violations of the sanctions.

 

The Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran since 2006, including a ban on all items which could contribute to the country's enrichment of uranium, a freeze of assets and a prohibition on arms sales.

 

In May, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and stressed the need for Iran to continue negotiations with concerned countries over the status of its nuclear program, and to cooperate fully with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

 

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will hold his first live "global conversation" on September 13 with members of the public through social media networks, answering questions on a range of pressing United Nations issues.

 

Ahead of the annual General Debate of the UN General Assembly, which begins next week, Mr. Ban will take questions for an hour tomorrow starting at 11 a.m. local time in New York.

 

More than 5,500 questions across the six official UN languages - as well as Portuguese and Swahili - have already been submitted by people around the world, and a selection of those will be chosen and then posed to Mr. Ban by the event's moderator, Juju Chang of ABC News in the United States.

 

The event will be streamed live on Facebook, Livestream, Tumblr and UN Webcast, while Twitter and Weibo have also been used to submit questions.

 

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