Libya

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic facilitated a school’s reopening in the Haute-Kotto Prefecture. Deployed there to deter armed groups and help restore socioeconomic activities, peacekeepers also provided school supplies and have launched a community violence reduction project.

​​​​​​​Heartbreaking accounts of violence from survivors in Libya underscore the collective obligation to deliver justice — and not “as an abstract idea” — following the Security Council’s referral of the case to the International Criminal Court in 2011, stressed its top prosecutor, who, marking the first visit of his Office to Libya in a decade, briefed the 15-nation organ via videoconference.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for twelve months — until 31 October 2023 — as members welcomed the appointment of Abdoulaye Bathily as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of UNSMIL, who officially assumed his duties on 25 September.

In Lebanon, the World Health Organization, UN Refugee Agency and the United Nations Children’s Fund are coordinating efforts, and the United Nations is seeking $43 million more over the next three months to address the cholera outbreak. As of 22 October, there have been a reported 239 confirmed cases and 10 deaths.

A prolonged stalemate over the executive branch of Government and lack of concrete action by relevant actors are further delaying the prospects for the holding of inclusive, free and fair elections in Libya, the senior United Nations official in that country told the Security Council today, noting that its political impasse has adversely impacted the security situation.

The latest Every Woman Every Child progress report was released today, and it shows that women’s and children’s health has suffered globally, as the impacts of conflict, the pandemic and climate change have converged with devastating impacts.

The Security Council renewed for another year its authorization for Member States to inspect vessels on the high seas off Libya’s coast that they have reasonable grounds to suspect are being used for migrant smuggling and human trafficking from that country, and to seize those vessels that are confirmed as being used for those purposes.

In Syria, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator there expressed serious concern yesterday over the ongoing cholera outbreak in the country. The number of confirmed cholera cases so far is 20 in Aleppo, 4 in Lattakia and 2 in Damascus.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Abdoulaye Bathily of Senegal as his Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Nicolas de Rivière (France):