Overview and background

Leadership of the Security Council

The Security Council has played a leading role in raising global awareness of the links between AIDS and security. Through landmark resolutions 1308 in 2000 and 1983 in 2011, the Security Council has galvanized global action to integrate HIV responses in uniformed services. In this regard, the UN has led by example, addressing HIV as an integral component of its own peacekeeping missions in diverse settings.

Remarkable but challenging year

In 2011, over two dozen United Nations peacekeeping and special political missions worked to provide security and stability, facilitate political processes, protect civilians, help refugees return, support elections, demobilize and reintegrate former combatants, and promote human rights and the rule of law.

Briefing correspondents at Headquarters on the situations in South Sudan and other African countries, Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said that tackling the myriad challenges on the continent required the United Nations to continue strengthening its partnership with the African Union and other regional actors.

SC/10439
AFR/2281
PKO/296

The following press statement was issued on 7 November by Security Council President José Filipe Moraes Cabral ( Portugal):

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack on a UNAMID [African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur] patrol in Darfur on 6 November, in which one peacekeeper was killed and two were injured.

Le nouveau Secrétaire général adjoint aux opérations de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies, Hervé Ladsous, a tenu aujourd’hui sa première conférence de presse au Siège de l’Organisation, assurant qu’il n’avait pas de plan préétabli et qu’il abordait ses nouvelles fonctions dans un esprit de dialogue et de partenariat avec tous les acteurs du maintien de la paix.

SG/SM/13871
AFR/2262
PKO/291

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the attack on 10 October against peacekeepers of the African Union-United Nations Joint Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in which two military personnel and one police adviser were killed and six peacekeepers were injured, three of them seriously.

AFR/2254
PKO/290

SG/A/1303
BIO/4306
PKO/286

Biographical Note

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed Albert Gerard (Bert) Koenders of the Netherlands as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI).

He will replace Choi Young-jin of the Republic of Korea, who will complete his assignment on 31 August 2011. The Secretary-General is grateful for Mr. Choi’s dedicated service and excellent leadership of UNOCI for the past four years during a critical period and under very challenging circumstances.

Fresh from addressing the Security Council, the commanders of four United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa and the Middle East addressed a Headquarters press conference today on their efforts to protect civilians in Darfur, address charges of human trafficking among senior peacekeepers in Liberia and, more generally, implement measures to ensure that troops everywhere were held to the highest standards of conduct.