30 January 2015
On 27 January, 28 EU leaders, including heads of state and foreign ministers, issued a joint statement in response to the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Eastern Ukraine. (more…)
Source: The Wall Street Journal | EU Foreign Ministers Extend Targeted Sanctions on Russia
Source: The Economic Times | EU leaders threaten new Russia sanctions over Ukraine
29 January 2015
On 28 January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underlined that ‘The Lebanese government and the Assad regime share responsibility for the consequences of the attacks emanating from their territories against the State of Israel,’ the Jerusalem Post reports. (more…)
Source: The Jerusalem Post | Assad, Lebanon to blame for Hezbollah border attack on IDF soldiers, Netanyahu says
Source: The New York Times | Hezbollah Kills 2 Israeli Soldiers Near Lebanon
Source: The Telegram | Hezbollah attack kills Israeli soldiers near Lebanon
29 January 2015
Speakers at the regional conference ‘Drug-Free Society’ in Islamabad stressed that drug trafficking and abuse required ‘concerted effort and mutual cooperation’. Speakers from 18 states gathered to discuss the issue which affects 243 million people globally at this years’ conference organised by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (more…)
Source: The Express Tribune | Drug free society: ‘Regional cooperation key to combat trafficking’
28 January 2015
On 21 January, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UK Mission to the UN, stated at the UN Special event to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi extermination camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau that: ‘Where a state is failing to act to protect its own citizens or, worse, is actively persecuting and killing them, the international community has an equal and shared responsibility to do all it can to protect populations at risk.’
28 January 2015
On 19 January, the UN Security Council urged central African countries to step up plans for a multinational force to fight Boko Haram (this is the first time that the UNSC gave an overall response on this issue).
On 21 January, the Nigerian foreign minister said that African nations threatened by the group will seek UN Security Council authorisation for a multinational force to take on the militants.
Source: Time | A Multinational Task Force Must Fight Boko Haram, Says U.N. Security Council
Source: Raw Story| UN Security Council backs plan for African coalition to join forces against Boko Haram
Source: World Bulletin | African states to seek U.N. mandate to fight Boko Haram