“We are not only watching the destruction of a country but also of its people,” the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos said in her briefing to the Council in New York. “This is a regional crisis not a crisis in Syria with regional consequences, requiring sustained and comprehensive engagement from the international community.”

Amos, who is also the UN Emergency Coordinator was joined today by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, and Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan ŠImonović, who delivered a statement on behalf of Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

With some 5,000 people being killed every month, all the officials expressed extreme concern about the deepening violence, grave human rights violations, worsening humanitarian situation and particularly, the massive refugee crisis spawned by the spiraling conflict in Syria, which Guterres said was escalating at such a frightening rate that it resembled the outflow resembled the Rwandan genocide of nearly 20 years ago.

The brutal violence has spread significantly in the past months and the speakers feared the violence could ignite the whole region if a political solution is not reached soon.

Since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian Government and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad as many as 100,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries and a further 4 million have been internally displaced. In addition, at least 6.8 million Syrian require urgent humanitarian assistance, half of whom are children.

Amos said that while UN agencies continue to deliver assistance, gaps in the humanitarian response remain as access to many affected areas such as Homs and Aleppo is difficult due to security concerns or Government restrictions.

“While we know where those considered most vulnerable are located, humanitarian organizations are still not able to get regular, consistent and unimpeded access to millions of affected people,” she said, adding that the Government has also imposed bureaucratic procedures which have impeded humanitarian workers to access affected areas.

“Some locations remain inaccessible due to active fighting or insecurity. However, there are other areas, sometimes only a few kilometres away from our offices – including in Damascus and Homs – where we are not granted authorization to enter.”

Amos noted that the situation inside the country has worsened, with reports indications an “open and blatant violation of the rules of war, with total disregard for human life and dignity, in a climate of generalized impunity.” Recalling that senior United Nations officials had repeatedly called for a political solution, she said: “We are looking to this Council to exercise a leadership role in that regard.”

In remarks delivered by Imonović, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay echoed Amos’ statement, saying rights violations continue to be perpetrated by both Government and opposition forces. “In Syria today, serious human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity are the rule,” he declared.

“Government forces carry on with indiscriminate and disproportionate shelling and aerial bombardments, using among other weapons tactical ballistic missiles, cluster and thermobaric bombs, all causing extensive damage and casualties if used in densely populated areas.”

He added that “armed opposition groups have also committed acts of torture, abduction and kidnapping, sometimes along sectarian lines.”

Both Amos and Imonović said they were concerned of the rhetoric used by leaders in the region exacerbating sectarian tensions, stressing this increases the risk of sectarian massacres, and urging States to take action to prevent incitement of violence on any grounds.

Imonović underlined that the continuous influx of foreign fighters into Syria to support both sides is endangering the whole region and called on the supply of weapons to both sides to stop. “The solution should be political, not military. States with influence over the parties must work to support an inclusive, Syrian-led political solution to this conflict,” he emphasized.

For his part, Guterres warned that if a political solution is not reached soon “the Syria conflict could ignite the whole region.” In particular, he stressed the heavy burden being borne by countries that are hosting thousands of Syrian refugees, pointing out that this is having a destabilizing influence and could potentially send them over the edge if they do not receive enough support.

Lebanon and Jordan are currently the two most affected countries, hosting over one million refugees between the two.

“Measures must be taken now to mitigate the enormous risks of spill-over and to support the stability of Syria’s neighbours, so as to keep the situation from escalating into a political, security and humanitarian crisis that would move far beyond the international capacity to respond,” he said.

Guterres appealed to international financial institutions, UN organizations and national and regional development agencies to cooperate with the host countries in formulating and supporting community development programmes that will assist these states to cope with the impact of the crisis in Syria.

“The situation is extremely bad and we need action from the Council,” Brahimi told reporters at UN Headquarters following a closed-door session with the Council.

“The opposition and the government have got to accept to come to negotiations, and both sides have got to accept that these negotiations are necessary,” Brahimi added.

Latest figures showing 6.8 million people in need, 4.25 million people internally displaced and an additional 1.3 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries from a conflict that has killed over 70,000 people since opposition forces sought to oust President Bashar Al-Assad in 2011.

Brahimi told journalists that he tried to aid the creation of a ‘Syria Plan’ through discussions with both sides in Syria and through discussions with the 15-member Security Council, particularly Russia and the United States.

“With the Syrians, I got nowhere. With the Security Council, with the Americans and the Russians we made some progress, but it was far too weak,” said Brahimi.

“I am very happy that the Americans and the Russians are talking to one another. I’m very happy that from the discussions we just heard, the Security Council is very now aware that this is an extremely serious problem. As a matter of fact, the most serious crisis,” he continued.

“If they really believe that and they are in charge of looking at the peace and security there is no time for them to lose,” Brahimi stressed.

The Security Council heard from top United Nations officials, including Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos who said that humanitarian organizations are facing enormous and dramatically growing constraints in aiding millions of Syrians overwhelmed by the ‘human catastrophe’ that the war-torn country has become.

In response to questions from journalists yesterday afternoon, Brahimi also denied rumours that he planned to resign. “Every day I wake up, I think I should resign, but I haven’t so far,” he said.

“I am deeply troubled. As Secretary-General, it is my duty to prevent war and to pursue peace. It is also my responsibility to state that the current crisis has already gone too far,” Mr. Ban said at a news conference during his visit to Andorra.

“Nuclear threats are not a game. Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counter-actions, and fuel fear and instability.”

Nuclear threats are not a game. Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counter-actions, and fuel fear and instability.

Mr. Ban called for dialogue and negotiations, underlining that this is “the only way to resolve the crisis,” and expressed his readiness to help all the parties involved to this end.

In February, the DPRK conducted its third, long threatened nuclear test, a move that was in violation of Security Council sanctions and drew widespread condemnation, including from Mr. Ban.

The test prompted the Security Council to tighten sanctions on the country’s trade and banking, as well as travel by targeted officials. The DPRK then reportedly said it was cancelling the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War.

“Things must begin to calm down, as this situation, made worse by the lack of communication, could lead down a path that nobody should want to follow,” he said.

“There is no need for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to be on a collision course with the international community. I am convinced that nobody intends to attack DPRK because of disagreements about its political system or foreign policy. However, I am afraid that others will respond firmly to any direct military provocation.”

In a unanimously adopted resolution extending the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) until 19 March 2014, the Council called on the world body, with the support of the international community, to back the Government’s so-called National Priority Programmes as it goes through the process of taking full control of security, governance and development.

The withdrawal of the bulk of United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops from Afghanistan is set to be completed by the end of 2014, while a transition of responsibility for security in the country from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Afghan forces is already underway.

In its resolution, the Council said it “stresses the critical importance of a continued presence of UNAMA and other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes in the provinces, consistent with the transition process, in support of and in cooperation with the Afghan Government.”

Opening yesterday’s meeting, Mr. Ban said the UN must continue strong support to the Afghan Government up to and beyond the 2014 deadline for the Government’s assumption of responsibility.

“Let us work as hard as possible to ensure that this transition leads to the stable, prosperous and safe future that the country’s people deserve,” he told the 15-member body.

“We should continue providing good offices, including support for elections. We should maintain our work for reconciliation and regional cooperation. We must stand firm for human rights. And we must advance development,” he said.

He added that humanitarian action was also crucial to the UN’s future role, considering both Afghanistan’s “chronic vulnerability” and the impact of the transition as the numbers of international security personnel and others decrease dramatically.

Updating the Council on the situation in the country, the Secretary-General said that Afghanistan’s political climate is dominated by the 2014 elections. Broad participation and a credible process are essential to reaching the goal of a widely accepted leadership transition.

He also expressed his concern about the 20 per cent increase in civilian casualties among women and girls in 2012, as tallied in a UN report last month. He noted two statements from the Taliban perhaps indicating a willingness to engage and encouraged a meaningful dialogue to reduce the intolerable, continuing death toll.

Speaking to reporters, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNAMA, Jan Kubiš, affirmed that the transition to full Afghan responsibility was progressing. “Almost everything is in motion and changing,” he said.

In that atmosphere, he said he was looking very closely, in today’s mandate extension, for “any confirmation of the key tasks of the UN and UNAMA” in the country. “There are a lot of questions and uncertainties practically concerning all areas of life and work in Afghanistan.”

“I hope to see some signals and messages in the resolution of the Security Council [concerning] what could be the role of the United Nations in the post-2014 period,” he said. “We need to prepare ourselves.”

He said he recognized that UN’s mandate is not “a transition mandate,” which would only be discussed and delivered next year. However, general planning, budgeting for the next biennium and agreements between the Government and the UN system need to be put in place.

“We cannot wait until March 2014 to prepare for 2015, 2016,” he stressed.

Affirming also that upcoming elections were indeed the dominant topic around the country, he said that UNAMA continued to provide technical assistance at the request of the Government. “This is what we are doing and we intend to do it in the future,” he said.

“They expressed their deep sympathy and sincere condolences to the victims of these heinous acts and their families and to the people and Governments of Algeria and those countries whose nationals have been affected,” said a statement issued to the press last night by Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, which holds the rotating Council presidency for January.

The siege at the facility began on 16 January when militants stormed the gas plant and took the foreign and Algerian workers there hostage. The crisis has reportedly ended, but not before several hostages and militants were killed.

“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice, and urge all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Algerian authorities in this regard,” said the statement.

Council members also reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.

“The Secretary-General hopes these actions will help to arrest the latest offensive while efforts continue to fully implement Security Council Resolution 2085 (2012) aimed at the full restoration of Mali’s constitutional order and territorial integrity,” according to a statement released by his spokesperson.

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, after which the country underwent a military coup d’état, in March.

According to media reports, a French air operation began on Friday and continued over the weekend after the armed groups overran the town of Konna, which had been on the de facto dividing line between those areas under Government control and those already occupied by the rebels.

Mr. Ban stressed that the latest events underscore the urgency of implementing all aspects of resolution 2085, including support for Malian defence forces and the deployment of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali, or AFISMA, the Council authorized through that text, according to the statement.

Also urgent were the success of mediation efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the development of a consensual roadmap for a political transition and provision of support, Mr. Ban said.

According to the statement, preparations are also continuing for the deployment soon of a UN multidisciplinary team to the capital, Bamako, to carry forward support requested for both the political and security process.

Mr. Ban spoke on Saturday with the President of Côte d’Ivoire and Chair of ECOWAS, Alassane Ouattara, who briefed him on the ECOWAS summit planned for 19 January in Abuja and the plans of several of its member States to deploy military forces, the spokesperson said.

The Secretary-General was briefed on the French operation yesterday by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ban’s Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, continues his consultations in the sub-region as part of efforts to speed up implementation of resolution 2085, the spokesman added.

Mr. Djinnit met yesterday in Abuja with the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador Kadré Desiré Ouédraogo, and with Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassolé of Burkina Faso. He is expected to travel to Bamako in the coming days, Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said.

Also yesterday afternoon, the delegation of France briefed the Security Council in a closed-door session on the military action conducted by the country after which its Permanent Representative told correspondents that Council members had expressed their support and understanding of the operation in the context of resolution 2085.

The renewed clashes in the north, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region, drought and political instability have uprooted hundreds of thousands of civilians in Mali. Over 412,000 people have been forced to flee the north, and an estimated five million people have been affected by the conflict.

“We need to ensure that women have opportunities to play their full role in peace and security,” the Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Michelle Bachelet, told a debate of the Security Council on women and peace and security.

She noted that wherever there is conflict, whether in Mali, Syria, the Middle East, or the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), “women must be part of the solution.”

Yesterday’s debate, which was originally scheduled for late October but was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, marks the 12th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325, which called for women’s engagement in conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Meeting briefly in the wake of the storm, the Council issued a presidential statement on the issue, in which it called on the international community to give women’s civil society organizations a prominent role in the negotiation, planning and implementation of peace processes and post-conflict development programmes.

In his annual report on women, peace and security, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted measures that have improved coordination and accountability and highlights a growing number of inspiring examples of women, peace and security in action.

In countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste, Haiti, South Sudan, Liberia, Nepal and many others, women are leading innovative approaches to prevent conflict and violence and build peace in their communities.

Bachelet, who presented the report, highlighted what women’s groups in Mali are doing right now to contribute to non-violent solutions to the crisis in that country, which has been divided since rebels took control of the north earlier this year.

“In spite of their absence from official conflict resolution processes, women leaders in the North are using informal channels to call on the leaders of armed groups to participate in peace dialogues,” she noted.

“Just two weeks ago,” she added, “nearly 1,000 women leaders and members of civil society groups gathered in Bamako and delivered a common call for peace, expressing solidarity across ethnic and other divisions and recommended specific measures to protect women’s rights and prevent violence against women and children.”

Stressing the importance of “going the extra mile” to ensure that women can play their full role, Ms. Bachelet called on world leaders to provide determined leadership, dedicated resources and direct opportunities to enable women to contribute to the maintenance of peace and security.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, delivering remarks on behalf of Ban, noted that the role of women’s organizations across the world in preventing violence, resolving conflict and building the foundations for peace is well known.

“Our challenge is to become more systematic in supporting and scaling up these initiatives and making the necessary links to formal peace processes,” he said.

Also highlighting the case of Mali, Eliasson noted the fact that the rights of women and girls are being curtailed in the northern part of the country shows how armed conflict affects women and men differently. “This means that women have to be part of the solution,” he said.

“Engaging women and promoting gender equality as part of our work for peace and security is a daily responsibility and an unfinished mission for all of us,” he added. “It is time for us to finally recognize the role and power of women to help us build a peaceful world.”

In his remarks to the event, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, said that UN peacekeeping missions have supported important progress in some areas, notably women’s political participation at local and national levels. In other areas, including the protection of women activists, more could be achieved.

He described how, a week ago, some 5,000 women flooded the main commercial avenue in Kinshasa, DRC’s capital, to protest the fall of the provincial city of Goma to the 23 March Movement (M23) rebel group – the most massively organized non-violent protest in the country following the fall of the eastern city.

“However, women have not been given any political leverage in the regional negotiations aimed at bringing peace to the embattled eastern part of the country,” he added.

Ladsous emphasized that the key to removing the obstacles that impede women’s full participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding is the active, systematic consultation with local actors and leaders, including women’s civil society organizations. “This is the only way to develop effective, context-specific and gender-aware solutions.”

In the lead-up to the Council’s debate, women activists and women’s organizations met with senior UN leadership in over 20 countries, facilitated by UN Women, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), to discuss challenges and make their recommendations on issues relating to women and peace and security.

The five countries obtained the required two-thirds majority of those Member States present and voting in the secret ballot, held at UN Headquarters in New York, to decide on the new composition of the Council, which deals with global peace and security issues.

The 193-member Assembly elected Argentina, Australia and Rwanda in a first round of balloting, with the Republic of Korea and Luxembourg elected in a second round.

The five newly-elected members will replace Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa, whose terms end on 31 December 2012.

The five permanent Council members, which each wield the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Non-permanent members Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo will remain on the Council until the end of 2013.

Under the UN Charter, the Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members, and each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

In addition, the Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, it can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.

The Council also recommends to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and the admission of new Members to the United Nations. And, together with the General Assembly, it elects the judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member body called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to provide, at once, military and security planners to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and other partners to help frame a response to a request by Mali’s transitional authorities for such a force, and to report back within 45 days.

Upon receipt of the report, and acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Council said it was ready “to respond to the request of the Transitional authorities of Mali regarding an international military force assisting the Malian Armed Forces in recovering the occupied regions in the north of Mali.”

Chapter VII of the Charter allows the Council to use force in the face of a threat to peace or aggression, taking “such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security,” including blockades and other operations by the forces of Member States.

In August, the Council urged ECOWAS, in cooperation with the transitional authorities, the AU Commission and regional countries, to prepare detailed proposals for a stabilization force to restore the territorial integrity of the country.

Fighting between Malian Government forces and Tuareg rebels broke out in the country’s north in January. The instability and insecurity resulting from the renewed clashes, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region, drought and political instability in the wake of a military coup d’état in March, have driven 500,000 Malians from their homes, 270,000 of them to neighbouring countries.

In addition, Islamist militants currently control the country’s north and have imposed strict Sharia law, including amputation of limbs as punishment.

The Council called on Malian rebel groups to cut off all ties to terrorist organizations, notably Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and affiliated groups, and expressed its readiness to adopt targeted sanctions against those groups which do not do so.

It also urged the Transitional authorities, rebels and other legitimate representatives of the local population in the northern Mali to engage, as soon as possible, in credible negotiations to seek a sustainable political solution in conformity with the country’s unity, and demanded that all groups in the north cease all human rights violations such as attacks against civilians, sexual violence, recruitments of child soldiers and forced displacements.

Today’s Council resolution reiterated “grave concern” at the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the north of Mali, the increasing entrenchment of terrorist elements including AQIM, affiliated groups and other extremist groups, and its consequences for the countries of the Sahel and beyond.

In addition, it strongly condemned the abuses of human rights committed “by armed rebels, terrorist and other extremist groups, including violence against its civilians, notably women and children, killings, hostage-taking, pillaging, theft, destruction of cultural and religious sites and recruitment of child soldiers,” and stressed that some of these acts might amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

At least five Turkish civilians were reportedly killed, and others injured, on Wednesday, after mortar fire from Syria hit the town of Akcakale in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province, which shares a border with Syria. Turkey’s parliament yesterday authorized further military action against Syria, according to media reports.

Mr. Ban has “repeatedly made clear his concern about the spillover of the Syrian crisis into neighbouring countries, as occurred yesterday with Turkey,” said a statement issued by his spokesperson.

“The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to abandon the use of violence, exercise maximum restraint and exert all efforts to move toward a political solution,” it added.

In addition to calling for restraint, expressing their condolences and condemning the shelling “in the strongest terms,” the members of the Security Council underscored that the incident highlighted the grave impact the crisis in Syria has on the security of its neighbours and on regional peace and stability.

“The members of the Council demanded that such violations of international law stop immediately and are not repeated. The members of the Security Council called on the Syrian Government to fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours,” Ambassador Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala, which holds the Presidency of the Security Council for the month of October, said in a press statement after a meeting of the 15-member body.

More than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in Syria since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began last year. A further 2.5 million Syrians urgently need humanitarian aid, according to UN estimates.

“As the situation inside Syria deteriorates yet further – including the atrocious terrorist bombings in Aleppo this week which killed dozens of people including civilians – the risks of regional conflict and the threat to international peace and security are also increasing,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in the statement.

Furthermore, he added that the Joint Special Representative for Syria of the UN and the League of Arab States, Lakhdar Brahimi, has been in communication with officials from Turkey and Syria to encourage an easing of tensions.