UNITED NATIONS

Rosemary DiCarlo, Acting Permanent Representative of the US who took over as chair of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for the month, has stated that they would endeavour for finding a solution to Syria issue at the UNSC.

DiCarlo informed journalists in regards to the Security Council’s work for July at a press conference at UN on Tuesday.

DiCarlo stated that preparations were going on for the "Geneva-II" peace conference on Syria, and that UN was in touch with the US and Russia for the conference and added, "No deadline has been set for the conference, but the meeting would be convened as soon as practical. The issue is closely being followed at the Security Council too. We will mainly cover humanitarian topics."

Upon a question of a reporter who asked, "There has been a decision by the Gulf Council Cooperation to come to the Security Council with the issue of Homs. You've also seen statements by the Secretary-General worried about the developments in Homs. In either of your capacities, or both, could you tell us what are you doing about that? Do you plan to also put Homs on the map in the Security Council?", DiCarlo replied saying, "The Council has not received any official or even informal request to host a meeting on this issue."

DiCarlo also stressed that they would track imposed embargo on Iran and North Korea during this month and added, developments from the Middle East and Egypt would be followed too.

In regards to the protection of journalists in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, DiCarlo added, "Since the Council last considered the protection of journalists in 2006, world-wide violence against journalists has worsened, and there has been a particular increase in murders and imprisonment arising from conflict situations. Our hope is that this thematic session will provide Council members - and all member states - an opportunity to hear directly from journalists about the acts of violence they face while operating in conflict areas."

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