United Nations Security Council Resolution 2525 – Reports of the Secretary-General on the Sudan and South SudanLetter from the President of the Council on the voting outcome (S/2020/495) and voting details (S/2020/497)
Resolution 2525 (2020)
The Security Council,
Reaffirming all its previous resolutions and presidential statements concerning the situation in Sudan,
Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of Sudan,
Reaffirming the primary responsibility of the Government of Sudan to protect civilians across its territory and recognising improvements in security conditions in Darfur, acknowledging in this regard the Government of Sudan’s National Plan for Civilian Protection (S/2020/429) and the weapons-collection programme, while expressing concern that the security situation in some regions of Darfur remains precarious, and underscoring the need to protect peacebuilding gains in Darfur, avoid a relapse into conflict and mitigate the risks for the population posed inter alia by threats against civilians in Darfur, inter-communal violence, human rights violations and abuses, violations of international humanitarian law and continued displacement,
Underscoring that it is imperative that the withdrawal of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) should take into account the progress made in the peace process, and supporting the African Union Peace and Security Council’s call for extreme caution in the withdrawal of UNAMID,
Recognising the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UNAMID’s drawdown,
Taking note of the Special Report of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Secretary-General of the United Nations (S/2020/202),
Taking note of the of the African Union Peace and Security Council’s Communiqué of 3 March 2020 (PSC/PR/COMM.(CMXIII)) and 27 May 2020 (PS/PR/COMM.(CMXXVII)),
Determining that the situation in Darfur constitutes a threat to international peace and security,
Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter,
- Decides to extend the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) as contained in resolution 2495 (2019) until 31 December 2020, and further decides that UNAMID shall maintain its current troop and police ceiling during this period;
2. Expresses its intention to decide by 31 December 2020, taking into account the findings of the Special Report requested in paragraph 11 of this resolution, courses of action regarding the responsible drawdown and exit of UNAMID in line with paragraph 1 of this resolution;
3. Decides that UNAMID’s strategic priority shall be protection of civilians as set out in paragraph 3 (iii) of resolution 2495 (2019), to be implemented including by supporting the Government of Sudan’s capacity to protect civilians, and by preserving the requisite capacity, particularly in Jebel Marra;
4. Underscores that UNAMID shall retain its responsibility for the protection of civilians in Darfur in line with paragraph 3 of this resolution and without prejudice to the primary responsibility of the Government of Sudan, and reiterates that the modalities and timeline for the transition of responsibility from UNAMID to the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) for unarmed civilian protection activities, in line with UNITAMS strategic objectives, will be determined by the UNITAMS-UNAMID transition coordination mechanism, as appropriate and in line with paragraph 5 of this resolution;
5. Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to continue transition planning and management in accordance with the established policies, directives and best practices in order to ensure that the eventual transition from UNAMID to UNITAMS is phased, sequenced and efficient, and further reiterates its requests, in this regard, that UNAMID and UNITAMS establish a coordination mechanism to determine the modalities and timelines for the transition of responsibilities where the two missions have common strategic objectives and priorities in Darfur and in order to ensure close coordination and cooperation, information and analysis sharing, to maximise synergies, leverage resources and prevent the duplication of efforts;
6. Requests UNAMID to ensure that team sites and assets are handed over in line with general United Nations practices and financial regulations, taking all practical steps and precautions to ensure the assets are safely transferred to the control of the designated entity, and calls upon UNAMID and the Government of Sudan to finalise swiftly a revised framework agreement which ensures the principle of civilian end-use and the security and physical integrity of the handed-over UNAMID team sites and assets that will not be used by UNITAMS and its integrated United Nations Country Team partners;
7. Calls upon the Government of Sudan to swiftly conclude its ongoing investigations into recent looting of previously handed-over UNAMID team sites, and further calls upon the Government of Sudan to continue to hold accountable individuals who participated in such looting incidents;
8. Requests UNAMID to provide support, within its mandate and capacities and existing resources, to Sudan in its efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, in particular to facilitate and support unhindered humanitarian access, including to internally displaced persons and refugee camps, further requests UNAMID, member states and the Government of Sudan to take all appropriate steps to protect the safety, security and health of all UNAMID personnel, in line with resolution 2518 (2020), including by allowing medical evacuations, while maintaining the continuity of operations, and to take further steps towards the provision of training for UNAMID personnel on issues related to preventing the spread of COVID-19;
9. Welcomes the initiatives undertaken by the Secretary-General to standardize a culture of performance in United Nations peacekeeping, recalls its requests in resolution 2378 (2017) and resolution 2436 (2018) that the Secretary-General ensure that performance data related to the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations is used to improve mission operations, including decisions such as those regarding deployment, remediation, repatriation and incentives, reaffirms its support for the development of a comprehensive and integrated performance policy framework that identifies clear standards of performance for evaluating all United Nations civilian and uniformed personnel working in and supporting peacekeeping operations that facilitates effective and full implementation of mandates, and includes comprehensive and objective methodologies based on clear and well-defined benchmarks to ensure accountability for underperformance and incentives and recognition for outstanding performance, calls on the United Nations to apply this framework to UNAMID as described in resolution 2436 (2018), in particular by investigating and taking immediate action following significant performance failures to implement the protection of civilians strategy, to include the rotation, repatriation, replacement or dismissal of the under-performing UNAMID uniformed or civilian personnel, including mission leadership and mission support personnel, consistent with resolution 2436 (2018), and notes the efforts of the Secretary-General to develop a comprehensive performance assessment system and requests the Secretary-General and the troop and police contributing countries to seek to increase the number of women in UNAMID, as well as to ensure the full, effective and meaningful participation of women in all aspects of operations;
10. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Security Council with an update on the implementation of UNAMID’s mandate every 90 days as an annex to the regular reporting requested on UNITAMS;
11. Request the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to provide the Security Council with a Special Report no later than 31 October 2020, which includes an assessment of the situation on the ground, including the impact of the peace process on the security situation in Darfur, the capacity of the Government of Sudan, including the SPF, to protect civilians in line with the strategy outlined in the Government of Sudan’s letter addressed to the President of the Security Council dated 21 May 2020 (S/2020/429), and recommendations on the appropriate course of action regarding the drawdown of UNAMID, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;
12. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.
Adopted by the Security Council on 3 June 2020.
