The U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday decided to send monitors to conflict-ravaged South Sudan amid allegations of horrific abuses, including soldiers allegedly gang raping young girls and burning them alive.

The 47-member council called on the U.N. rights office to "urgently undertake a mission" to South Sudan "to monitor and report on the situation of human rights and to undertake a comprehensive assessment of alleged violations and abuses of human rights, with a view to ensuring accountability."

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday urged Libya's parties to sign an agreement to form a national unity government and threatened sanctions against those who stand in the way of a deal. 

U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon has submitted a draft proposal that he said could be ready for endorsement when peace talks resume in Morocco on Thursday.

France and Spain pledged Friday to launch a new effort at the U.N. Security Council for action to stop barrel bomb attacks in Syria, which rights groups describe as a leading killer in the war.

The council adopted a resolution in February 2014 demanding an end to the bombings that the West says are carried out by the Damascus regime using helicopters to drop barrels rigged with explosives on civilian districts.

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said Wednesday he would ask Russia to use its veto to prevent the adoption of a U.N. resolution on the Srebrenica genocide which is being drafted by Britain.

"I will certainly demand (Russia use its right of veto) and explain that it is a hot issue for us (ethnic Serbs)," Dodik told Bosnian Serb RTRS television.

Iran has told the U.N. Security Council that Saudi-led air strikes have twice hit close to its embassy in Yemen and warned of "serious consequences" if more such bombings occur.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo said in a letter released Tuesday that the embassy in Sanaa suffered severe damage during air strikes on May 25 and that this followed a similar attack on April 20.

Yemen's exiled president took a hard line Monday ahead of weekend peace talks in Geneva, ruling out negotiations with Iran-backed rebels and denouncing Tehran's "dangerous" meddling in his country.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said the sole item for discussion would be the implementation of a resolution adopted by the U.N. Security Council in April demanding the rebels withdraw from the large areas of the country they have seized.

Russia and China on Friday opposed a U.S.-led request to impose sanctions on two Libyans accused of obstructing U.N. talks on forming a national unity government, diplomats said.

Britain, France, Spain and the United States had sought the measures to shore up efforts by U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon to clinch a political deal before the start of Ramadan on June 17.

The U.N. Security Council took a swipe at South Sudan on Wednesday over the expulsion of a U.N. aid official, saying the decision showed Juba's disregard for the plight of its people.

U.N. aid coordinator and deputy envoy Toby Lanzer was declared persona non grata on May 29 for warning the country was headed toward collapse after 18 months of war.

Russia backs moves to determine who is responsible for a wave of chlorine gas attacks in Syria that the West blames on the Damascus regime, Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday.

But it remains unclear if a U.N. Security Council resolution, as proposed by the United States, is the best way to provide answers, Vitaly Churkin told reporters.

World governments are not doing enough to stop their citizens joining jihadists in Syria and Iraq, the U.S. ambassador said ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting Friday to discuss the threat.

The 15-member council is meeting with interior ministers for the first time after a U.N. study showed a rise in the number of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) worldwide.