Economic and Social Council: Meetings Coverage

The Economic and Social Council continued its Youth Forum today.

The Economic and Social Council today adopted two draft decisions, “Theme of the humanitarian affairs segment of the 2025 session of the Economic and Social Council” (document (E/2025/L.4) and “Economic and Social Council meeting on the transition from relief to development” (document E/2025/L.5). Neither decision carries any programme budget implications.

Youth are leading the charge in solving development challenges — driving innovation, demanding accountability and building more inclusive and sustainable futures — even as they face rising conflicts, soaring unemployment, escalating climate crisis and a widening digital divide, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it opened its Youth Forum.

The Commission on Population and Development failed to adopt an outcome document today as it concluded its fifty-eighth session, with delegates sharply divided about support for sexual and reproductive rights, and some questioning commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Declining fertility rates, persistently high child mortality rates, international migration, and a surge in urbanization over the past several decades have significantly shaped global population trends — and will continue to do so, the Commission on Population and Development heard today.

Overstretched, underfunded health systems that cannot meet the needs of the most vulnerable are undermining gains made towards sustainable development, the Commission on Population and Development heard today as it entered the third day of its current session.

In a world in which every individual has access to high-quality, affordable health services, including sexual and reproductive care, young people can shape their own futures and older persons can age with dignity, speakers at the Commission on Population and Development stressed today as it continued its fifty-eighth session.

The Economic and Social Council convened today to conduct elections, nominations, confirmations, and appointments to fill vacancies in 15 of its subsidiary bodies.

Speakers stressed the need for stronger global action to harness the power of taxation as a catalyst for sustainable development at today’s Economic and Social Council special meeting on international cooperation in tax matters.

The Commission on the Status of Women today adopted a political declaration on the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, recognizing that 2025 is a momentous chance to bring Member States together to intensify efforts to achieve the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.