Economic and Social Council: Meetings Coverage

The nearly week-long debate in the Population Commission heard Member States, experts and United Nations agency heads weigh in on the spectrum of concerns facing adolescents and youth, with the hope reinforced today that efforts made to embed credible, cohesive policies into global, national and local strategies were an investment in youth certain to yield positive results.

Resuming its 2012 organizational session, the Economic and Social Council filled vacancies in 20 of its subsidiary bodies and adopted themes for some items of its upcoming substantive session. It also postponed until Friday afternoon elections for a member of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

Speaking to the biological shift experienced by young people during the transition from adolescence from adulthood, Professor of Adolescent Health Research at Melbourne University George Patton said that youth experienced a “window of vulnerability” that lasted into the late 20s.

“It’s a fool’s paradise to believe that by controlling the lives of adolescents and young people, and denying them health-promoting — and perhaps life-saving — information and services, we are preserving our old way of life, or protecting the young from the dangers of the modern world,” one of among 40 speakers told the Commission on Population and Development today.

Acknowledging the unusually large attendance at the forty-fifth session of the Commission on Population and Development, which opened today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the turnout told only part of the story; the real message was the energy of the session and the presence of so many young people.

With its upcoming annual high-level session set to tackle the ongoing jobs crisis, the Economic and Social Council today convened an expert preparatory meeting to address the growing global demand for more — and better — jobs, and to weigh policy options that might better align education and training with current employment demands.

Expressing “deep regret” that the Commission on the Status of Women had failed to adopt the agreed conclusions that traditionally mark the conclusion of its annual sessions, the head of UN-Women today urged delegations to move past that setback and press ahead with efforts to ensure that rural women — the focus of the current session - would be fully empowered to reach their potential.

A well-functioning forum for international cooperation in tax matters was needed to help developing countries mobilize adequate revenues for governance and services in a fair and pro-growth manner, officials and experts told the Economic and Social Council today as it held a special meeting on the issue.

Severe austerity measures, weak policies and a dearth of jobs were constraining efforts to reduce poverty and to trigger real recovery from economic crisis and sustainable “green” growth, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it concluded its special high-level meeting with international financial and trade institutions.

In light of new global challenges such as massive unemployment and climate change, the Economic and Social Council focused today on new strategies to overcome them in the areas of coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of financing for development.