Economic and Social Council

Expressing concern about the $24 billion shortfall in the amount of financing needed to implement the Programme of Action from the International Conference on Population and Development, the new head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called on Member States today to bolster funding for integrated sexual and reproductive health services.

The findings reported in "Fertility, reproductive health and development", a report issued by the United Nations Secretary-General will be discussed by the Commission on Population and Development at its forty-fourth session, held at United Nations headquarters from 11 to 15 April.

Noting that quality education and women’s full access to and participation in science and technology were imperative for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Commission on the Status of Women today urged Governments and relevant United Nations agencies to take appropriate actions to bolster women’s access to education and to specifically strengthen capacities to ensure that science education policies and curricula were relevant to their needs.

Weak institutions in fragile and conflict-affected States constrained efforts to reduce poverty and deliver basic services, and efforts to build peaceful, prosperous nations required aligning priorities — both between domestic and global agendas, and among the world’s influential multilateral bodies, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it concluded its annual high-level meeting with marquee international finance and trade institutions.

In the aftermath of the global economic slump, a new era in development was dawning and a new international development architecture would make the difference in reversing setbacks and injecting needed momentum to the world economy’s fragile and uneven recovery, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it convened its annual special high-level meeting with the international financial institutions.

The Commission on the Status of Women today adopted two resolutions on mainstreaming gender equality in climate change policies and strategies, and women and the girl child and HIV/AIDS, and approved one text, by roll-call vote, on Palestinian women, to be sent to the Economic and Social Council for adoption. The 45-member Commission had been scheduled to conclude its fifty-fifth session today, but due to ongoing negotiations on its agreed conclusions, it was forced to suspend its work.

Closing its deliberations today, the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting for the nineteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development adopted its report, which included a draft negotiating document for the Commission’s consideration in May.

As delegates geared up for next year’s United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Secretary-General of that event called on them today to use that gathering to take collective action to save societies from mounting social tensions, ecological damage and the global economic crisis.

Forced into early marriage and trafficked into sometimes life-threatening situations, girls around the world suffered some of the most severe forms of gender discrimination and abuse, civil society representatives told the Commission on the Status of Women today, urging that more be done by States and communities to ensure stronger penalties for perpetrators and legal recourse for victims.

“Too many people use money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like,” the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting for the nineteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development heard today as it considered the elaboration of a 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns.