Economic and Social Council

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening of the seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York today:

The Commission for Social Development concluded its sixty-fourth session today, approving several texts without a vote, despite differences among delegates, including about the definition of gender and the absence of certain terms relating to development.

Today, as the Commission for Social Development discussed priorities for transformative social development — as well as local innovations to realize them — much of the dialogue centred on the need to address informal labour.

The Commission for Social Development continued its sixty-fourth session today with a panel discussion on how resilient care and support systems can help eradicate poverty and safeguard dignity.

The Commission for Social Development continued its annual session today with a ministerial forum examining how national policies can translate commitments made in both Copenhagen and Doha into reality.

As global inequalities deepen, speakers opening the Commission for Social Development’s annual session said social development and social justice are central — far from secondary — concerns and called for coordinated action to translate commitments into tangible change.

“Raw power” is testing the resilience of multilateralism, the UN’s Deputy Chief warned the Economic and Social Council today, urging Member States to “double down and deliver” concrete action to unlock financing for development, ease debt burdens and accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The UN, its aid partners and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo today launched the $1.4 billion Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan to help the country, which is suffering from one of the world’s most protracted and most neglected crises driven by conflict, displacement, climate shocks and epidemics.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks, as delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Amina J Mohammed, at the 2026 Economic and Social Council coordination segment, in New York today:

Amid mounting global tumult, meeting sustainable development targets will only be possible if Governments, civil society and the private sector share both tools and resources in defence of the world’s most vulnerable, officials told the Economic and Social Council’s annual Partnership Forum today.