SENDAI, JAPAN, 15 March — Building back better after earthquakes, cyclones and other destructive forces and international cooperation in reducing harm from future crises were the focus of high-level discussions today in Sendai, Japan, as the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction continued.
SENDAI, JAPAN, 14 March — “Sustainability starts in Sendai,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared at the opening of the Third World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan, asserting the largest-ever high-level meeting on the subject was “the first stop on our journey to a new future”.
Concluding its 2015 session, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations adopted without a vote Friday evening the draft report of the session, laying out the proposals, recommendations and conclusions submitted by its Working Group of the Whole on a wide range of peacekeeping issues.
Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates today expressed concerns about the costs and efficacy of implementing a flexible workplace environment at United Nations Headquarters and welcomed the development of a long-term capital maintenance programme for the Organization as they scrutinized the Secretary-General’s proposals on both topics.
Opening their ninth session, members of the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee today elected that body’s 2015 bureau and chairs of its country configurations, as well as discussed its goals for the coming year.
Speakers stressed the importance of transparency, equal opportunities for vendors, and streamlined processes, among other things, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) examined the United Nations efforts to make its procurement activities more efficient.
As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up the topic of “accountability” in its review of the Organization’s efficiency in administrative and financial functioning, delegates welcomed continuing progress and pointed to gaps needing to be addressed.
Despite gains made since the 1995 adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action for Women, a renewed commitment to eliminating inequality was vital to reaching sustainable development goals, senior Government and United Nations officials said as they opened today’s General Assembly thematic debate aimed at inspiring women’s advancement in the run-up to agreement on a post-2015 agenda.
The General Assembly today adopted a resolution encouraging relevant stakeholders to strengthen their efforts to promote peace, human rights, democracy, respect for religious and cultural diversity, and justice through education.
Applauding the start of construction last month of a new facility for the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in the United Republic of Tanzania, Stephen Cutts, Assistant Secretary-General of the Office of Central Support Services, Department of Management, told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) “this is a momentous achievement in the project, and is the result of successfully meeting all planned milestones due to date”.
