General Assembly

PARIS, 31 May — The need to change the Israeli mindset towards Palestinians, dismantle Israeli settlements, apply rights-based diplomacy to end the conflict, and better coordinate civil society and United Nations efforts on the ground took centre stage as the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine concluded this afternoon in Paris.

PARIS, 31 May — The role of information technology in Palestinian social cohesion and state-building, strategies to bolster education and the need to hold Israel to account for human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were examined this morning as the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine continued in Paris.

QUITO, ECUADOR, 30 May — In a message to the Pacific Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged participants to promote genuine communication at all levels, formal and informal, in which interlocutors are genuinely listened to and heard, on a case-by-case-basis.

PARIS, 30 May — The Israeli occupation’s harsh socio-economic impact on Palestinian youth and women and the subsequent challenges and home-grown and global efforts to improve their lot were examined this afternoon as the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine held its first plenary session in Paris.

PARIS, 30 May — Stressing the important role of Palestinian women and youth in achieving a durable peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a greater say for both groups in decision-making, as he kicked off the United Nations International Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process this morning in Paris.

Taking up a number of issues dealing with the financing of peacekeeping operations, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today also heard a request on behalf of United Nations field-based organizations to reconsider the four-week rest and recuperation cycle agreed in 2011 for staff at duty stations where “danger pay” applied.

Welcoming efforts made by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to provide a greater parliamentary contribution and enhanced support to the United Nations, the General Assembly today encouraged closer cooperation between the two organizations, particularly to help strengthen parliamentary institutions in countries emerging from conflict or undergoing a transition to democracy.

The Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the Special Committee of 24, will hold its regional Pacific seminar on decolonization in Quito, Ecuador, from 30 May to 1 June.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine on 30 and 31 May at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, in Paris. The theme of the Meeting is “The role of youth and women in the peaceful resolution of the question of Palestine”.

While lauding the improved financial situation of the United Nations at year-end 2011 and further progress since then, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this afternoon expressed concern over the continued cash shortages in peacekeeping operations and the subsequent lag in payments to countries providing troops and police to such operations.