Rapid technological changes, urbanization, demographic shifts and climate change have impacted families in profound ways, a senior United Nations official told the Commission for Social Development today during a panel discussion marking 30 years since the General Assembly established the International Year of the Family.
Meetings Coverage
Although peace is the “raison d’être” of the United Nations, it is the one thing missing most dramatically from the world, Secretary-General António Guterres warned the General Assembly today as he laid out his critical priorities for 2024 amid a global landscape roiled by conflict, inequity and intensifying interlocking crises.
Restraint is required to create the environment Iraq needs to consolidate hard-won stability and realize sustainable progress, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, amidst United States air strikes in Iraqi territory on 2 February and the ongoing conflict in nearby Gaza.
In a meeting called by the Russian Federation to discuss an attack on a bakery in a region in Ukraine presently under Moscow’s control, many speakers in the Security Council today noted that the tragic loss of civilian lives would have never occurred had it not been for that country invading its smaller neighbour.
Investing in children is costly but not investing is even more expensive, the Commission for Social Development heard today as it continued its sixty-second session.
A spate of recent attacks on United States facilities and personnel in three Middle Eastern countries and Washington, D.C.’s retaliatory air strikes, alongside the ongoing Red Sea crisis, threaten to further exacerbate an already volatile regional situation, a senior United Nations official today warned the Security Council.
Inclusive economic growth is key to social development and poverty eradication, requiring policies and programmes created by collaboration, such as economists strategizing alongside mothers, corporate executives engaging with the unemployed and political leaders consulting youth, speakers told the Commission for Social Development at the opening of its sixty-second session.
The Peacebuilding Commission plays a vital role in connecting “the dots” between the United Nations work streams on peace and development, its new Chair said today, as he laid out the 31-member body’s priorities for 2024.
The Economic and Social Council concluded its 2024 coordination segment today, bringing to close two days of conversations in which Member States as well as stakeholders from different parts of the United Nations system exchanged ideas on reinforcing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and eradicating poverty through effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is the beating heart of all humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and decisions to withhold funds from the Agency must be revoked, the United Nations humanitarian chief told the Security Council today, underscoring that an investigation into the alleged involvement of some UNRWA employees in the 7 October attack on Israel are under way.