Meetings Coverage

The Special Committee on Decolonization met today to approve the guidelines and rules of procedure for its 2023 Pacific Regional Seminar, which will be held in Bali, Indonesia, from 24 to 26 May.

Following lengthy negotiations that continued late into the night, the Commission on the Status of Women concluded its sixty-seventh session, approving a set of agreed conclusions focused on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the context of innovation, technological change, and education in the digital age.

Agreements facilitating the export of food and fertilizer from two of the world’s top exporters of these commodities must continue, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as members considered the international ramifications of the year-long war in Ukraine on the eve of the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s expiry.

The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations today approved without a vote a substantive report on its 2023 session as orally amended, concluding its work, which was held at United Nations Headquarters from 21 February to 15 March.

All must work together to address challenges and priorities in order to strengthen the Organization’s engagement on security sector reform, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today as he spotlighted efforts to date.

Speakers underscored the importance of citizen-generated and gender-disaggregated data to tackle inequality, while others offered suggestions on closing gender gaps in care work, technology and geospatial services and nutrition, as the Commission on the Status of Women today held an interactive dialogue, “Getting back on track: Achieving gender equality in a context of overlapping emergencies”.

The Security Council today adopted a presidential statement welcoming gradual progress on a constitutional framework for elections in Libya, while reaffirming its commitment to an inclusive, Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process and to the country’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity.

The Security Council today adopted two resolutions concerning Afghanistan, both unanimously, one of which extended the mandate of the United Nations special political mission for one year, while the other requested an independent assessment of — and recommendations for — efforts to address that country’s challenges.

The Security Council today decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan for one year, as two delegates abstained over the incorporation of certain language while raising issues regarding the penholder’s approach.

Effective social safety nets and inclusive digital connectivity are both required and lacking in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, speakers stressed as the Economic and Social Council’s Development Cooperation Forum concluded its annual session today, as panel discussions and interactive dialogues provided delegates with an opportunity to consider how best to foster these necessities within the broader framework of development cooperation.