Against the backdrop of shifting population demographics, conflicts, post-pandemic economic shocks and climate change, the developing world is on the brink of a “perfect storm” of debt, food and energy crises, experts warned today, as the Commission on Population and Development opened its fifty-fifth session.
With the final status of Abyei still unresolved, an alarming recent flare-up of violence killing civilians and peacekeepers threatens the apparent calm between Sudan and South Sudan, speakers told the Council today, as that body also looked towards a possible future renewal of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) mandate.
After three weeks of discussion, the Disarmament Commission concluded its 2022 substantive session today — the first since 2018 — with the approval by consensus of its draft report to the General Assembly as well as the reports of its subsidiary bodies.
With more than half the world’s people living in cities and the fastest population growth projected to take place in urban settings, sustainable development will hinge on how countries manage urbanization, the Economic and Social Council President told delegates today, as he opened the special meeting on the New Urban Agenda amid calls for tackling the deep inequities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As senior officials from Serbia and Kosovo asserted discordant opinions regarding where the blame for regional insecurity should lie, the United Nations top official in Pristina, along with Security Council members, urged restraint amidst recent violence and called for continued dialogue, even as some questioned whether the Organization’s continued presence in Kosovo was warranted.
The participation of young people is vital in order to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, young delegates and high-level Government officials alike told the Economic and Social Council today as it concluded its eleventh annual Youth Forum.
Amidst concerns about transparency and working methods, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved, without a vote, a draft resolution forwarding the latest report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations for adoption by the General Assembly.
From remote work to green energy to ending conflicts, young people must be at the forefront of planning for a truly transformed, post-COVID-19 future, speakers told the Economic and Social Council’s annual Youth Forum today, while warning against resorting to tokenism or including youth voices to merely “tick a box”.
As the humanitarian situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate — at an alarming scale and speed of displacement not seen since the Second World War — briefers and delegates in the Security Council today called for the Russian Federation to uphold their international-law obligations, cease attacks on civilians and end the war.
Hailing the announcement of a two-month nationwide truce between the parties to conflict in Yemen, top United Nations officials emphasized the importance of continued efforts to bring about an end to the once seemingly intractable crisis that has gripped the country for seven years.
