Meetings Coverage

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations continued its resumed session today, recommending 75 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and deferring action on 43 others.

The Security Council decided today against holding a meeting requested by the Russian Federation to discuss the situation in Ukraine, with six members voting against and five in favour, with four abstentions.

The Peacebuilding Commission looks forward to a review of its work in 2020 by the General Assembly and the Security Council as an opportunity to take stock of progress made and to explore ways to strengthen the United Nations efforts in forging sustainable peace in places where conflict once reigned, the General Assembly heard today as it took up the Secretary-General’s annual reports on the Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund.

The Security Council must ensure it remains vigilant against terrorist threats by updating the sanctions list of individuals and entities engaging in such activities, members said today during a joint briefing by the chairs of three of the Council’s subsidiary counter-terrorism bodies.

Escalating violence in north-western Syria threatens to trigger a humanitarian catastrophe that would affect more than 3 million people in the country’s Idlib Governorate, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, warning that a full military incursion would overwhelm all ability to respond.

Resuming its 2019 session today, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended 75 groups for special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, while deferring action on the status of 28 others.

Amid the spate of terrorist attacks and the uptick in intercommunal violence in Africa’s Sahel region, top security and peacebuilding officials called upon the Security Council today to support efforts to make the G5 Sahel Joint Force fully operational by ensuring it receives sustainable and predicable funding and resources.

Drawing attention to deepening liquidity problems and continued delays in reimbursing countries that provide peacekeeping troops and police, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged all Member States in arrears, especially those with ample capacity to pay, to promptly fulfil their financial obligations to ensure that the United Nations continues to deliver its mandate.

Concluding the Economic and Social Council’s two-day multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation, speakers today explored how cutting-edge research can help achieve crucial development targets, including building inclusive societies, combating climate change, engaging young people and protecting indigenous knowledge.

With Yemen “at the crossroads between war and peace”, both sides of the conflict in that country must set aside their differences and move towards a lasting political settlement, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today.