The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) until 15 November today, deciding also to reduce its authorized troop ceiling to 3,550 and increase its authorized police ceiling to 640 personnel, including 148 individual police officers.
Closing the digital divide between the “haves” and the “have nots” — notably the billions of people who lack Internet access — will require coherent policies and frameworks that keep pace with a fast-changing landscape, speakers said as the Economic and Social Council’s fourth multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals opened today
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), acting without a vote today, approved a resolution inviting the 34-member Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations to continue to review proposals aimed at enhancing the United Nations capacity in that critical arena.
Speakers questioned a request from the Secretary-General for a $56.1 million increase in the support account for peacekeeping operations for 2019/20 as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) entered the second week of its consideration of the United Nations peacekeeping budget.
The Forum on Forests closed its fourteenth session today, approving a draft decision that its fifteenth session will be held at Headquarters from 4 to 8 May 2020, as well as a document containing that session’s provisional agenda — all to be sent to the Economic and Social Council for adoption.
Closing its annual session today, the Committee on Information approved two draft resolutions, the second of which also stresses that Member States should refrain from using information and communications technology in contravention of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations.
Convening on the penultimate day of the United Nations Forum on Forests’ fourteenth session, delegates considered efforts to streamline sustainable forest management and respect for biodiversity across the work of Governments, regional groups and industries, with speakers diverging on the importance of ensuring a fully synchronized global approach to such endeavours.
The General Assembly decided today to convene a high-level conference in Lisbon from 2 to 6 June 2020 that will focus on the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.
A fully operational secretariat is essential for the Forum on Forests to fulfil its important mandate as the only global voice on policy, conservation and sustainable management of the world’s woodlands, delegates stressed today as they voiced concerns over proposals for its restructuring under broader reforms taking place in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
With clashes continuing across Libya amid persisting impunity for war crimes, urgent action is needed to end the hostilities and ensure a return to negotiations on restoring peace and justice, the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor told the Security Council today.
