The General Assembly and Economic and Social Council must find synergies in their response to common issues — human rights, peace and security, and development — and weed out overlap, the organs’ presidents emphasized today in the first-ever joint discussion on alignment of work.
The Security Council today decided to extend its sanctions regime on the Central African Republic — including an arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze — until 31 January 2020, while also extending the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the Central African Republic Sanctions Committee until 29 February 2020.
Harsh winter conditions and ongoing hostilities in some parts of Syria have resulted in the forced displacement of tens of thousands more civilians across the war-ravaged country, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator warned during his briefing to the Security Council today.
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today concluded substantive work of its 2019 regular session with the presentation of the subsidiary body’s draft report, which will be finalized for adoption in February.
The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) until 31 July 2019 today, unanimously adopting resolution 2453 (2019).
On the seventh day of its 2019 regular session, the Committee on Non‑Governmental Organizations today took note of 114 new and deferred quadrennial reports from various organizations, while postponing action on several others after delegates requested additional information from the respective applicants.
On the sixth day of its 2019 regular session, the Committee on Non‑Governmental Organizations today postponed action on requests from 3 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and took note of 287 quadrennial reports from various non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Convening its first 2019 meeting, the Peacebuilding Commission today elected Guillermo Fernández de Soto Valderrama (Colombia) as Chair of its thirteenth session, while also adopting a work plan aimed at expanding the Commission’s work and building synergies both within and beyond the United Nations system.
Following widespread protests and political upheaval in Venezuela — a country plagued by food shortages, deteriorating basic services and an inflation rate of more than 1 million per cent — all actors must exercise maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation, said a senior United Nations official during an emergency meeting of the Security Council today.
Climate change poses risks to international peace and security through massive displacement of people and increased competition for scarce natural resources, speakers told the Security Council today while expressing divergent views on what the 15-member organ can do about it.
