Conflicts, inequality, volatile financial markets, corruption, climate change challenges and health‑related threats were among the obstacles stymying progress on achieving sustainable development for all, delegates warned at the opening of the fifty‑sixth session of the Commission for Social Development, with many calling for sharpening the focus of national and global efforts to reach vulnerable groups.
Opening its regular session for 2018, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 95 organizations for special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and deferred action on the status of 37 others.
The General Assembly adopted a decision today designating 7 April as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, recalling also that Hutu and others who opposed it were killed.
Twenty-five years after the historic Oslo Accords, the United Nations had fallen into a pattern of managing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than resolving it, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today, underscoring the Organization’s responsibility to help the sides return to negotiations and quickly show results.
The Security Council met today to discuss the situation in South Sudan, with members pointing out that while progress had been made with the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement, there had already been setbacks, and the ceasefire had been broken almost immediately.
Following the worst improvised explosive device attack ever carried out, defeating terrorism in Somalia would require the use of both “carrots and sticks”, the Security Council heard today, as representatives were also updated on the humanitarian situation and political developments in the country.
Amid reports of a chemical weapons attack carried out in eastern Ghouta in Syria on 22 January, the Security Council met today to condemn the continued use of those weapons, and urged unity in order to look towards the creation of a new, depoliticized structure to replace the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism.
With the security situation in Mali taking a turn for the worse, and elections set to take place in April, the United Nations’ top peacekeeping official told the Security Council today that parties to that country’s Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation must redouble their efforts to implement its provisions and restore stability.
Reaffirming its commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and the Central Asian States, the Security Council today adopted a presidential statement, expressing its continued support to the Secretary‑General’s call to action to avert threats, ahead of holding a debate on pressing challenges ahead.
Expressing concern over the growing number of conflicts worldwide, the Security Council today underlined an urgent need for redoubled efforts for prevention and resolution.
