Meetings Coverage

The Security Council met this afternoon to continue its open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestine.  Nearly 30 Member States were expected to make remarks on the situation in Gaza.

The Economic and Social Council’s Financing for Development Forum to review the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and other financing for development outcomes, as well as the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), concluded its session today.

Piecemeal measures to tackle Syria’s interlocking political, economic and humanitarian challenges cannot bring stability to the country and the region, the United Nations mediator for Syria told the Security Council today, calling for a new, comprehensive approach that addresses the full range of issues with the warring parties.

More than seven years after it created a mechanism to analyse evidence of human rights abuses in Syria, the General Assembly today considered the work of this body and heard from its Head that additional funding is needed in order to continue assisting national investigations of these crimes, before adopting several draft texts recommended by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

The Security Council today failed to adopt its first-ever resolution on outer space — one that would have affirmed the obligation of all States parties to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, including not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.

The security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is deteriorating as fighting escalates between the 23 March Movement (M23) rebel group and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), and that country trades accusations with neighbouring Rwanda over alleged support for proxies in the ongoing conflict, the UN’s top official in the region warned the Security Council today.

The Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza urged the Security Council today to scale up assistance to meet the immense needs of the civilian population in Gaza, also warning that an Israeli military operation in Rafah would compound the existing humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip.

The Economic and Social Council’s Financing for Development Forum to review the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and other financing for development outcomes, as well as the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), continued its session today, meeting for a third day.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its twenty-third session today, during which it discussed future efforts to implement the provisions of the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and emerging issues.

The Economic and Social Council’s Financing for Development Forum to review the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and other financing for development outcomes, as well as the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), entered a second day.