Meetings Coverage

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this morning that today he was saddened that his final briefing to the Security Council on the question of Palestine brought no sense of optimism for the future.

Adopting two texts without a vote this morning, the General Assembly committed to implementing the Secretary-General’s newly presented approach to cholera in Haiti, with speakers welcoming the “long-anticipated” move and its focus on the provision of material assistance to the victims of the nearly six-year-long outbreak.

The Security Council today renewed the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) until 16 December, determining that the situation in that country constituted a threat to international peace and security.

Ahead of an open debate on keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists and other non-State groups, the Security Council called today for intensified efforts to ensure the development of a secure international framework for that purpose in the face rapid technological advances and increasingly ambitious malefactors.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined the 2016-2017 programme budget for special political missions, with many expressing high hopes for the new mission in Colombia charged with implementing the November peace accord, and others requesting more clarity on support provided by the Office of Special Adviser for Conflict Prevention, including in Burundi.

Adopting a draft resolution on global health and foreign policy that focused on the role of health employment in driving economic growth and helping Member States move toward sustainable development, the General Assembly also held a debate on the culture of peace and elected members to the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission.

The 13-year-old United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) had proven a true “success story” in the history of United Nations peacekeeping operations, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) said today, as they considered a final budget request to withdraw Mission personnel and formally end its presence in the country by June 2017.

Honouring the eighth United Nations Secretary-General as he prepared to step down on 31 December after a decade at the head of the world body, the Security Council in a special tribute meeting praised Ban Ki-Moon this morning for his dedicated work on behalf of serving “We the people” above any other consideration.

Concluding its work for the main part of the General Assembly’s seventy-first session today, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) voted against a proposed amendment to a text by recorded vote, unanimously approving that draft as a whole, for a total of six draft resolutions on topics ranging from debt sustainability and development to food security and beyond.

The current battle in Syria must be followed by an immediate end to violence by all sides, unfettered humanitarian access and genuine engagement without preconditions on finding a political solution to stop the conflict, the Security Council heard today in a meeting called by France and the United Kingdom.