The Middle East continued to be plagued by extremism, bloodshed and displacement that spread intolerance, violence and religious radicalism far beyond the region, the Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today, urging both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to contemplate carefully the future they envisioned for their respective peoples.
With prospects for a two-State solution slipping away, a return to meaningful negotiations was more vital than ever, Secretary-General António Guterres told the Palestinian Rights Committee today, as it opened its session for 2017, a year marking 50 years of occupation.
The security situation in the capital of the Central African Republic had taken a turn for the better, but it remained a matter of concern in other parts of the country, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council today, emphasizing the need for ongoing international attention.
Any breakthrough in the institutional crisis gripping Guinea-Bissau would be short-lived if the structural causes of instability were not addressed, the senior United Nations official in the West African country told the Security Council today, urging national actors to implement the Conakry Agreement signed last year to surmount the political impasse.
The Security Council today called upon Member States to address the danger of terrorist attacks against critical infrastructure, adopting a related resolution before holding a day-long open debate on that subject.
The Disarmament Commission elected the Chair and two Vice-Chairs for its 2017 substantive session today, and took note of the provisional agenda for the third year of its three-year cycle, to be held from 3 to 21 April.
Concluding its fifty-fifth session today, the Commission for Social Development approved without a vote three draft resolutions for adoption by the Economic and Social Council that addressed issues of African development, youth and the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Security Council called today upon the newly elected President of Somalia to pay urgent attention to the immediate risk of famine, take active steps to prevent it and address the consequences of the severe drought confronting the country.
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today concluded substantive work of its 2017 regular session with the presentation of the body’s draft report, which will be finalized for adoption later this month.
With transparent constitutional referendum, credible legislative elections in December 2016 and improved security paving the way for a successful transition to sustainable peace in Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country was on track to leave after 14 years, its chief told the Security Council this afternoon.
