Opening its regular session for 2017, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 21 organizations for special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and deferred action on the status of 13 others.
Convening amid a backlash against globalization, expanding economic inequality and marked shifts towards nationalism and isolation around the world, the sixth annual Economic and Social Council Youth Forum opened to hundreds of Government representatives and youth delegates today with an urgent focus on the role of youth in poverty eradication and promoting prosperity.
Despite repeated delays and instances of malpractice, the election of a new Parliament marked a milestone in Somalia’s post-conflict transformation, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country told the Security Council today.
The Security Council extended the arms embargo and other sanctions imposed on the Central African Republic today, also renewing the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the relevant Sanctions Committee, adding new provisions, and for the first time, distinguishing sexual violence as a separate asset-freeze listing criterion.
The Economic and Social Council today adopted two draft decisions on the theme of its 2017 session and on the dates of its upcoming coordination and management segments, as well as elected a new Vice-President.
Heavy fighting in Yemen — notably around Sana’a, Taiz and the border with Saudi Arabia — was all the more tragic because a viable peace proposal was within reach of both parties to the conflict there, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy told the Security Council today, while pressing both sides to demonstrate the political courage needed to stop the nearly two-year-long war.
Describing reports of severe suffering, starvation and indiscriminate attacks on civilians amid the ongoing fighting in Syria, humanitarian officials briefed the Security Council today, offering glimpses of hope while urging sustained action to end the six-year-long conflict in that country.
The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) until 31 July 2017 today, while encouraging the divided island nation’s leaders to “grasp the current opportunity” of recent progress in negotiations to secure a comprehensive settlement of the dispute between them.
The General Assembly concluded its high-level dialogue on sustainable development and sustaining peace today with its President underscoring the need to take the debate beyond the halls of the United Nations while reforming the Organization with the active support of its Member States.
Opening their eleventh session today, members of the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee elected that body’s 2017 Bureau and the Chairs of its country-specific configurations, in addition to discussing its goals for the coming year.
