The Security Council today renewed until 12 March 2017 the mandate of the Panel of Experts monitoring sanctions imposed on those behind instability in Sudan’s western Darfur region, expressing regret that members of the Government as well as armed groups continued to disregard its demands, while also signalling its intention to impose measures against parties perpetuating violence.
Despite recent territorial losses inflicted upon Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the international community urgently needed “unity and action” to combat the continuing threat posed by the terrorist group, the ranking United Nations political official stressed today as he briefed the Security Council.
The Security Council decided today to maintain the current personnel ceiling of more than 12,800 in the military and police components of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Central African Republic and to increase the number of corrections officers, determining that the situation in the strife-torn nation remained a threat to international peace and security.
Economies must be put at the service of people, through effective integrated social policies, the United Nations Secretary-General told the Commission for Social Development today, stressing that, in a world where inequality was still too high and too few economies had attained sustainable growth, the body’s policy guidance would be critical to global efforts to end poverty by 2030.
There was now a common understanding that social policies inclusive of persons with disabilities were a “sound” investment in society and that their exclusion from decisions came with economic costs that countries could no longer ignore, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities told the Commission for Social Development today, outlining ways to ensure the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development built on historic gains in their recognition.
Despite progress, the development crisis continued to prevail, with the widening inequality between people and countries, delegates in the Commission for Social Development heard today, debating ways to design policies that could improve overall well-being and effectively address challenges without sacrificing the productivity that allowed their communities to advance.
While “enormous” gains had been made since the World Summit for Social Development had resulted in the Copenhagen Declaration in 1995, progress remained uneven — both within and among countries — with millions of people still excluded from access to the very rights, services and income-generating activities that underpinned a sustainable future for all, delegates said today as the Commission for Social Development opened the substantive segment of its fifty-fourth session.
The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission must take forward the outcomes of the latest reviews on peace operations, and link its work to implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, that body’s new Chair said today, at the opening of its 2016 session.
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today concluded substantive work of its 2016 regular session with the presentation of the body’s draft report, which will be finalized for adoption on 16 February.
Fuelled by the voices, concerns and demands of young people, the largest-ever Economic and Social Council Youth Forum concluded its two-day session today, hearing from speakers who delved into critical issues, such as entrepreneurship, the quality of education, access to health services, gender equality and the right to contribute to development.
