The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 10 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council — including the group known as The Palestinian Return Centre, Ltd., on which a recorded vote was held — and deferred action on 43 others.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today approved without a vote a draft resolution on peacekeeping and a draft decision outlining its proposed work programme and timetable for the next General Assembly session.
The Security Council this morning welcomed what it called “extraordinary efforts” by States to stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters to and from conflict zones, while urging stepped-up work on the issue due to growing recruitment by extremist groups, from more than 100 countries.
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 15 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, but denied that privilege to the United States-based Freedom Now — which works to free prisoners of conscience through legal, political and public relations efforts — following a request for vote by the United States.
As key drivers of change in the post-2015 era, the world’s 1.2 billion young people must be bolstered by robust national policies and innovative solutions to the challenges they faced, speakers told the General Assembly as it held a commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations World Programme of Action for Youth today.
Strongly condemning continued fighting, human rights abuses and attacks on the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the Security Council this afternoon extended the Mission’s mandate for six months, sharpening its focus on protection of civilians, without changing force structure or numbers of troops and police.
Robust, sustained investment in health-care systems were critical to achieving post-2015 development targets, as well as making the “final push” against the West African Ebola outbreak and preventing other devastating epidemics, said high-level speakers, as the Economic and Social Council held its annual Partnerships Forum and launched the Global Network on Promoting Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization today.
Condemning the barbaric destruction and looting of the cultural heritage of Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the General Assembly today deplored the rising incidence of intentional attacks against and threats to such heritage of countries affected by armed conflict.
Syria’s descent into “deeper depths of despair” over the past four years had surpassed what even the most pessimistic observers thought possible, the top United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council today, urging the 15-member body to set aside its political differences and prevent the abandonment of Syrians to further hopelessness.
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 27 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, 1 organization for general consultative status and deferred action on 37 others.
