A global arrangement on forests, bolstered by credible financing and means for monitoring and implementation, would help Governments and local communities tackle the illegal timber trade and economic activities that were eroding one of the world’s most valuable resources, ministers in the Forum on Forests said today, as they debated how to revise the normative framework guiding such decisions.
Underscoring the human suffering caused by the widespread availability of small arms and light weapons in conflict zones at an all-day open debate in the Security Council today, speakers called for the urgent management of such deadly materiel through national action, implementation of treaties and strengthened international cooperation.
As Haiti approached presidential and municipal elections, adequate international support was needed to avoid a security vacuum and a loss of gains made towards democracy and development, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today as it weighed a substantial cut to the 2015/16 budget of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in that country.
The international community must be more proactive in exploring solutions to tangibly help Libya restore stability and strengthen accountability for violations of international law, said the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as she addressed the Security Council this afternoon.
With renewed momentum for European integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and new Government components in place, national leaders should work together to end the “stagnation” of progress in time for the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the accords that ended fighting there, the High Representative for the country told the Security Council this morning.
Addressing the growing crisis of migrant trafficking — exemplified by the recent tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea — was a shared international responsibility that required a complex combination of efforts, the Security Council heard today, as speakers stressed the need for concerted action in source, transit and destination countries.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today began its consideration of the additional $80 million required for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) for the year ending 30 June 2015.
Closing its thirty-seventh session this afternoon, the Committee on Information unanimously approved a report relaying two draft resolutions to the General Assembly, with a focus on increased multilingualism and support for the communications capabilities of developing countries.
The General Assembly adopted two resolutions by consensus today, reaffirming by the first text the United Nations’ cooperation with the International Criminal Court, and by the second, defining the organizational contours of the third International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in July in Addis Ababa.
Insufficient progress in combating the illegal drug trade called for a new global approach that moved beyond a heavy focus on prohibition and addressed consumption from a holistic public health perspective that placed individual human rights and well-being at its core, speakers said today in a General Assembly high-level debate devoted to the issue.
