Meetings Coverage

Continuing attempts by trained, well-armed and deep-pocketed terrorist and militant groups to impose their will through violence in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, were threatening the country's stability and had stifled its legislative process, the senior United Nations official in Iraq told the Security Council today.

The General Assembly today affirmed its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, underscoring the invalidity of the 16 March referendum held in autonomous Crimea.

As the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone readied for its final drawdown next week, top officials hailed the country as a “storehouse of lessons” on how to transform war into durable peace, as the Security Council issued a presidential statement on the peacebuilding initiative.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined the financial implications of a proposed draft resolution on strengthening the United Nations human rights treaty body system — a text that would have a far-reaching impact on how it operates.

The Peacebuilding Commission must better coordinate its work with key United Nations bodies, intergovernmental entities and donors in order to maximize its impact in post-conflict countries, delegates said today as the General Assembly reviewed the annual reports of the nine-year-old body and its principal financing mechanism, the Peacebuilding Fund.

Noting the vulnerability of the Beirut headquarters of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia to attack in light of recent targeted explosions throughout Lebanon’s capital, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today welcomed the Secretary-General’s proposed measures to improve staff safety and security at the complex.

Efforts to eradicate the legacy of slavery must continue, speakers in the General Assembly said today, emphasizing that the long-abolished scourge was “not yet a thing of the past”.

Consideration of a more tailored mandate for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) 10 years since its launch and a lighter United Nations footprint overall were among the central themes discussed in the Security Council today.

As the General Assembly began a special commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today, United Nations officials and human rights experts alike called for robust strategies and policies to end socioeconomic disparities among racial groups as well as hate crimes and institutionalized discrimination, emphasizing that racism remained pervasive.