In progress at UNHQ

Meetings Coverage

12 March 2014

WOM/1982

‘Gender Lens’ Sharpens Focus of Economic and Social Council Reforms, Shapes Global Policy, Speakers Say in Women’s Commission

The Commission on the Status of Women played a “catalytic” role in shaping global policy on gender equality, as well as in ensuring that the Economic and Social Council incorporated a gender perspective in its work, Council President Martin Sajdik told the women’s body today during day three of its fifty-eighth session.

11 March 2014

WOM/1981

Speakers in Women’s Commission Say Legal Gaps in Protection, Prevention, Accountability for Violence against Women Must Be Addressed

Protecting women and girls from violence and discrimination was the ultimate responsibility of the State, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences told the Commission on the Status of Women today, pressing Governments to better address the legal gaps in protection, prevention and accountability.

11 March 2014

SC/11312

Somalia Can Achieve Goals by 2016 despite Mixed Progress during Decades-long Crisis, Secretary-General’s Special Representative Tells Security Council

Despite its mixed progress in decades of war, State collapse and immense human suffering, Somalia could reach its goals of elaborating an agreed Constitution, installing a nationwide electoral process and ensuring greater security by 2016, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.

11 March 2014

GA/AB/4099

Fifth Committee Delegates Seek More Clarity on Budget Implications of Building Institutional Civilian Capacity in Post-Conflict Situations

While commending the progress made in the past two years to expand the pool of civilian experts providing immediate aid and support for institution-building in post-conflict countries, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) sought greater clarity today on the budgetary implications of those efforts and on ways to align the work of United Nations field personnel with the national decision-making cycles of the countries concerned.

10 March 2014

WOM/1979

‘We Need Bold Action Going Forward’, UN-Women’s Chief Tells Commission in Prelude to Session’s Review of Development Goals’ Impact

With one year left to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by the 2015 target date, the international community must take decisive steps to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment became a reality, high-level speakers said today as the Commission on the Status of Women opened its fifty-eighth session.

10 March 2014

SC/11311

Persistent Political Divisions Undermine Libya’s Transition, Secretary-General’s Special Representative Warns in Briefing to Security Council

Political divisions continued to undermine the management of Libya’s transition period, and the nation faced “the risk of embarking on a new trajectory of unprecedented violence”, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.

7 March 2014

SC/11309

Survivor Tells How Rebel Group Stole His Youth before Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution 2143 (2014) Condemning Child Recruitment in Armed Conflict

“My childhood was robbed by the Revolutionary United Front for two years,” former child soldier Alhaji Babas Sawaneh — abducted and conscripted in Sierra Leone at the age of 10 years — told the Security Council today just before it unanimously adopted a resolution strongly condemning all violations of international law applicable to the recruitment and use of children by parties to armed conflict.

7 March 2014

GA/11487

General Assembly Re-elects Achim Steiner for Additional Two-Year Term as Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme

The General Assembly re-elected Achim Steiner today as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for a two-year period beginning on 15 June 2014.

6 March 2014

SC/11308

Warning Security Council of ‘Extremely Grave’ Situation in Central African Republic, Top Officials Urge Speedy Authorization of United Nations Operation

Despite significant and progressive gains made by African Union and French troops in the Central African Republic, the situation in the strife-torn country remained extremely grave, senior officials told the Security Council today, urging immediate action to prevent further bloodshed.

6 March 2014

GA/AB/4098

Speakers in Fifth Committee Commend Organization’s Emergency Management, Saying Storm Sandy Underlined Importance of Fully Operational System

Good progress was being made on the creation of an emergency management system to better prepare the United Nations to withstand disruptive crises and natural disasters, Secretariat officials and delegates alike told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today as they scrutinized reports on the subject.