Meetings Coverage

Education was a primary tool for building a culture of peace, and the United Nations had rightly placed it at the forefront to that end, speakers said today as the General Assembly held a high-level forum on that topic.

Iran had remained silent to inquiries about its ballistic missile launches and an intercepted arms shipment, the Chair of the Security Council Committee charged with monitoring sanctions on that country said today.

Hailing Kazakhstan’s steps to outlaw nuclear weapons testing and advance global nuclear disarmament, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić (Serbia) today urged all Member States that had not yet done so to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

The General Assembly invited Member States this morning to support the proposed establishment of the Eurasian Connectivity Alliance with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as a way to improve the development of regional telecommunications transit routes in the Trans-Eurasian region.

Security Council members today hailed the progress made in implementing the historic April agreement between Serbia and Kosovo as the senior United Nations official delivered his latest briefing amid calls for leaders on both sides to stay the course.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon until 31 August 2014, with no major operational changes.

The General Assembly today decided to establish, at its sixty-eighth session, an open-ended ad hoc working group tasked with identifying ways to further enhance the role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency of the 193-nation body.

Haiti is at a critical turning point, where it needs to hold credible elections this year as it prepares for a gradual drawdown of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in that country, the world body’s senior official there told the Security Council today.

Gravely concerned at the continued challenges to implementation of the 27 September 2012 Cooperation Agreements between Sudan and South Sudan, the Security Council today called for urgent steps by the parties, including that they make use of the joint mechanisms established to facilitate implementation and cooperate with the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority for Development.

In a consensus action today, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 6 April the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.