Meetings Coverage

The United Nations top policy official on Afghanistan today called on the Afghan Government to bolster steps to ensure next April’s presidential and provincial council elections were transparent and inclusive, while deploring the spike in violence against civilians in recent months.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution on the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)* by which the General Assembly would reiterate that the way to end that “special and particular colonial situation” was the peaceful and negotiated settlement of the sovereignty dispute between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom.

The current of wealth from the world’s abundant natural resources was too often diverted away from populations in need, instead feeding conflicts and corruption, and leading to human rights abuses and environmental damage, warned a number of high-level speakers as they briefed the Security Council today.

BEIJING, 19 June — As the International Conference entered its final session this afternoon, previous speakers had laid the ground on the urgent need to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations — with the international community’s help — or face the increasingly untenable and far-reaching consequences of inaction.

BEIJING, 19 June — The United Nations Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace, in a panel discussion this morning, considered the role of the United Nations in breaking the status quo while seizing the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls.

The Libyan people would, for the foreseeable future, continue to endure the heavy legacy bequeathed to them over decades of brutal rule, the Security Council was told today as it heard from the top United Nations official in that country.

BEIJING, 18 June ‑ The United Nations Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace this afternoon heard appeals to leave perpetual conflict behind, as experts grappled with ways to revitalize the two-State solution and re-engage the international community in that effort, amid regional turmoil and, by some accounts, societal and political indifference within Israel.

BEIJING, 18 June ‑ With regional tensions rising over relentless fighting in Syria, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that “we must not lose sight of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, the resolution of which was no less urgent, as he called for a clear political horizon to break the impasse and maximize the present momentum.

The Special Committee on Decolonization approved four draft resolutions today, including one by which the General Assembly would stress the importance of implementing the plans of action for the Second and Third International Decades for the Eradication of Colonialism, in particular by expediting the application of the work programme for the decolonization of each Non-Self-Governing Territory, on a case-by-case basis.

Meeting to consider the question of Puerto Rico, the Special Committee on Decolonization called again upon the United States today to expedite a process that would allow Puerto Ricans to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.