Meetings Coverage

Governments must promote policies aimed at providing decent jobs as protection against poverty — which a delegate described as “the source of all ills”, including poor health and stalled economic growth — the Commission for Social Development heard today as it explored linkages between empowerment and poverty eradication.

The co-leaders of the recent Security Council mission to Yemen reported today that, with the first phase of the country’s nascent political transition successfully completed, President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi had warned of “deep challenges” ahead, as his Government laboured to create “a new Yemen, built on the aspirations of the youth that occupied the squares” around the capital, Sana’a.

With the world at a critical juncture in the lead-up to the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda, poverty eradication, social integration and employment must play a pivotal role in defining that agenda, the Commission for Social Development heard today as it resumed its fifty-first session.

Despite recent political progress towards the development of a much-needed transitional road map in Guinea-Bissau — which would include the formation of an inclusive transitional government, fair and transparent elections and stability during the post-elections period — the situation in that country was still marked by fear, insecurity and impunity, said a top United Nations political official, as he briefed the Security Council this afternoon.

While the General Assembly’s recent decision to enhance the status of Palestine at the United Nations had “resonated deeply” within the Organization, international re-engagement would be meaningless without serious commitments by the parties concerned to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

As he briefed the Security Council today on the institutional changes the United Nations was putting in place to bolster its rule-of-law activities, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said that, while the effort was delivering results, broader support for improved data collection was needed so the Organization could better measure impact on the ground, especially in countries affected by conflict.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended that the Economic and Social Council grant special consultative status to 12 applicants, and postponed consideration of 23 applicants as it wrapped up the bulk of its work during the current regular session. It also removed 15 NGOs from the review list for having failed to respond to inquiries despite three reminders from the Secretariat.

Urging broad-based support as Libya and its people pressed ahead with a challenging political transition, the top United Nations official in the country warned the Security Council today that, despite promising institutional reforms, the new Libyan authorities would still need to take tough decisions on such key issues as constitution-making, transitional justice and security sector reform.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today recommended the accreditation of seven groups to the Economic and Social Council and postponed consideration of 21 applications, pending responses to questions posed by members.

The new Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission today urged members to “put our heads together” on ways to reinforce the body’s founding vision — providing strategic advice and harnessing expertise and financing to help post-conflict countries avoid sliding back into war or chaos — so that in 2013, the Commission could gain its rightful place within the United Nations peacebuilding architecture and beyond.