Meetings Coverage

A senior Secretariat official asked the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today to meet the start-up requirements of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) by approving $454.43 million in financing for the 25 April to 31 December 2013 period.

For the third time in its history, and the second time in its current session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended special consultative status to a gay civil society group, as it continued to put under scrutiny the dozens of applications before it — approving special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for four organizations and deferring action on 48 applications.

The World Bank promised to “listen with heart and soul” to the voices of indigenous people, its newly appointed Senior Adviser for Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities told the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today, as meeting participants scrutinized the expressed commitments and project portfolios launched and supervised by global and regional financial institutions.

Pointing to the further deterioration of Syria’s security situation, a senior Secretariat official asked the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today for an extra $8 million to maintain the United Nations peacekeeping operation stationed in the Golan Heights.

In a historic vote today, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended special consultative status to a Lesbian medical organization, as it continued to put under scrutiny the dozens of applications before it — approving special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for 16 organizations and deferring action on 38 applications.

GENEVA, 23 May (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) — Auditing and regulatory experts today said that accountability is paramount for all actors in disaster risk reduction, from victims and taxpayers to national Governments, international organizations and civil society. The experts were discussing disaster risk management standards and accountability for business and citizens as part of the Global Platform on Disaster Reduction, which opened on 19 May and ended today.

GENEVA, 23 May (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) — Building disaster resilience into urban planning will be increasingly crucial as cities continue to burgeon worldwide, said panellists this morning. There was currently more investment in urban areas than at any other time in history, and in some parts of the world cities were becoming more expensive and displacing persons to the peripheries. The result: congestion, inequality, unrest and urbanization without urban planning.

GENEVA, 23 May (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) — The private sector, a key driver of innovation and investment, should be at the heart of disaster risk reduction efforts, said speakers at a meeting organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

Chronic marginalization, insecurity, non-recognition of land rights, poor infrastructure and limited commercialization had all combined to make traditional pastoralists some of the poorest, most vulnerable and disenfranchised people in the world, speakers stated today as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues considered the plight of those populations in Africa.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today continued vetting the dozens of applications before it, recommending special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for 28 organizations, general consultative status for 1, and deferring action on 29 applications.