Meetings Coverage

Hailing the adoption in 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a “landmark” achievement borne of unprecedented cooperation among indigenous civil society groups and Governments, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this morning urged the entire international community to bolster support for native peoples and ensure that their rights, languages and cultural heritage was protected.

The international community must “take a collective stand” to create a new global growth model based on stable economies, social equality, decent job opportunities and greater financial regulation to tackle the ongoing global economic crisis, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and senior economic officials said today at Headquarters.

Security Council members today expressed their confidence in the International Criminal Court’s actions in bringing to justice perpetrators of serious crimes in Libya last year, after its Chief Prosecutor notified them that Libyan authorities had requested that proceedings against a son of former leader Muammar al-Qadhafi should be held in the country itself rather than transferred to the Court.

Meeting to consider a range of matters related to its working methods, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today heard its members present the results of several reports that aimed to assist the body in better fulfilling its mandate, including through enhancing implementation of its recommendations and improving data collection on challenges, best practices and emerging issues. .

The lack of confidence-building measures on the ground, as well as the absence of a time frame in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, were among the challenges making the possibility of a two-State solution “slimmer every day”,a key member of the Palestinian delegation to those negotiations told the Palestinian Rights Committee this afternoon.

The United Nations General Assembly today narrowly avoided an “intense, politically complex” procedural floor battle after the Swiss Ambassador withdrew a contentious draft resolution, sponsored by “small” countries, containing a set of recommendations for making the Security Council more transparent and accountable.

Senior United Nations officials and Government leaders today urgently called for strong global action to tackle transnational organized crime and drug trafficking in Central America, which they said had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the region already and now was spreading to Europe and Africa.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was on track for a “breakthrough year” if the momentum built up by a number of recent positive developments could be sustained throughout 2012, the High Representative for that country told the Security Council this afternoon.

Somalia’s transitional leaders were making significant steps in completing the tasks required to end the political transition by August 2012, but faced with tight deadlines, a lack of resources, so-called political “spoilers” and the need to administer areas recovered from insurgents, they needed greater international support, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative said this morning.

The need for urgent action by Governments to ensure the protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples was highlighted by speakers today, as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues put its spotlight on the implementation of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.