Meetings Coverage

In a brief meeting today, the Commission for Social Development considered a proposed programme of work for the Division for Social Policy and Development for the biennium 2014-2015, which was to be “more precise, transparent, and measurable” than in previous years.

Fragile calm had been restored in Kosovo following the 2011 clashes over crossing points and other issues, but real political progress demanded a thorough re-examination and better cohesion among all international efforts as the European Union stepped forward in a leadership role, a senior United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council today.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council to 10 applicants from a range of fields, including art education, the elderly and penal reform, and removed 20 applicants from its list of consideration, while approving name change requests from another dozen applicants.

Dialogue among all parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as stabilization programmes and continuing efforts to protect civilians, were priorities in the vast central African country as tensions and uncertainties following recent national elections were being resolved, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today.

CAIRO, 7 February — The “stuttering” implementation of the peace accords between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the consequent violent backlashes and political considerations on the side of donors had repeatedly shifted financial resources away from statehood efforts and towards humanitarian support, an official of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in Cairo today.

CAIRO, 7 February — Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory imposed a “huge price tag” on the Palestinian economy by preventing Palestinians from accessing much of their land and exploiting most of their natural resources, while isolating them from global markets and fragmenting their territory into small, poorly connected “cantons”, the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian people heard at the start of its second day.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today continued consideration of its lengthy list of groups seeking status with the Economic and Social Council, recommending 11 organizations for special consultative status, while postponing consideration of 19 others, pending receipt of additional information from a variety of applicants ranging from an emergency medical service unit to trustees of a major United States university.

Adopting its 2012 work programme today, the Economic and Social Council approved the organizational arrangements for its substantive session — to be held in New York from 2 to 27 July — setting the stage for discussions at Headquarters on a range of critical themes, from creating decent jobs to assessing the impact of the financial crisis and bolstering development cooperation.

Speakers in the Commission for Social Development stressed today the importance of tackling youth unemployment, which was one of the main drivers of mass protests around the world, affecting both developed and developing countries. While youth had previously been disproportionately affected by unemployment, the current crises and trends had exacerbated the severity of the problem, they said.