Meetings Coverage

Progress in the European integration process in the Balkans, reduction of tensions following Serbian elections and cooperation of the parties on practical issues presented a window of opportunity for settling all unresolved issues in Kosovo, which must not be allowed to fester, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council this afternoon.

United Nations and civil society experts today emphasized that indigenous peoples’ rights to food and food sovereignty depended crucially on their access to and control over the natural resources in the land and territories they occupied or used, as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues weighed options for improving and preserving native food systems, and closing legislative gaps on land tenure.

Despite increases in Member States’ unpaid assessed contributions, at the end of 2011 the United Nations cash situation had improved in most areas and the amount of money it owed to Member States had declined slightly, the United Nations top management official told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this afternoon, during a presentation on the Organization’s financial situation.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this morning put its spotlight on the native peoples and cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia, with civil society groups and Forum experts urging firm steps from the region’s Governments to improve the socio-economic conditions of the indigenous peoples, help them adapt to climate change and to reign in corporate-driven globalization.

Given the “terrible legacy” confronting the transitional authorities in Libya, their efforts in establishing a functioning State based on the rule of law and democracy deserve praise and support, but serious problems in governance, security, human rights and other areas should be faced squarely, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council this afternoon.

Speakers in the Security Council today stressed the need to adapt the international fight against terrorism to continually evolving threats, while they welcomed efforts to make the Council’s three counter-terrorism committees more effective, coordinated and transparent, following briefings by their Chairpersons.

An intense debate unfolded today in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as participants in a lively dialogue with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) pressed the Geneva-based body to reform in ways that afforded greater recognition of indigenous peoples in its decision-making processes and respect for their right to safeguard, preserve or promote traditional resources as they saw fit.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) scrutinized the budget proposals today for 10 peacekeeping operations for the fiscal year 2012/13, several delegates argued against across-the-board cuts and warned that reductions in Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire, South Sudan and Kosovo could jeopardize the ability of the “blue helmets” in those countries to implement their mandates.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today again rang with strong calls on former colonial Governments to reassess their constitutional arrangements and restore the “first nation” status of native peoples, and on the Catholic Church to openly denounce the centuries-old “Doctrine of Discovery”, which many civil society representatives said was the “shameful” root of the humiliation and marginalization indigenous people still suffered today.

Since launching a five-year peacekeeping management road map in 2010, the United Nations had improved the cost-effectiveness and affordability of its blue-helmet operations without reducing their operational performance or ability to carry out their mandates, a top United Nations peacekeeping official told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today as it took up cross-cutting issues related to peacekeeping financing.