Meetings Coverage

A well-functioning forum for international cooperation in tax matters was needed to help developing countries mobilize adequate revenues for governance and services in a fair and pro-growth manner, officials and experts told the Economic and Social Council today as it held a special meeting on the issue.

Yemen was ready to start a transparent, positive dialogue about improving its human rights record, after mass uprisings against unemployment, corruption and deteriorating economic prospects had pushed President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign after 33 years of power, the Human Rights Committee was told today, as it considered the country’s fifth periodic report.

Taking note of the new Constitution of the Dominican Republic and impressed by “the level of humility the delegation had shown in acknowledging the problems” as it worked towards stronger human rights protections, the Human Rights Committee today expressed concern about abuses in law enforcement and racial discrimination towards migrants in that country.

As the United Nations top management official this afternoon presented the Secretary-General’s progress report on creating an accountability system within the Secretariat to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), some delegates criticized it for not giving enough evidence to support its claims of success.

Severe austerity measures, weak policies and a dearth of jobs were constraining efforts to reduce poverty and to trigger real recovery from economic crisis and sustainable “green” growth, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it concluded its special high-level meeting with international financial and trade institutions.

In overcoming the challenges posed by the dramatic changes in the Middle East and North Africa, strict commitment to political reform and inclusiveness were needed, as well as an international change in attitude towards the Arab world, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council in a meeting addressed by Government ministers and other high-level officials this morning.

The Security Council this morning extended the authorization for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for one year, with a modified mandate subject to review within six months, while also adjusting the sanctions regime imposed on the country at the start of last year’s civil war.

There was a real will to strengthen democratic institutions in the Dominican Republic so that they fully guaranteed the rule of law and genuinely defended fundamental human rights and freedoms, Héctor Virgilio Alcántara Mejía, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, told the Human Rights Committee today, as it opened its 104th session.

In light of new global challenges such as massive unemployment and climate change, the Economic and Social Council focused today on new strategies to overcome them in the areas of coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of financing for development.

The Commission on the Status of Women today sent a strong message to ensure that gender equality was woven tightly into a blanket of initiatives spanning armed conflict to natural disaster assistance, as it approved seven draft texts, one by recorded vote, to be sent to the Economic and Social Council for adoption.