Meetings Coverage

BUDAPEST, 13 July — As the International Media Seminar on Middle East Peace closed in Budapest, Hungary, today, top Hungarian and United Nations officials urged media creators to reach out to individuals in the region to foster a climate conducive to peace, following two final panels that explored the role of journalism, social media and the arts in that effort.

Costa Rica’s adoption of a gender-equality policy and the election of its first female President in 2010 were landmark events that would allow women more economic autonomy, political participation and social protection, all of which were essential to overcoming entrenched discriminatory barriers, the country’s delegation said today while presenting its combined fifth and sixth periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Building on more than a decade of contributions towards a comprehensive framework for protecting children affected by conflict, the Security Council today declared schools and hospitals off limits for both armed groups and military activities, calling for all parties that attacked such facilities to be held accountable and placed on the Secretary-General’s annual list of those committing grave violations against children.

BUDAPEST, 12 July — Welcoming journalists and creators of fiction, theatre and music this morning to a seminar in Budapest, Hungary, on the media’s vital role in resolving the Middle East conflict, the United Nations communications Chief called on them to further utilize their talents to help counter narratives of “fear, hostility and violence” that reified the standstill in the peace process.

The United Nations and its partners sought to ensure that the history of the twenty-first century was the first “not to be written in the blood of innocents”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as the General Assembly convened an interactive thematic debate on the role of regional and subregional arrangements in implementing the responsibility to protect.

With the changing political landscape in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond as a backdrop, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had a vital role to play in redressing entrenched ills, including harmful traditional practices, sexual violence, persistent discrimination and a lack of access to education and employment, top United Nations human rights official Ivan Simonović said today as he opened the treaty body’s forty-ninth session.

The President of the Security Council today referred the membership application of the Republic of South Sudan to its Committee on the Admission of New Members — the first step for the newly independent African country to join the United Nations. Should South Sudan’s application be approved by the 15-member Council and the 192-nation General Assembly, it will become the world body’s 193rd member.

The Security Council today decided to close the six-year-old United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) and called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to complete the withdrawal of all its uniformed and civilian personnel, except those needed for its liquidation, by 31 August 2011.

While commending the institutional and governance improvements that had helped resolve both long-brewing and unexpected political crises in West Africa over the past year, the top United Nations envoy in the subregion today urged the Security Council to remain vigilant because elections scheduled between now and 2013 held the potential to ignite simmering tensions that could lead to renewed violence and instability.

Acting on the day before the birth of the independent Republic of South Sudan, and reaffirming its strong commitment to its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity, the Security Council today authorized the deployment of a peacekeeping force in the world’s newest country.