Meetings Coverage

Unfortunately, the stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations had persisted over the past month and, with the state-building efforts of the Palestinians progressing, “bold and decisive steps” were needed to resolve the decades-old conflict, a top United Nations political official told the Security Council today.

Praising Burundi today for having held peaceful elections in 2010, made “breathtaking” strides in establishing key democratic institutions and, assumed the presidency of the East African Community while still a young member, delegates in the Peacebuilding Commission held the fifth and final review of the strategic framework for the nation, calling it a “milestone” in a process that had begun four years ago.

The Disarmament Commission had failed to capitalize on the momentum created by a host of achievements in the disarmament field of during 2010, Hamid al-Bayati (Iraq), its Chairman, said today as the body concluded its twelfth consecutive fruitless substantive session.

With the Darfur peace process moving forward on two fronts — two-year-old negotiations in Doha, Qatar, and newly-launched broad-based political talks under way in Sudan — a senior peacekeeping official told the Security Council today that all efforts should be focused on reaching agreement through the upcoming “All Darfur Stakeholders Conference”, which would be an ideal venue for comprehensively addressing outstanding issues.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the committee that monitors efforts to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists and other non-State actors — the so-called 1540 Committee — for 10 years, until 25 April 2021. Unanimously adopting resolution 1977 (2011), the Council requested the Secretary-General to establish a group of up to eight experts to assist the Committee, known formally as the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004).

Following the successful completion of the Southern Sudan self-determination referendum, it was imperative to quickly overcome remaining challenges in implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, a senior peacekeeping official told the Security Council today.

The world’s current economic growth model – characterized by extreme production and consumption, slashed forests, and polluted air and water supplies — was operating at nature’s expense and, while it was not too late to change course and improve our relationship with Mother Earth, “time is running short,” the General Assembly was told today.

Palestinians were ready, willing and would prefer to reach a peace treaty with Israel by September — the deadline set by United States President Barack Obama and endorsed by the European Union to end protracted negotiations — paving the way for Palestinian independence and United Nations membership, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine, said today in the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

Taking note of the “grave financial situation” of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the General Assembly today requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to continue to support the Agency’s institutional strengthening through the provision of financial resources from the United Nations regular budget.

Deeply concerned that an estimated 358,000 women had died in 2008 from largely preventable complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth, the Commission on Population and Development concluded its forty-fourth session today by urging all Governments to redouble efforts for the elimination of preventable maternal morbidity and mortality by ensuring universal access to reproductive health, including family planning, by 2015.