Meetings Coverage

Moving closer to operationalizing the global reporting and assessment process on the state of the world’s marine environment, which was first called for by the 2002 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, the General Assembly today adopted a consensus resolution requesting that the Secretary-General explore the establishment of appropriate means to address the communications requirements needed for the launch of such a process.

The Secretary-General of the upcoming Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries called on Member States to intensify their efforts to forge a programme of action that would have concrete results in improving the lives of people in the poorest States, as he opened the second Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting for the Conference this morning.

Despite an eleven-year stalemate in the Disarmament Commission over ways to achieve nuclear disarmament and wide scepticism that confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms would also remain elusive, hope remained for achieving consensus on each item of that body’s painstakingly agreed agenda, said Sergio Duarte, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs as he opened the Commission’s 2011 substantive session.

The United Nations expert body monitoring worldwide implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights concluded its 101st session at Headquarters in New York today, having taken up the compliance reports of Mongolia, Serbia, Slovakia and Togo.

Noting the similarities between Latin America’s politically repressive and violent past and the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, representatives of non-governmental organizations attending a United Nations Meeting in the Uruguayan capital today called on Latin American and Caribbean civil society to work together to help resolve the conflict in the Holy Land and bring justice to the Palestinian people.

With the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries a little more than a month away, the General Assembly convened today an interactive civil society hearing to explore ways grass-roots organizations could revive the global drumbeat on behalf of the world’s poorest countries and put pressure on Governments to honour their promises to deliver sustainable development for all.

The 18-member Human Rights Committee was briefed today by Yuji Iwasawa, expert from Japan, on the results of the Inter-Committee Meeting Working Group on Follow-up, held in Geneva from 12 to 14 January 2011.

The United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace closed today in Montevideo, Uruguay with an urgent call to the parties to resume serious negotiations to resolve permanent status issues within an agreed timeframe and to Israel to fully and immediately cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

Demanding an immediate end to the surge in violence against civilians in Côte d’Ivoire, the Security Council this evening imposed targeted sanctions against recalcitrant former President Laurent Gbagbo and his close associates, while reaffirming the mandate of the United Nations mission there to protect civilians, including to prevent the use of heavy weaponry against them.

The Human Rights Committee today adopted the progress report of its Special Rapporteur for Follow-Up on Concluding Observations, which provides a country-by-country update on correspondence with States parties on implementation of the expert body’s recommendations on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.