Meetings Coverage

Commending the Government of Togo for having abolished the death penalty and adopted a press code, experts of the Human Rights Committee expressed concern today at the number of draft laws awaiting passage in the National Assembly, especially a draft Criminal Code, and urged their adoption as soon as possible to prevent the perception that a lack of political will was interfering with much needed reform.

The General Assembly this afternoon, reopening consideration of its agenda item relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing and disabled persons and the family, decided to hold a two-day high-level meeting on youth at Headquarters in New York on 25 and 26 July based on the overarching theme of dialogue and mutual understanding.

Noting that quality education and women’s full access to and participation in science and technology were imperative for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Commission on the Status of Women today urged Governments and relevant United Nations agencies to take appropriate actions to bolster women’s access to education and to specifically strengthen capacities to ensure that science education policies and curricula were relevant to their needs.

Togo was on an irreversible path to sustainable human development and democracy, which would enhance the protection of human rights and consolidate the rule of law in the wake of the period of national unrest that had followed the death of its President in 2005, the country’s Minister for Human Rights, Consolidation of Democracy and the Rule of Law told the Human Rights Committee today as it began its 101st session.

The Fifth Committee today took up proposed budgets for two United Nation’s special political missions — namely its Office in Burundi and its representative to the International Advisory and Monitoring Board — in the amounts of $23.1 million and $24,600 net, respectively.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged the international community today to hammer out a concrete plan during the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries to improve the plight of the world’s most vulnerable people and meet the 2015 deadline for realizing the Millennium Development Goals.

Weak institutions in fragile and conflict-affected States constrained efforts to reduce poverty and deliver basic services, and efforts to build peaceful, prosperous nations required aligning priorities — both between domestic and global agendas, and among the world’s influential multilateral bodies, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it concluded its annual high-level meeting with marquee international finance and trade institutions.

Stressing the need for a comprehensive strategy to encourage the establishment of peace and stability in Somalia through the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders, the Security Council called today for an increased United Nations presence and greater coherence of the Organization’s activities in the country.

In the aftermath of the global economic slump, a new era in development was dawning and a new international development architecture would make the difference in reversing setbacks and injecting needed momentum to the world economy’s fragile and uneven recovery, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it convened its annual special high-level meeting with the international financial institutions.

Wrapping up its seven-day session with a final meeting that stretched into the early evening, the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization adopted, as orally revised, its 2011 report, containing recommendations directed to the General Assembly.