Meetings Coverage

A shift in global educational priorities — namely, going beyond access to improve the quality of schooling and promote creative policies — should be a key focus during the “signature” meeting of the Economic and Social Council later this year, regional representatives and experts said today.

Despite the promise of reform contained in a spate of recently announced legislative and legal changes, in fact the crackdown against anti-Government protesters by Syrian authorities had dramatically intensified, a top United Nations political official told the Security Council today.

Calling on Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) to fully adhere to the military agreements reached with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the Security Council today extended that Mission’s mandate until 30 April 2012.

Considering the results of the referendum of Southern Sudan announced on 7 February and the request by the Government of Southern Sudan for a continued United Nations presence there, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) until 9 July 2011. Unanimously adopting resolution 1978 (2011), the Council also announced its intention to establish a mission to succeed UNMIS.

To best support United Nations initiatives in peace, development and human rights at a time of financial austerity, information services were developing a “new agility” through broad collaborations and the use of a variety of media, the Organization’s top communications official told the Committee on Information as it opened its annual session this morning.

In a resumed organizational session today, the Economic and Social Council filled vacancies on 16 of its subsidiary bodies, electing most of the new members by acclamation and holding three secret ballots.

The current threats posed by Japan’s nuclear power plant echoed the Chernobyl disaster and, thus, the anniversary of that event should be a time for reflection and “robust global debate” on nuclear safety, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this morning as the General Assembly held a special commemorative meeting on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Chernobyl.

In a burst of activity today, the Economic and Social Council unanimously adopted four decisions and one resolution, laying out, among other things, the themes of its annual ministerial reviews over the next three years, as well as those for the humanitarian segment and the agenda item on regional cooperation of its 2011 substantive session, to be held in Geneva in July.

The Security Council expressed strong support today for efforts to further the peace processes in South Sudan and Darfur, while reiterating deep concern about obstacles and continuing violence in both regions and encouraging all parties concerned to engage with the United Nations on the Organization’s future presence in Sudan.

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.