Meetings Coverage

Regional support for renewed Middle East peace efforts was now urgently needed, as was continued strong consensus among international partners and an end to the creation of “negative facts” on the ground, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council today.

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

Five experts today addressed the current socio-economic situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the urgent need to bring relief and reconstruction to the Gaza Strip, during the first plenary meeting of the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People.

The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory remained of concern, particularly in Gaza and East Jerusalem, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in a message delivered by Maxwell Gaylard, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People opened in Vienna.

High-level officials representing international organizations and Member States called today for a reinvigoration of development partnerships to reverse the effects of the world economic crisis and meet the impending deadlines for attaining internationally-agreed development goals.

While improvements in Sierra Leone’s political climate were seen as inching the country towards eventual sustainable development, senior United Nations officials warned the Security Council today that the magnitude and political significance of youth unemployment posed a latent risk of instability in the West African nation struggling to consolidate peace and stimulate development.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) until 23 March 2011, realigning it to assist the Government in the transition to national leadership of the country’s recovery efforts, including by supporting the preparations for the conference to be held in Kabul later this year.

Foreseeing new challenges in the equitable and peaceful management of shared water resources, officials today at a high-level interactive dialogue held to observe World Water Day urged that “bold” and “holistic” solutions be discussed to forestall pollution and water depletion, when the General Assembly meets for talks on the Millennium Development Goals in September.

Condemning the continued flow of weapons that it said violated its arms embargoes on Somalia and Eritrea, the Security Council this afternoon extended for 12 months the mandate of the group monitoring those measures, expanding its mandate and giving it three additional experts.

Expressing grave concern over trafficking in small arms and light weapons, particularly in Central Africa, the Security Council today encouraged States in that subregion to join forces in order fully to implement measures to curb the illicit trade and to create mechanisms and regional networks for sharing information on the circulation and trafficking of weapons.