Meetings Coverage

The Security Council voted unanimously this morning to extend the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) for one year, demanding that parties to the conflict in the western Sudanese province immediately put an end to the violence, including attacks on civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian personnel.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), and its authorization of the French forces which support the Operation, until 31 January 2010, in support of the long-postponed presidential elections in that West African country.

Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today recognized the efforts of a young, small-island nation –- Tuvalu –- to review its legal system from the top down for discriminatory practices, but expressed deep concern that traditional bias held sway in many areas.

“If not now, then when? If the Council does not act, then who will?” asked Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, today as he called on the international community to take immediate action to stabilize the situation in that country.

With efforts under way in Burundi to ensure transparent elections in 2010, entrench democratic principles into national institutions and advance a pivotal ceasefire accord with Forces Nationales de Libération (FNL) rebels, the country was successfully emerging from years of conflict, the Peacebuilding Commission heard today, as it adopted the conclusions of its third biannual review of the implementation of the Strategic Framework for Peacebuilding in Burundi.

The seventeenth International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concluded today, as the head of the United Nations Department of Public Information encouraged journalists to do more to expand the public dialogue about the situation in that region and to help bridge the divides that separated Israelis and Palestinians.

Once fully deployed, the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) would be sure to make a difference, the top United Nations official on the ground told the Security Council today.

The head of the United Department of Public Information today opened the seventeenth International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, urging Israelis, Palestinians and the wider international community, particularly journalists, to support the world body’s ongoing efforts to help the parties arrive at a just and lasting solution.

Concluding the General Assembly’s debate on States’ responsibility to protect their people from mass-atrocity crimes, delegates today weighed whether that multifaceted and controversial concept provided sufficient legal grounds for collective intervention in national affairs.

While praising Switzerland as a leader in human rights policy, experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed concern over the difficulties of instituting country-wide policies for women’s equality given the federal system that gives great autonomy to its districts, which are known as cantons and communes.