Meetings Coverage

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today recommended eight entities for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and the reclassification of another, and postponed consideration of 30 applications.

Reiterating its determination to bring its full support to a credible electoral process in Côte d’Ivoire, the Security Council today approved a four-month extension of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the West African country, and boosted that Operation’s troop strength, specifically to support the organizing of a free, fair, open and transparent election, now scheduled for the end of late February or early March 2010.

Welcoming the Secretary-General’s recommendations for continued action on the political, security and recovery tracks in embattled Somalia, the Security Council today authorized the African Union to maintain its mission there ‑‑ AMISOM ‑‑ until 31 January 2011 and asked it to increase its force strength, with a view to achieving the originally mandated target of 8,000 troops thus enhancing its ability to fully carry out its mandate.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 14 entities for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, postponed its consideration of 36 applications and closed the file on 5 others.

With Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at an “extremely worrying impasse”, due largely to simmering tensions and frequent protests in East Jerusalem, ongoing deprivation in the Gaza Strip, and an uptick in militant rocket fire into Israel, a senior United Nations political official today warned the Security Council that the effort to forge a viable Middle East peace was seriously at risk.

The Peacebuilding Commission must create closer ties with the Bretton Woods institutions in 2010, in addition to a more structured relationship with the Security Council and streamlined working methods to better and more swiftly help post-conflict countries sustain peace and development, Peter Wittig (Germany), the newly elected Chairperson of the Commission’s Organizational Committee, said today.

Recommending consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for 8 entities today, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) also postponed its consideration of 34 other applications, pending receipt of additional information, and held a discussion about its working methods.

Recommending consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for 13 entities today, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) also postponed its consideration of 44 other applications, pending receipt of additional information, and heard one complaint.

The Central African Republic configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission this morning called for stepped-up inter-community dialogue in the north of the country and improved funding for security sector reform, as it adopted its first biannual review of the strategic framework for peacebuilding.

Civil society was the critical “eyes and ears on the ground”, Nikhil Seth, Director of ECOSOC Support and Coordination in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said as the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) opened its 2010 regular session today .