The United Nations must reform its development system by adapting its silo structure to work flexibly across sectors, tailoring programmes to specific country priorities and diversifying its funding sources in order to meet the unprecedented multisectoral demands of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, delegates stressed today, as the Economic and Social Council opened its 2016 operational activities segment.
In progress at UNHQ
Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council adopted three texts this morning, including one by which it changed the dates of its 2016 humanitarian affairs segment.
The Economic and Social Council filled outstanding vacancies on five of its subsidiary bodies today, electing all new members by acclamation.
Fuelled by the voices, concerns and demands of young people, the largest-ever Economic and Social Council Youth Forum concluded its two-day session today, hearing from speakers who delved into critical issues, such as entrepreneurship, the quality of education, access to health services, gender equality and the right to contribute to development.
With their advancement hampered by gender, ethnicity, social status or religion, and decisions affecting their lives too often in the hands of others, young people must be recognized as critical agents of change in order to transform inherited challenges into opportunities for a more prosperous, equal and sustainable world, Government and youth representatives stressed today, as the Economic and Social Council opened its fifth annual Youth Forum with the launch of the first global initiative on decent jobs for young people.
Concluding the first week of its regular session for 2016, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today deferred action on 52 applications for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and reviewed 404 new quadrennial reports, taking note of 362 of them while deferring action on 42 others.
Continuing its regular session for 2016, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 26 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and deferred action on the status of 57 others.
The Economic and Social Council met this morning to elect a Vice-President of the Council from the Latin American and Caribbean States.
The Economic and Social Council today adopted one draft decision on the distribution of seats for experts in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, deferred action on the theme for the Council’s integration segment in 2016, and filled vacancies in some subsidiary bodies.
The Economic and Social Council today adopted a decision (document E/2016/L.3), by which it invited the intergovernmental organization International Network for Bamboo and Rattan to participate on a continuing basis in its deliberations, in accordance with rule 79 of its procedural guidelines.