Economic and Social Council

Opening its regular session for 2013, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which is responsible for vetting applications seeking consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, today recommended special consultative status for 40 organizations, all but 8 of which were based in countries in the global South.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as delivered, at the Economic and Social Council meeting on integrating the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, in New York, 13 May:

The international community could end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition sustainably by 2025 through holistic and “win-win” sustainable agriculture approaches, the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said this morning.

Meeting briefly in a resumed organizational session today, the Economic and Social Council this morning adopted its theme for an upcoming event on transition from relief to development, considered outstanding vacancies on two of its subsidiary bodies, and heard a briefing on the work of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination.

The Commission on Population and Development, adopting a consensus resolution as it closed its forty-sixth session late in the evening, called on States to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants and to take a comprehensive and balanced approach to the increasingly complex issue of migration.

Advances in science and technology not only improved living conditions in both developed and developing countries, but enhanced the lives of migrants and enabled progress towards internationally agreed development goals, a senior official of the Economic and Social Council told Population and Development Commission members in today’s session.

Resuming its 2013 organizational session, the Economic and Social Council met this morning to hold elections to fill vacant seats in its subsidiary bodies and adopt themes for some items of its upcoming substantive session.

The increasingly complex movement of international migrants — who now flowed circuitously between countries, bringing with them skills, ideas and capital — had a profound impact on families and communities around the world, declared speakers today as the Commission on Population and Development continued its forty-sixth session.

Market solutions alone were not enough to handle the problems caused by excessive sovereign debt, a Nobel Prize-winning economist told delegates at a special meeting of the Economic and Social Council today.

The dual face of migration, providing wide-ranging opportunities for development but also dangers, was emphasized today as delegates in the Commission on Population and Development shared their national experiences on a broad array of trends in the demographics of migration.