Describing a “race to the bottom” in which multinational corporations enjoy lower and lower tax rates around the globe, delegates at the Economic and Social Council’s forum on financing for development follow-up today stressed that such practices are slicing deep into the funds countries need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by their 2030 deadline.
The planned withdrawal of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) by 30 June 2020 is on track, but the political situation in Sudan has changed drastically and could affect implementation of the mission’s mandate going forward, the Joint Special Representative of the African Union and the Secretary-General for the country’s western Darfur region told the Security Council today.
Four years after the roll‑out of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the gap in financing the Sustainable Development Goals has widened, the chief United Nations trade expert told the forum on financing for development follow-up today, as participants explored ways to mobilize domestic resources, curb corruption and create enabling environments for increased investment in their economies.
Endorsing a new international declaration on the critical role South-South cooperation plays in tackling sustainable development challenges, the General Assembly today adopted a related resolution and a package of other texts, including several recommended to it by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) and a draft on the Organization’s partnership with French-speaking nations.
Citing a fragile world economy and unravelling multilateral alignments, delegates at the Economic and Social Council’s 2019 forum on financing for development follow-up today also spotlighted a crucial window of opportunity to render the global financial system fairer and more fit for purpose.
The Government of Yemen and the Houthi militia forces fighting it have accepted a detailed plan for phase one of the redeployment of their respective forces from the vital port city of Hodeidah, as stipulated in the December 2018 Stockholm Agreement, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy told the Security Council today.
The Security Council decided today to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH) for a final period of six months until 15 October and requested the Secretary-General to start planning for an appropriate integrated United Nations system presence in the Caribbean nation that would include a special political mission.
The greatest uncertainty in a climate of uncertainty would be to reopen the Final Peace Agreement that ended five decades of conflict between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country warned while briefing the Security Council today.
The Security Council decided today to renew until 15 October the support provided by the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism, recognizing that the current situation in the disputed region and along the Sudan-South Sudan border continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security.
The Economic and Social Council adopted two decisions today, as it also held its annual Partnership Forum amid calls for engaging a diverse range of actors — from Governments and businesses to academia, civil society and, importantly, local decision-makers — in new forms of collaborations that generate better results for those most in need.
