The humanitarian response to fighting in north-western Syria, including Idlib, is stretched and further military action will overwhelm all ability to respond, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs warned the Security Council today, appealing to the 15-member body to take immediate action.
Following an unprecedented rise of violence against religious communities and people belonging to religious minorities, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution proclaiming 22 August as International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, among other matters.
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today suspended its 2019 resumed session pending one final day of work next month when its report to the Economic and Social Council will be finalized for adoption.
Executive Heads of four of the funds, programmes and entities that make up the United Nations development system underscored their commitment to reforms in support of the Sustainable Development Goals on the final day of the Economic and Social Council’s annual segment on operational activities for development.
Along with holding perpetrators to account, the experiences and needs of civilian communities who suffer the daily brutalities of armed conflict must be incorporated into measures that protect them, speakers told the Security Council during an open debate today as it marked the twentieth anniversary of placing “the protection of civilians” on its agenda.
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended 11 groups for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and deferred action on 85 others as it continued its resumed session today.
With the recent flare-up of violence in Gaza as the central topic of discussion in the Security Council today, members also considered the funding shortage affecting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Continuing its consideration of the United Nations peacekeeping budget, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the proposed 2019/20 budget of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and heard the introduction of a draft resolution on financing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The tasks of restoring cooperation between Somalia’s two tiers of government and denying Al-Shabaab the space to prepare and launch its attacks are vital for the country’s progress, senior officials told the Security Council today.
Regional commissions contain a wealth of information, assets and expertise, but greater transparency and efficiency are required to boost their role in supporting sustainable development, panellists and Member States told the Economic and Social Council on the second day of its segment on operational activities for development.
