With the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime diversity treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea continuing its second substantive session today, delegates debated how best to share the benefits of marine genetic resources and how to monitor their use in areas beyond national jurisdictions.
The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process warned the Security Council today about the danger of renewed violence in the Gaza Strip, “with potentially catastrophic consequences”, in the aftermath of rocket and mortar attacks from the Palestinian enclave and Israel’s robust military response.
Progress can be made on even the most protracted issues when national leaders of Africa’s Great Lakes demonstrate political will, the United Nations Special Envoy for that region told the Security Council today as it discussed the presence of armed groups, the refugee crisis and the illicit exploitation of and trafficking in natural resources, among other persistent challenges.
The current situation in Darfur is “completely different” from 2005, when sanctions were imposed, the representative of Sudan said today, urging the lifting of the arms embargo, as the Security Council heard a briefing on the work of its Committee established to implement the restrictive measures.
Increased cooperation and recognizing the needs of developing States must lead discussions towards a legally binding convention to govern the high seas, delegates said, as an intergovernmental conference to draft the first‑ever treaty addressing the ocean’s biological diversity opened its second substantive session.
Speakers sounded the alarm over the rise of nationalist populism and supremacist ideologies around the world today as the General Assembly commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
BUENOS AIRES, 22 March — Concluding a landmark conference on the crucial role of South-South cooperation in the planet’s sustainable development, representatives of 160 countries today adopted a sweeping outcome document calling for stepped-up collaboration against the backdrop of resource constraints and a shifting geopolitical landscape.
United Nations entities and their senior managers have been given delegated authority to make decisions, but they are also held accountable for results, speakers said today, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) examined ways to improve the Organization’s accountability.
The Commission on the Status of Women, concluding its sixty‑third session today, approved a set of agreed conclusions aimed at empowering women and girls by building greater social protection systems and access to public services and sustainable infrastructure.
BUENOS AIRES, 21 March — Countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly looking to each other for resources, solidarity and a sense of common agenda when dealing with challenges brought on by the decline in official development assistance (ODA) and the effects of climate change, speakers said this morning at the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation.
