Meetings Coverage

The Committee on Non‑Governmental Organizations today suspended its 2018 resumed session pending one final day of work next month when its report to the Economic and Social Council will be finalized for adoption.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine was not only alive — with 1.6 million people displaced and escalating violence — but it embodied a broader threat to the global rules‑based order, with tens of thousands ceasefire violations recorded in 2018, the Security Council heard today, as it considered the situation for the first time in 15 months.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended 6 entities for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council today, the sixth day of its resumed session, while deferring action on 73 others.

The 2 million people in northern rural Homs, Douma and southern Damascus were among the most desperate in Syria, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs told the Security Council today, adding that only six inter‑agency aid convoys had reached those areas this year.

Several gaps in the revised budget proposal for the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals could negatively impact mandate delivery, delegates warned today, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) examined the Mechanism’s financing requirements for the next two years.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended 35 entities for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council today, the fifth day of its resumed session, while deferring action on the status of 46 others.

On the heels of Burundians voting for a new Constitution on 17 May, the country was now poised for a new important phase to settle differences, address pressing concerns, including sporadic violent incidents, and build a solid foundation for peace, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General told the Security Council today.

While the Peacebuilding Commission had become more adaptive — expanding its work to the Gambia, Solomon Islands and the Sahel — it must do more to coordinate its efforts, particularly with the Security Council, delegates in the General Assembly stressed today, as they explored how the advisory body could foster coherence among United Nations endeavours in building and sustaining peace around the world.

While deferring action on 41 organizations, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 16 entities for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, as it continued its 2018 resumed session.

The Security Council today adopted a resolution condemning the starving of civilians as a method of warfare — as well as the unlawful denial of humanitarian access to civilian populations — with members welcoming it as a landmark expression of unity on those critical issues.