The Department of Public Information was undergoing a process of “review and reform” of how it communicated United Nations values in a world where trust in major institutions was increasingly difficult to maintain, and “fake” stories competed with legitimate news for public attention, the Committee on Information heard today as it opened its fortieth session.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 October 2018, calling for a “realistic, practicable and enduring” political solution to end the decades‑old conflict.
Following a fortnight of meetings, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues concluded its seventeenth session this afternoon, adopting a raft of recommendations which reflected this year’s central theme — indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources — and urged the Secretary‑General to convene regional consultations in the coming months on ways to enhance their participation in the work of the United Nations.
The General Assembly capped its high-level debate on peacebuilding and sustaining peace today with a consensus resolution welcoming the Secretary-General’s January 2018 report on those activities and deciding to further discuss his recommendations to address existing gaps.
The Economic and Social Council conducted a series of interactive discussions on a range of issues spanning from development cooperation to debt to foreign investment as it wrapped up its four-day forum on financing for development.
The Security Council, acting in parallel with the General Assembly today, took note of a raft of proposals by Secretary‑General António Guterres on ways to accelerate the United Nations “Peacebuilding and sustaining peace” agenda, as well as the Assembly’s decision to track progress towards its implementation. (For more information, please see Press Release GA/12014.)
Amid escalating tensions, outside interference and growing risks of potentially explosive miscalculations, from Gaza to Syria to Yemen, everyone in the region must “step away from the brink”, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today.
With the adoption of landmark resolutions on the concepts of peacebuilding and sustaining peace imminent, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged Member States to strengthen their focus on conflict prevention, address its root causes and embark on a “quantum leap” in funding those critical activities, in a briefing to the Security Council this afternoon.
Continuing volatility and a lack of trust were just some of the issues hindering private sector investment in developing countries, speakers said today, as the Economic and Social Council held three round-table discussions as part of its annual forum on financing for development.
Amid the highest levels of violence against civilians since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, concrete action must be taken to turn pledges of aid into progress on the ground, the Security Council heard today.
