BAKU, Azerbaijan, 20 July — Warning that tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem had reached a breaking point, speakers outlined a range of challenges — from increasing discrimination against Palestinian women to a recent “weaponization of religion” at the Al-Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount — as the International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem held its first plenary session this afternoon.
Briefing the Security Council on the situation in South Sudan today, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations said the success of an Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) proposal to revitalize the 2015 peace agreement in the country would hinge on the degree to which the Government and opposition embraced it and committed to its implementation.
Member States approved a decision on membership of and representation on the Security Council today, as the General Assembly adopted three other texts covering a range of issues and agenda items.
The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development today adopted a Ministerial Declaration aimed at accelerating the pace of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to lift millions out of poverty, as it closed its 2017 session.
The United Nations and the African Union had a shared interest in strengthening mechanisms to defuse conflicts before they escalated and to manage them effectively when they occurred, Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council today in an open debate on enhancing African capacities in peace and security.
With the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) making way for a new peacekeeping operation focusing on justice support, the onus lied on Haitians themselves to shape their future going forward, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to the country said today.
Despite encouraging progress, the international community had yet to account for the millions of people who still wallowed in abject poverty and for whom the right to development remained but a dream, speakers said today as the ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development continued.
Fresh from victory in retaking the northern city of Mosul from terrorists, Iraq must now address the long-standing grievances, needs and aspirations of its people, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General told the Security Council today, paving the way towards national settlement and reconciliation.
The loss of confidence and trust between people and Governments, multilateral institutions and international organizations highlighted the paradox that problems were increasingly global in nature and could not be solved by individual countries, participants heard today, as the ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development got under way.
The interlinking nature of the Sustainable Development Goals represented an important opportunity to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and scale of future development efforts, speakers said today, as the Economic and Social Council wrapped up the first segment of its High-Level Political Forum.
