Meetings Coverage

The Security Council this morning extended for one year sanctions on those threatening stability in Yemen, as well as the mandate of the Panel of Experts who assist the committee that oversees those measures.

While “sprinting towards the last mile” in achieving targets set out under the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations must also prepare for the “marathon” challenge of improving life for the most vulnerable in the post-2015 era, said the heads of the Organization’s Funds and Programmes in a dialogue with the Economic and Social Council today.

Noting that the ongoing political crisis and escalating violence in eastern Ukraine was a top priority for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), its newly installed Chairperson-in-Office today urged full adherence to the ceasefire between Ukraine and pro-separatist Russian forces to facilitate the withdrawal by both sides of heavy weapons and equipment from the area and other steps agreed to earlier in the month.

As the United Nations approached its seventieth anniversary, the Charter tenet of national sovereignty remained valid, but a State’s responsibility for its people and its participation in global cooperation were also increasingly vital, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed as he opened a day-long Security Council debate this morning.

While huge efforts had been made to adapt the development system to evolving country needs, the United Nations must use its credibility, impartiality and access to specialized knowledge more effectively in order to deliver fit-for-purpose results over the next 15 years, the Economic and Social Council heard today, as it opened its 2015 operational activities segment.

Citing growing cooperation among all stakeholders concerned to eradicate colonialism across the globe, a senior United Nations political official this morning called for innovative, practical ways to address the issue of self-government, as the Special Committee on Decolonization opened its 2015 session.

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization today elected by acclamation Nadia Kalb (Austria) of the Western European and Other States Group for third Vice-Chair of that body’s bureau.

By a unanimous vote this morning, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) for a period of 12 months, welcoming recent progress made towards the country’s peace, security and stability.

Continuing its 2015 session today, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations tackled a plethora of peacekeeping concerns from the use of new technology and civilian protection mandates to pre-deployment planning and training to troop reimbursement rates.

“Horrific and brutal” acts of terrorism in Libya had “shaken our collective conscience” and must prompt swift action in support of the political process there, said the United Nations top official in that country as he briefed the Security Council this afternoon.