Meetings Coverage

Speakers at the Security Council this morning expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life that resulted from the downing of a commercial airliner over eastern Ukraine yesterday, calling for a credible investigation into the tragic incident and urging accelerated political efforts to end the country’s crisis.

The General Assembly today adopted a resolution by consensus that reaffirmed its support for the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

Fighting between rival brigades in Libya’s capital and airport represented a sharp escalation that had forced withdrawal of United Nations staff and was threatening the country’s political transition, the world Organization’s top envoy to the country told the Security Council this morning.

The Economic and Social Council concluded its resumed coordination and management segment today with the adoption of 14 draft resolutions, including a text aimed at addressing the economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian people, and another calling for increased support of United Nations specialized agencies to non-self-governing territories.

Organized crime and illicit criminal activity undermined essential institutions like the rule of law and delivery of education and health, the United Nations leading expert on drugs and crime told the Economic and Social Council today.

The Security Council, considering the report of the Peacebuilding Commission’s seventh session, heard that building peace in post-conflict countries was a complex and challenging process, requiring national ownership and leadership, and strengthened responses to early warning signs of relapse.

The Economic and Social Council today urged the United Nations development system to address poverty eradication as an overarching priority, as it concluded its operational activities segment.

Deploring the fact that previous demands for aid access in Syria had not been heeded, the Security Council today authorized — for 180 days — relief delivery “across conflict lines” and through additional border crossings, as well as the expeditious deployment of a monitoring mechanism to assure compliance.

Funding of the global coordination mechanism to fight disease averaged just $10,000 per Member State — a paltry $1.8 million in total — the General Assembly heard today as it concluded its two-day high-level review of progress achieved in the prevention and control of non-communicable disease.

The rhetoric must become a reality when it came to development assistance, the Economic and Social Council heard today, as its high-level segment ended, concluding two weeks in which ministers and other senior Government officials considered key items that would make the post-2015 development agenda a success.