Meetings Coverage

Following a period of calm, violence had returned to Darfur, the Security Council heard today as it evaluated the effectiveness of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping operation there.

The Economic and Social Council opened today the first set of four coordination and management meetings in its 2014 session, deciding the theme for the humanitarian affairs segment to be “The future of humanitarian affairs: towards greater inclusiveness, coordination, interoperability and effectiveness”.

While the restoration of constitutional order and the start of talks between the Government and armed groups were "signs of hope" for Mali to overcome its deep crisis, great difficulties remained, with serious consequences for security in the entire Sahel region, the country’s senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.

The General Assembly today adopted a resolution entitled the “Second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries”, by which a 10-year review of the Almaty Declaration and Action Programme would be convened from 3 to 5 November, and by which preparatory sessions on 12 and 13 June and 2 and 3 October in the run-up to the event would be held.

Twenty years after the genocide in Rwanda, the Security Council condemned without reservation any denial of the genocide and urged member States to develop educational programmes to help prevent similar events.

Protest-related human rights violations in Ukraine must be urgently investigated and verified, and security forces must maintain public order in accordance with human rights standards, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović told the Security Council today.

Representatives from world financial institutions, the global private sectors and civil society took up the question of practical implementation of international monetary reform today, as the Economic and Social Council concluded its two-day special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Despite some improvement, the world economic situation remained weak and subject to uncertainties and risks, the Economic and Social Council heard during a high-level meeting today.

The General Assembly decided unanimously today to include the financing of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic on its agenda for the sixty-eighth session.

Warning that the situation in Ukraine was “more combustible than ever”, a senior United Nations political official told an emergency session of the Security Council this evening that without urgent action to de-escalate the crisis, the likelihood of further bloodshed and violent clashes would grow by the hour.