Meetings Coverage

Eliminating human trafficking, child labour, sex slavery and other modern forms of slavery, as well as racial discrimination and related intolerance would be the best way to honour the death and suffering imposed on victims of the brutal transatlantic slave trade, diplomats and senior United Nations officials said at a Headquarters commemoration today.

Following the visit by United States President Barak Obama to the Middle East last week, there was now an opening to develop a “serious and substantial” political initiative to achieve the negotiated two-State solution between Israelis and Palestinians that would best serve the interests, rights and aspirations of both sides, a top United Nations envoy told the Security Council today.

Greater international cooperation was critical for the security of fragile and finite global water resources, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today during a high-level event in observance of World Water Day and the beginning of the International Year of Water Cooperation. “We cannot prosper without clean, plentiful freshwater,” Mr. Ban told the General Assembly’s High-level Interactive Dialogue on Water Cooperation.

With high-level political negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo entering a “critical stage”, the top United Nations official in the region urged the Security Council to throw its weight behind the European Union-brokered talks and help the two sides overcome the inevitable “short term political challenges, anxieties and setbacks” that could yet derail the historic opportunity that was before them.

Despite some progress achieved in South Sudan’s transition towards a stable, viable State, internal security challenges and political fault-lines — exacerbated by a recent spate of inter-communal violence — continued to render the new country fragile and threaten peace and security throughout the region, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative warned the Security Council this afternoon.

An ongoing political stalemate, protracted demonstrations, terrorist attacks and strained Arab-Kurdish relations could fuel existing political and security challenges in Iraq, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council this morning, urging the country to remain “determined and steadfast” during a very challenging time.

Presenting the first ever documentary on Yasser Arafat at the United Nations today, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People paid homage to the late leader, whom members said fought unceasingly for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

The Liberia configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission today adopted the draft outcome of its second review of the implementation of mutual commitments on peacebuilding in that country.

The stabilization process in Haiti had hit a number of difficulties — including a missed opportunity to hold elections last year — but the Caribbean nation could still surmount entrenched political divisions and launch institutional reforms vital for meeting the urgent security and economic needs of its citizens, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today extended for another year the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan and called on the Organization and the international community to bolster the Afghan Government’s efforts to take ownership of and leadership in National Priority Programmes covering security, governance, justice and socio-economic development.