Meetings Coverage

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning took action on a contentious text concerning reimbursement rates to troop-contributing countries that had delayed conclusion of the earlier part of its resumed session, and began the second part of its session, which is aimed at approving a peacekeeping budget for the year 2013/14.

The Security Council’s role in new efforts to forge peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was crucial to stopping one of the longest, most appalling human rights crises, said the Secretary-General’s newly appointed Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, pressing delegates to seize a “moment of renewed opportunity” to resolve the underlying causes and infuse hope into a new United Nations-mediated peace accord for the country and region.

Concluding its two-week annual session this afternoon, the Committee on Information emphasized that public information and communications should be at the heart of the United Nations’ strategic management, with a “culture of communications and transparency” permeating all levels so the Organization could best promote an informed understanding of its work among people around the world.

Acting on the recommendations of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council today decided to establish the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) by 3 June for an initial period of 12 months, providing the United Nations “good offices” functions — and a range of strategic policy advice — in support of the Federal Government’s peace and reconciliation process.

The increasing violence across the world against traditional and new media journalists alike undermined the very foundation of democratic societies, good governance, freedom of expression, and the right to receive and impart information and ideas, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, said top United Nations officials and journalists today during an observance of the twentieth anniversary of World Press Freedom Day.

Meeting in a brief plenary session this morning, the General Assembly adopted, as amended, a consensus resolution on the modalities, format and organization of its upcoming high-level meeting on the appraisal of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, deciding that it would take place on 13 and 14 May.

ADDIS ABABA, 30 April — As the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine wrapped up its session today,experts urged African Governments to share their negotiating and institution-building tactics, create a continent-wide solidarity movement, and launch a regional peace initiative to help Palestinians remove barriers to statehood.

ADDIS ABABA, 29 April — Welcoming the recent visit by the United States President to the West Bank and Israel and the subsequent resumption of $500 million in United States aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this morning said that now was the time for concerted action to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The situation in Darfur was “very troubling”, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous told the Security Council today, and while there had been “mildly encouraging” developments in the process to achieve peace in Sudan’s restive western region, a fully inclusive political settlement had yet to be reached and resolving the protracted conflict required joint efforts to persuade belligerent parties to lay down their weapons and join negotiations.

Recognizing that the “indispensable” partnership between the United Nations and the African Union remained a solid foundation for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in Africa, Governments in the General Assembly today welcomed intensified cooperation between the two organizations in order to stamp out all outstanding disputes on the continent.