Meetings Coverage

With a groundswell of support for women’s rights rising in all corners of the world, the international community must seize the momentum and keep its promise to eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a packed room at the 2013 celebration of International Women’s Day this morning.

Recommendations from a group of senior peacekeeping experts to craft a more equitable, predictable system for reimbursing troop contributors to United Nations peacekeeping operations drew much praise, as well as some concerns, from the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as it examined several reports on that subject.

The General Assembly today appointed Vinay Kumar (India) to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, effective immediately, for a term ending on 31 December.

Despite shrinking budgets and often-conservative political agendas, Governments throughout the world were making significant strides in expanding multisectoral approaches to eliminate violence against women, characterized by a range of integrated services to prevent abuse and support survivors, speakers said today as the Commission on the Status of Women continued its general debate.

The Security Council today passed unanimously a resolution strengthening and expanding the scope of United Nations sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by targeting the illicit activities of diplomatic personnel, transfers of bulk cash, and the country’s banking relationships, in response to that country’s third nuclear test on 12 February.

The committee monitoring sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme “is currently exploring” appropriate actions in response to that country’s July 2012 missile launches and “stands ready” to act on other allegations of non-compliance, the Chair of the Committee said today, as he briefed the Security Council.

Societies must be willing to examine the underlying causes of gender-based violence, the systems that facilitated it and the factors that exacerbated it, in particular, armed conflict, HIV/AIDS and poverty, senior Government officials stressed as the Commission on the Status of Women moved into the third day of its fifty-seventh annual session.

Responding to calls for a change in support to Somalia, in line with notable progress there, the Security Council today decided to maintain deployment of the African Union Mission until 28 February 2014, reshape the United Nations presence there, and partially lift its 20-year weapons ban for one year to boost the Government’s capacity to protect areas recovered from the militant group Al-Shabaab and stave off fresh attempts by such groups to destabilize the country.

As the recent “horrific” abuse of women in India and around the world had laid bare, it was not a lack of normative or legal frameworks — but rather their effective implementation — that impeded efforts to combat such violence and end the culture of impunity that protected perpetrators, senior Government officials said today, as the Commission on the Status of Women moved into day two of its general debate.

Looking to bolster the new regional accord for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the Security Council to create a special “intervention brigade” within the existing United Nations peacekeeping operation to combat rebel groups destabilizing the county’s eastern region.