Meetings Coverage

Stressing that the complex situation facing Guinea-Bissau undermined the smooth functioning of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office there (UNIOGBIS), as well as that of the Peacebuilding Commission, the Security Council today extended the mission’s current mandate for just three months to give the Secretary-General time to assess the situation on the ground and make recommendations, by 30 April, on its possible realignment.

Painting a troubling picture of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where an ever-growing number of violent, destructive rebel groups was battling for territory while terrorizing local populations, the top United Nations official in the country appealed to the Security Council today urgently to consider authorizing an additional military brigade to help the overstretched peacekeeping mission there deal with a “daunting array” of challenges.

The General Assembly today decided that a special session on the follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development will be held on 22 September 2014 in New York “in the most efficient and cost-effective manner”.

Opening the 2013 substantive session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on that body to devise “fresh and creative” approaches in mobilizing the political will needed to eradicate colonialism, saying it had no place in the modern world.

The views of troop- and police-contributing countries must be reflected at all levels of United Nations peacekeeping operations — not just on the ground but also at Headquarters — the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations heard as it concluded its general debate today.

Launching today the 2013 International Year of Quinoa, senior United Nations officials joined South American leaders to praise the nutritional value of the ancient “superfood”, which Bolivian President Evo Morales hailed as an “ancestral gift from the Andes to the world” — a low-cost response to global hunger and the starting point for a more equitable international economic system, especially the food trade.

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization lacked the political will to review the proposals for bolstering the world body’s role in maintaining peace and security, thereby jeopardizing its ability to carry out its mandate, several delegates said today, as it moved into day two of the annual session.

With the United Nations peacekeeping machinery confronted by increasing demands and a range of emerging conflicts — and potentially poised to consider new engagements in Mali, Syria and the Horn of Africa — the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations opened its 2013 substantive session today amid discussion of critical and evolving issues, including reimbursements for troops and equipment, and civilian capacity in the aftermath of conflict.

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization opened its 2013 session today, as delegates wrestled with ways to improve its efficiency and productivity, including by re-evaluating which Government proposals for organizational reform it should — and should not — consider.