Meetings Coverage

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended that the Economic and Social Council grant special consultative status to 12 applicants, and postponed consideration of 23 applicants as it wrapped up the bulk of its work during the current regular session. It also removed 15 NGOs from the review list for having failed to respond to inquiries despite three reminders from the Secretariat.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today recommended the accreditation of seven groups to the Economic and Social Council and postponed consideration of 21 applications, pending responses to questions posed by members.

Urging broad-based support as Libya and its people pressed ahead with a challenging political transition, the top United Nations official in the country warned the Security Council today that, despite promising institutional reforms, the new Libyan authorities would still need to take tough decisions on such key issues as constitution-making, transitional justice and security sector reform.

The new Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission today urged members to “put our heads together” on ways to reinforce the body’s founding vision — providing strategic advice and harnessing expertise and financing to help post-conflict countries avoid sliding back into war or chaos — so that in 2013, the Commission could gain its rightful place within the United Nations peacebuilding architecture and beyond.

The Economic and Social Council today elected Néstor Osorio (Colombia) President of the 54-member body as it began its work for 2013, which would entail addressing such challenges as the implementation of internationally agreed development goals.

Beginning the second week of its 2013 session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today added four groups to the more than 3,500 it has accredited since its creation in 1946, and postponed consideration of 34 applications, pending responses to questions posed by members.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, concluding its first week of examining applications for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, today added nine groups to the more than 3,500 it has accredited since its creation in 1946.

Urging the Security Council to maintain its strong support for the leaders and countries of West Africa, the Head of the United Nations Office there called for greater international attention to a raft of complex challenges plaguing the region, where notable political progress was being offset by the ongoing crisis in Mali and the rise of organized crime and terrorism in the Sahel and other areas.

Adoption in the Security Council this morning of a resolution to extend for a further six months, until 31 July 2013, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, first established in 1964, received the support of 14 members, while one delegation, that of Azerbaijan, had abstained.

Reporting that the Sudanese Government and one of the main rebel factions in Darfur had just reached agreement on an agenda for negotiating a comprehensive peace in the restive western region of Sudan, a senior United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council that notwithstanding that positive development, the international community must ensure that all parties — including armed groups outside the peace process — remained committed to achieving a durable solution.