Meetings Coverage

Calling for coordinated action and results, the President of the General Assembly today urged Member States to accelerate implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the wide-ranging framework adopted in 2006 to defeat what delegations referred to as a “hydra-headed scourge”.

The Security Council this afternoon decided to extend until 30 June 2013 the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), reaffirming its priority of protection of civilians and urging Congolese authorities to reform their security sector and end armed insurgencies and abuse of human rights in the vast African country.

The Security Council this morning decided to renew until 31 December 2012 the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which monitors the ceasefire in the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria, while expressing grave concern at recent violations by Syrian Armed Forces in the Force’s area of operations.

Commitments affirmed in recent international conferences to long-term support to Afghanistan beyond the 2014 date for transition to national leadership, particularly in the security sector, were critical for the future stability of the country and must be fulfilled, the top United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council this morning.

With illegal drugs, corruption and organized crime robbing families and communities of resources that could be used for health care, education and food security, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged global action to remove those obstacles – and the violence and misery they fuelled - from the path to a world of security, development and prosperity for all.

States Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women today elected by secret ballot 11 members of its monitoring body to replace those whose four-year terms are set to expire at year’s end.

Around the world — especially in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa — the Security Council must use the tools at its disposal to protect unarmed civilians, who were often caught in the crossfire or targeted in places that rightly should be sanctuaries, including hospitals, schools and places of worship, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, as he launched an open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

RIO DE JANEIRO, 21 June — Inequality — in both environmental and economic terms – took centre stage as the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development entered its second day, with many high-level participants emphasizing that a disproportionate share of the world’s woes still fell upon its poorest, smallest and least represented States.

RIO DE JANEIRO, 22 June — Away from the podium and the media spotlight, Heads of State and Government, as well as ministers, United Nations system officials, representatives of major groups and other international actors held a series of round tables in parallel with the plenary, during which they discussed the main themes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development — Rio+20 — and the draft outcome document to be formally adopted today, 22 June.

RIO DE JANEIRO, 22 June — High-level officials of nearly every Member State meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, renewed their commitments to ensuring an “economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet and for present and future generations”, as the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development — Rio+20 — closed this afternoon.