Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly today, meeting concurrently with the Security Council, elected Dalveer Bhandari of India to a seat on the International Court of Justice for a term beginning immediately through 5 February 2018.

Many youth delegates had spoken candidly about their experiences and expectations throughout the week-long session, said Population Commission Chairman late Friday following adoption of a key draft resolution, reminding members that “what really matters is what happens outside this room, when we are back in our capitals,” where, “we have to walk the talk, to move from paper to people.”

The Security Council, meeting concurrently with but independently from the General Assembly, today elected by secret ballot Dalveer Bhandari of India to fill the vacancy on the International Court of Justice created by the resignation of Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan), on 31 December 2011.

Continuing its 2012 organizational session, the Economic and Social Council this afternoon elected by secret ballot Francisco Thoumi (Colombia) to serve effective immediately as a member of the International Narcotics Control Board until 15 March 2012.

To further Security Council support for Côte d’Ivoire’s fragile peace process, members today unanimously adopted a set of renewed and modified sanctions and extended an expert panel’s mandate to monitor the situation.

Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, briefed the Security Council today on the situation in Darfur, calling on the signatory parties to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur to live up to their commitment to implement the 2011 agreement for the sake of the region’s “long suffering” people.

Resuming its 2012 organizational session, the Economic and Social Council filled vacancies in 20 of its subsidiary bodies and adopted themes for some items of its upcoming substantive session. It also postponed until Friday afternoon elections for a member of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

In the face of the continuing “fragility” of the global economy following recent economic crises, Member States called today for financial flows oriented towards supporting inclusive and sustainable development as the Thirteenth Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII) closed in Doha, Qatar.

The nearly week-long debate in the Population Commission heard Member States, experts and United Nations agency heads weigh in on the spectrum of concerns facing adolescents and youth, with the hope reinforced today that efforts made to embed credible, cohesive policies into global, national and local strategies were an investment in youth certain to yield positive results.

Speaking to the biological shift experienced by young people during the transition from adolescence from adulthood, Professor of Adolescent Health Research at Melbourne University George Patton said that youth experienced a “window of vulnerability” that lasted into the late 20s.