Meetings Coverage

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded its work today by adopting observations and recommendations arising from its consideration of eight country reports that it took up during its forty-ninth session.

The Security Council today tightened its sanctions regime on Somalia and Eritrea to include individuals and entities identified as political or military leaders recruiting or using child soldiers in Somalia’s armed conflicts, and targeting civilians or committing attacks against schools and hospitals in the conflict-torn Horn of Africa country.

Frustrated at operating procedures that had left the United Nations Conference on Disarmament vulnerable to “hostage-taking” by a single Member State, delegates addressing the General Assembly today debated options for reforming — or even abandoning — that “dysfunctional” body, while others countered that the 12-year impasse reflected the need to take a stand against a “clear pattern” of selective and discriminatory negotiations.

Reaffirming the importance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in helping the Iraqi people and Government strengthen democratic institutions, advance inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation and facilitate regional dialogue, the Security Council today decided to extend its mandate for 12 months, unanimously adopting resolution 2001 (2011).

Despite ongoing clashes and shifting front lines, the five-month-old war between Government and opposition forces in Libya had basically stalled behind the posturing of both sides, and a ceasefire tied to transitional arrangements was still the only sustainable political solution to the crisis, the Security Council heard today.

Determining that the situation in Côte d’Ivoire remained a threat to international peace and security in the region, the Security Council decided today to extend until 31 July 2012 the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the West African country. Unanimously adopting resolution 2000 (2011), the 15-nation body also decided to maintain the strength of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) at 9,792 military troops, 1,350 police officers and 8 customs officers.

While some strides had been made to increase access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation — now regarded as a fundamental human right — efforts must be redoubled to provide access to safe water to the more than 1 billion people without it and basic sanitation services for the more than 2 billion still in need, urged experts and delegates in the General Assembly this afternoon.

The head of United Nations peacekeeping operations reported to the Security Council today that the initial rollout of the newly authorized security force for Abyei was under way, with some 500 Ethiopian troops headed to the disputed area straddling Northern and Southern Sudan, the flashpoint for recent violence between the two sides.

Pressure mounted today for a way to be found to open a passage in the long-deadlocked Conference on Disarmament that would engage members in negotiations on such matters as a ban on fissile material for nuclear weapons, as the General Assembly held a follow-up to last year’s high-level meeting on revitalizing that body.

The Palestinian people had completed their two-year state-building programme, fulfilling a substantial part of their “contract” with the United Nations, and it was now time for the international community to uphold its end of the deal so that they would see the Organization admit their viable and independent State during the General Assembly’s sixty-sixth session, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer for Palestine, told the Palestinian Rights Committee today.