Meetings Coverage

In an effort to raise awareness of the role women could play in maintaining peace and security around the world, the Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urged Committee members to use the forty-sixth session, opening today, to recognize the tenth anniversary of the Security Council’s landmark resolution on women, peace and security.

The Security Council today condemned the attack which led to the sinking of the Republic of Korea naval ship "Cheonan" off the coast of the Korean peninsula on 26 March, with the loss of 46 lives.

Reaffirming that everyone should enjoy the human right to education, the General Assembly this afternoon called on Member States to ensure that right for all affected populations in all phases of emergency situations, and urged them to implement strategies and policies towards that goal as integral to humanitarian responses.

The demands of least-developed, developing and middle-income countries required a broad mix of capacities from the United Nations, and the Organization had to evolve in its response to such new and unique needs, national policymakers stressed today as the Economic and Social Council weighed efforts to improve overall development cooperation.

Globalization had created a complex interdependence across countries, with many developing nations emerging as powerful players on the world stage, and there was now an urgent need to reflect those changes in the structures and practices of global economic governance, delegates stressed today as the Economic and Social Council continued consideration of those and related issues on day three of its coordination segment.

With the world economy still reeling from the profound repercussions of the global economic crisis, which had rocked financial markets in the North and threatened to reverse recent gains in developing countries, the Economic and Social Council today examined the United Nations short- and long-term response, which was seen as critical to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Opening a day-long debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council that it must broaden its focus to both causative and normative factors in order to address a “huge common challenge”, as non-combatants remained targeted around the world.

Improving global health required a life-cycle approach, providing essential health services in an integrated package that included maternal, newborn and child health, sexual and reproductive health, and adequate budgeting for HIV/AIDS and malaria, United Nations experts stressed today as the Economic and Social Council opened its coordination segment under the theme of “implementing the internationally agreed development goals and commitments in regard to global public health”.

In her first address to the United Nations in 53 years, Queen Elizabeth II lauded the Organization today for its work over the past six decades in fostering peace, reducing poverty and providing emergency aid to millions of people, while calling for leadership in tackling new and emerging challenges.

Following a fatal explosion at a demonstration in northern Kosovo last Friday, the President of Serbia blamed tensions there on the enclave’s unilateral declaration of independence, while the Secretary-General’s Special Representative called on all parties to refrain from provocative statements, as the Security Council held a meeting on the subject today.