Meetings Coverage

Concluding its annual two-week session this afternoon, the Committee on Information called on the United Nations Department of Public Information to continue to strengthen its role as the indispensable voice of the Organization by boosting awareness of a raft of current issues, increasing multilingualism, re‑evaluating all programmes and enhancing efficiency.

During the second day of its work in Saint Kitts and Nevis today, the Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2001-2010) took up the challenges and opportunities in the process of decolonization in the Non-Self-Governing Territories outside the Caribbean, and considered the role of the United Nations system in providing them with development assistance.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the first three of more than a dozen peacekeeping budgets to be considered for the upcoming 2009/10 financial year, the Committee was told that projected delays in the deployment of troops to Sudan suggested the possibility of reductions to the amounts proposed by the Secretary-General for the multi-million dollar UNMIS and the billion-dollar UNAMID, although some States cautioned against underbudgeting.

A green revolution in Africa would only be possible if the approach to agricultural development on the continent underwent its own revolution, the Commission on Sustainable Development was told during the first of two plenary round tables today.

At the conclusion of its three-day review of the challenges and opportunities associated with the decolonization process today, participants of the 2009 Caribbean regional seminar on decolonization exchanged views on the impact of the event and considered the way forward in promoting the goals of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2001-2010).

In the midst of a global recession and ongoing food price crisis, “things can deteriorate frighteningly fast”, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today, as he urged the Commission on Sustainable Development to look beyond short-term measures and agree on a set of policy decisions that would revitalize agriculture, support small farmers and promote food security for all.

With the United Nations total peacekeeping budget ballooning to $8.2 billion in 2009-2010, speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today stressed the importance of austerity in a weakened global economic climate, and timely, full payment of assessed contributions so that peacekeeping missions could effectively carry out their mandates.

The international community had a “unique opportunity” to help the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia establish peace and security, speakers emphasized today as the Security Council heard a series of briefings on the situation in that country by senior United Nations officials.

“As we approach the end of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, I urge you to continue working together to find solutions for the completion of the decolonization process, with the aim of de-listing additional Territories,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message to the Caribbean Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Decade, which opened in Saint Kitts and Nevis today.

Now that the world was aware of the vast extent of human trafficking, coordinated global action was needed to end the scourge, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, President of the General Assembly, said in the opening address of a special meeting on the issue today.