Meetings Coverage

The second plenary meeting of the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People heard a panel of experts assess in detail the Palestinian Authority Programme entitled “Palestine: Ending the occupation, establishing the State” and address such themes as gender equality in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, economic independence and the role of civil society in building an independent State.

Five experts today addressed the current socio-economic situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the urgent need to bring relief and reconstruction to the Gaza Strip, during the first plenary meeting of the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People.

With the global economy beginning a slow and uneven recovery from a period of immense turmoil, the United Nations had an important role to play in ensuring a robust and inclusive intergovernmental process to realize commitments on financing for development, especially with the 2015 deadline for attaining the Millennium Development Goals rapidly approaching, the President of the General Assembly said in a message wrapping up two days of high-level talks in New York.

The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory remained of concern, particularly in Gaza and East Jerusalem, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in a message delivered by Maxwell Gaylard, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People opened in Vienna.

The Peacebuilding Commission today adopted the conclusions of its fourth biannual review of the implementation of the Strategic Framework for Peacebuilding in Burundi, following an appeal by Burundi’s Minister of External Relations and International Cooperation for partners to redouble efforts to mobilize resources for the country’s elections in May –- the anticipated crowning moment in Burundi’s peace consolidation -- and to make permanent the results achieved so far.

The Human Rights Committee today adopted the report, as orally amended, of its Special Rapporteur for Follow-Up on Concluding Observations, which provides a country-by-country update on correspondence with State parties on implementation of the expert body’s recommendations on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Regional support for renewed Middle East peace efforts was now urgently needed, as was continued strong consensus among international partners and an end to the creation of “negative facts” on the ground, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council today.

High-level officials representing international organizations and Member States called today for a reinvigoration of development partnerships to reverse the effects of the world economic crisis and meet the impending deadlines for attaining internationally-agreed development goals.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) until 23 March 2011, realigning it to assist the Government in the transition to national leadership of the country’s recovery efforts, including by supporting the preparations for the conference to be held in Kabul later this year.

Foreseeing new challenges in the equitable and peaceful management of shared water resources, officials today at a high-level interactive dialogue held to observe World Water Day urged that “bold” and “holistic” solutions be discussed to forestall pollution and water depletion, when the General Assembly meets for talks on the Millennium Development Goals in September.