BUENOS AIRES, 21 March — Countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly looking to each other for resources, solidarity and a sense of common agenda when dealing with challenges brought on by the decline in official development assistance (ODA) and the effects of climate change, speakers said this morning at the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation.

Adama Dieng, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, acknowledged today’s final appeal judgment by the Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, largely upholding the 2016 guilty verdict against Radovan Karadžic and increasing his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment.

The National Conference on the future of Libya, to be held in April, presents a crucial opportunity for all parties to set aside their differences, unite, avoid war and choose a path of peace and prosperity, the Secretary‑General’s Special Representative for that country told the Security Council today.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation in Buenos Aires, Argentina, today:

BUENOS AIRES, 20 March — Amid complex and rapidly evolving global challenges, the tried-and-tested platform of South-South cooperation — a system of exchanging knowledge and resources between developing countries — must play a prominent role in eradicating poverty and reducing gaping inequalities, participants stressed as the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40) opened today.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Nowruz, observed on 21 March:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva announced today the appointment of Ute Klamert of Germany as WFP Assistant Executive Director, Partnerships and Governance, at the Assistant Secretary-General level.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned about armed clashes in the southern Philippines between the army and non-State armed groups that have uprooted more than 47,000 people.  The United Nations and humanitarian partners are helping the Government deliver aid to nearly 35,000 displaced people.

NEW YORK, 18 March (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its forty‑ninth session at United Nations Headquarters from 28 January to 15 March.  The first plenary part of the session was held from 4 to 8 February and the second from 4 to 8 March.  The remaining five weeks were devoted to the technical examination of submissions at the geographic information systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.

To keep terrorists from accessing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, Governments can deploy a range of measures, such as devising national action plans, designating point persons and conducting peer reviews, speakers told the Security Council today as it considered non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.