In progress at UNHQ

Amid Devastating Conflicts in Middle East, Officials Urge Stable Financing for Palestine Refugee Agency

GA/11865-PAL/2210

A total of 20 donors today announced contributions, or their intention to contribute, to the 2017 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as officials urged stable financing for the Agency amid devastating conflicts and violence in the Middle East.

Economic Integration, Harmonized Trade Processes Crucial for Afghanistan, Region, Says Secretary-General in Message to Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process Meeting

SG/SM/18332-AFG/462

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, as delivered by Tadamichi Yamamoto, Special Representative for Afghanistan, to the sixth Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process, in Amritsar, India, 4 December:

Celebrating Sweeping Changes in Decade of Disability Rights Convention, Speakers Tell General Assembly More Needed to Eradicate Discrimination

GA/11863

While the world had seen sweeping changes in the decade since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — one of the most widely-ratified human rights instruments in history — speakers today told the General Assembly that more remained to be done to eradicate discrimination around the globe and even the playing field for persons with disabilities.

Secretary-General’s Proposal Lacks Strategic Depth, Clarity on Estimated Costs, Delegates Say as Fifth Committee Examines 2018-2019 Budget Outline

GA/AB/4217

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today criticized the Secretary-General’s budget outline for the biennium 2018‑2019 for what they viewed as a lack of strategic depth and clarity on estimated costs for several initiatives that had yet to be considered by the General Assembly.

Greater Investment in Security, Justice, Correction Sectors Key to Liberia’s Stability, Peacekeeping Chief Tells Security Council

SC/12608

Liberia remained stable, but sustaining the progress it had made would require greater investment in the country’s security services as well as commensurate improvements in the justice and correction sectors, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council today as it considered the situation in that country and the future of the mission deployed there.