The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization today elected additional members of its bureau, as it continued its 2011 session, which runs at Headquarters from 28 February to 9 March.

The Commission on the Status of Women today adopted two resolutions on mainstreaming gender equality in climate change policies and strategies, and women and the girl child and HIV/AIDS, and approved one text, by roll-call vote, on Palestinian women, to be sent to the Economic and Social Council for adoption. The 45-member Commission had been scheduled to conclude its fifty-fifth session today, but due to ongoing negotiations on its agreed conclusions, it was forced to suspend its work.

Closing its deliberations today, the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting for the nineteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development adopted its report, which included a draft negotiating document for the Commission’s consideration in May.

The following statement was issued on 6 March by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

With International Women’s Day set to be commemorated on 8 March, United Nations officials and experts form the Collaborative Partnership of Forests have seized the opportunity to stress that the world’s forests cannot be managed sustainably if women — the main users of forest resources in developing countries — continue to be sidelined.

VIENNA, 7 March — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a message delivered this morning by the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Maxwell Gaylard, said that urgently addressing the plight of Palestinian political prisoners was “very important” to reaching a just and lasting peace, and that he had publicly urged the release of prisoners — numbered in the tens of thousands — last year during a visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, delivered by Maxwell Gaylard, Deputy United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in Vienna, 7 March:

The General Assembly decided this afternoon on new rules for the election of the 36 members of the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP).

The Fifth Committee today approved the work plan for a three-week resumed session that will let delegates consider a Capital Master Plan now running more than $80 million over budget, the work of the Joint Inspection Unit, special political missions and other issues with financial implications for the 2010-2011 budget cycle.