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External sources (not reviewed)

It urged the international community to assist Vanuatu in addressing poverty, lack of access to health services, clean water and adequate housing.

Some of the elements of a vision for a lowcarbon transport system could include: (a) dense, but green, and mixed-use cities that provide jobs, and shopping and leisure facilities close to people’s residential areas; (b) modern, high-quality links between the centres and good integration of long-distance hubs with local transportation; (c) high-quality alternatives to individual car use, in particular efficient public transport and good non-motorized transport infrastructure and its proper integration; (d) efficient, intermodal freight transport and smart urban logistics that also include clean vehicles; and (e) advanced technologies such as hybrid engines, alternative fuels or even electric motorbikes and cars.

And the machines are faced with a daunting task, since they have to work in extreme conditions, on the edge of the desert, a long way from all facilities, at a fast pace and are subjected to exceptional mechanical stresses, in order to plough the largest possible number of hectares for planting with trees before the rains arrive.

At its sixty-fourth session, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on the human right to water and sanitation in which it welcomed the decision of the Human Rights Council to request that the independent expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation submit an annual report to the Assembly and encouraged her to continue working on all aspects of her mandate and, in consultation with all relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, to include in her report to the Assembly, at its sixty-sixth session, the principal challenges related to the realization of the human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation and their impact on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (resolution 64/292).

Assistance focuses on (a) establishing legal and policy frameworks consistent with international standards and norms; (b) strengthening the capacity of domestic institutions, in particular anti-corruption bodies and criminal justice institutions, to effectively prevent and control corruption in an integrated and coordinated way; (c) enhancing integrity, accountability and transparency in public and private sectors, including the management of public resources; (d) supporting relevant Government institutions in international cooperation and the recovery of assets at the domestic and international levels; (e) development of strategic and thematic partnerships with members of the international community and United Nations system to ensure coherency in the delivery of technical assistance; and (f) supporting the establishment of networks and platforms for policy dialogue and peer learning among Member States at the regional and international levels.

Economic, social and cultural rights and fundamental freedoms introduced or strengthened under the new Constitution include, inter alia: the right to adequate, nutritious food and clean water; the right to adequate housing; the right to a good standard of health; adequate access to sewerage and electricity; the right to marriage and family; the right to education; the right to work; the right to strike; the right to enjoy a pension; the right to take part in cultural life; and the right to enjoy property.

Other suggested areas of priority attention included: climate change, disaster prevention and preparedness, minimizing biodiversity loss through sustainable management of resources, renewable energies, the formulation of national strategies in science and technology, the promotion of local and indigenous knowledge systems as well as improving the links between scientists and decision-makers.

During this session, the SHS and SC Commissions examined the resolution proposed in document 35 C/COM SC/DR.1 (submitted by: Austria, Belgium, Plurinational State of Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Finland, Iceland, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Samoa, Senegal, Slovenia, Sweden, Tuvalu, Uruguay; co-sponsored by: Barbados, Costa Rica, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Monaco, Pakistan, Solomon Islands, Suriname, and Zambia), requesting the Director-General to strengthen UNESCO’s specialized capacity on climate change, building upon UNESCO’s unique interdisciplinary profile.

[...] reductions under most objects of expenditure, including $242,800 under consultants, mainly as a consequence of the increased use of in-house expertise, where possible; $104,700 under experts, resulting mainly from concerted efforts to combine meetings or reduce the number of experts and the duration of meetings, whenever possible; $121,200 under travel of staff, mainly attributable to increased utilization of video conferencing, combining trips and/or reducing the duration of travel as much as possible; $460,800 under contractual [...] [...]

[...] [...] or $319,811,300 more than the provision [...] [...]

[...] [...] (c) provide more funding for the support of small and medium sized arts groups and budding artists; (d) explore means to minimize staffing and administrative expenses in the operation of arts programmes so that the savings could be re-allocated to the use of arts development; (e) examine the effectiveness of the current funding policy in achieving the policy goals, such as encouraging diversified and balanced development [...] [...]