Yearbook of the United Nations, 2009. Part 5, Institutional, administrative and budgetary questions. Chapter 1, United Nations restructuring and institutional matters

Abstract

In 2009, the General Assembly continued consideration of efforts to further enhance system-wide coherence and support progress toward reaching internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), focusing on the priority areas of: the United Nations “Delivering as one” at the country level; governance and funding of UN operational activities for development; and reform of the gender architecture within the Organization. In September, the Assembly adopted a resolution on system-wide coherence, expressing strong support for consolidating the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, the Division for the Advancement of Women, the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women into a composite entity led by an Under-Secretary-General. The Assembly also asked the Secretary-General to make proposals for the further improvement of the governance of operational activities for development, and to arrange for an independent evaluation of the “Delivering as one” programme. In October, an intergovernmental meeting of the eight “Delivering as one” pilot countries reviewed progress and lessons learned and made proposals for moving forward. The Assembly also agreed to convene in 2010 a high-level meeting on accelerating progress towards achieving the MDGs. The Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the General Assembly continued to identify ways to further enhance the Assembly's role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency. The Assembly continued to focus on administrative and institutional matters. It resumed its sixty-third session, and opened its sixty-fourth session on 15 September. The Assembly resumed the tenth emergency special session on illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory; held a conference at the highest level on the world financial and economic crisis and its impact on development; and held a commemorative meeting to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development. The Security Council held 194 formal meetings to deal with regional conflicts, peacekeeping operations and other issues related to the maintenance of international peace and security. In addition to its organizational and substantive sessions, the Economic and Social Council held a special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund), the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.