Economic and Social Council

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continues its 2025 annual session today.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opened its 2025 annual session today, with speakers united in their call to protect and promote the rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide.

Representing the largest international annual gathering of Indigenous Peoples with around 1,000 participants, the twenty-fourth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opened today at UN Headquarters in New York, putting a spotlight on some of the most urgent and interconnected issues facing Indigenous Peoples today.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the opening ceremony of the twenty-fourth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in New York today:

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that escalating violence continue to harm civilians there. In North Kivu province, partners estimate that more than 2,300 people fled clashes between armed groups in the Kibua area of Walikale Territory on 15 April.

The Economic and Social Council concludes its Youth Forum today.

The Economic and Social Council continued its Youth Forum today.

The Economic and Social Council today adopted two draft decisions, “Theme of the humanitarian affairs segment of the 2025 session of the Economic and Social Council” (document (E/2025/L.4) and “Economic and Social Council meeting on the transition from relief to development” (document E/2025/L.5). Neither decision carries any programme budget implications.

Youth are leading the charge in solving development challenges — driving innovation, demanding accountability and building more inclusive and sustainable futures — even as they face rising conflicts, soaring unemployment, escalating climate crisis and a widening digital divide, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it opened its Youth Forum.

The Commission on Population and Development failed to adopt an outcome document today as it concluded its fifty-eighth session, with delegates sharply divided about support for sexual and reproductive rights, and some questioning commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.