With the sharp escalation of threats to security in and from outer space, a legally binding agreement to preserve its peaceful nature is pivotal, speakers told the General Assembly today, in a meeting sparked by a veto cast by the Russian Federation, blocking a draft resolution on 24 April that aimed to prevent an arms race in outer space in all its aspects, including through the obligation not to place in Earth’s orbit any objects carrying weapons of mass destruction.
As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) began the second part of its resume session today to consider a proposed $5.7 billion budget for nearly a dozen peacekeeping missions around the globe from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, delegates stressed the need for careful management of the Organization’s resources during a period of ongoing financial constraint.
As speakers discussed the importance of collective efforts to promote a culture of peace in a world torn by conflict and crisis, the General Assembly today adopted a draft resolution in pursuit of that goal, in addition to draft texts on a variety of other topics.
The Security Council has once again failed to act in the face of the crisis that has escalated for six months in Gaza, imperiling peace and security and causing unchecked suffering and devastation, speakers told the General Assembly today, in a meeting sparked by a veto cast by the United States, blocking a draft resolution on 18 April that would have granted the State of Palestine full membership in the United Nations
Amid multiplying disinformation, rising tensions and armed conflicts — including in Gaza and Ukraine — the Department of Global Communications serves as a vital bridge between the United Nations and the global community, delegates told the Committee on Information today, as it concluded the general debate of its forty-sixth session today.
The Department of Global Communications engages global audiences not just on the state of a world troubled by spreading pollution, inequality, hate and violence, but also on “the solutions that are out there”, its top official told the Committee on Information during the opening of its forty-sixth session today, as delegates highlighted the need to combat disinformation through facts communicated by the United Nations across and beyond its six official languages.
More than seven years after it created a mechanism to analyse evidence of human rights abuses in Syria, the General Assembly today considered the work of this body and heard from its Head that additional funding is needed in order to continue assisting national investigations of these crimes, before adopting several draft texts recommended by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).
The following statement was issued today by the Bureau of the General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:
Amidst ongoing paralysis in the Security Council due to the proliferating use — and misuse — of the veto despite escalating global crises, speakers in the General Assembly today called for action to ensure that casting one is not the end of United Nations action when the eyes of the world are looking to the Organization to deliver an effective response.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly debate on debt sustainability and socioeconomic equality for all, in New York today:
