General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Save those who can still be saved in Gaza, the General Assembly heard today, as delegates also expressed alarm that the body’s recently adopted ceasefire resolution does not condemn Hamas.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved its annual programme planning resolution, after rejecting an eponymous text by the Russian Federation that would have removed any references to a mechanism set up by the United Nations a dozen years ago to investigate international crimes committed in Syria since that country’s war began in March 2011.

Adequate and predictable financing for mandates arising from resolutions and decisions adopted by the Council — the main UN intergovernmental body dealing with human rights — is vital to strengthen this pillar and promote and protect fundamental freedoms, said Costa Rica’s representative, also speaking for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

Demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution reiterating its insistence that parties to the conflict there comply with international law, all hostages be released immediately and without conditions, and humanitarian access be ensured.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the 2024 budget implications of seven resolutions approved by three General Assembly Committees that — if adopted by all Member States — would deliver nearly $6 million to help the Organization foster greater cooperation on international tax treaties, curb racism and direct more international financing to developing countries.

Against a backdrop of climate change, devasting violence and acute humanitarian crises, the General Assembly today adopted three resolutions to strengthen its beleaguered relief system which struggles to aid millions of people in need. The Assembly also adopted a resolution titled “Assistance to the Palestinian People”, with many delegates noting the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Acting on the recommendations of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) and Sixth Committee (Legal), the General Assembly today adopted a total of 50 resolutions and 13 decisions on items ranging from decolonization and the question of Palestine to the work of the International Legal Commission and restrictions on United Nations staff members from certain missions.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the 2024 budget implications of six outputs of the First Committee’s (Disarmament and International Security) 2023 session that — if adopted by the General Assembly — would deliver just over $1 million to help verify nuclear disarmament, curb an arms race in outer space and meet the challenges created by lethal autonomous weapons systems.  These five resolutions and one decision would also address the legacy of nuclear weapons and support the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021–2025, which was set up through an Assembly resolution.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today voiced their concerns with the Secretariat’s proposal to decrease the 2024 budget of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals by 22 per cent to $63.9 million while cutting dozens of posts without following General Assembly resolutions on the nationalization of staff.

The Group of 77 and China today expressed concern in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) about cost overruns for Umoja, the UN’s enterprise resource planning system, and requested the Secretariat elaborate on its strategic outlook and the longer-term improvements and investments foreseen until 2030.