Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks, delivered by Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray on behalf of the Secretary-General, at the General Assembly event marking the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, in New York today:
Adopting a landmark resolution on steering the use of artificial intelligence towards global good, the General Assembly today also stressed the importance of addressing racial discrimination around the world, including through reparations.
As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met today to consider how the United Nations acquires, delivers and manages goods and services, delegates stressed the importance of ensuring transparency and diversity in this process and called for more detailed reporting.
The Special Committee on Decolonization met this morning to continue its 2024 session. On its agenda were preparations for the 2024 Caribbean regional seminar.
The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations met this afternoon to complete the work of its 2024 session after nearly four weeks of meeting mostly in working groups.
Meeting on the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, the General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for measures against such a phenomenon despite reservations expressed by some Member States about the text’s narrow focus on one religion and the cost of creating a senior United Nations position dedicated to the matter.
The United Nations Secretariat should seek to absorb the envisaged costs of preparations for the entry into force of the agreement on the sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the high seas and for the first meeting of signatories, the Vice Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today.
The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People met this morning to elect officers and hear remarks by the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, Riyad Mansour.
A team handling the liquidation of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS) could be smaller, the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as he recommended that the Mission’s proposed budget for 2024 be reduced accordingly.
Managers who don’t implement the recommendations of oversight bodies — including on staff recruitment from unrepresented and underrepresented countries — should be held accountable, speakers told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today during a discussion on strengthening the United Nations culture of accountability.
