The Head of the mechanism established in 2016 to increase the prospects for justice in Syria called on representatives in the General Assembly today to set aside their political differences and instead work to ensure that the perpetrators of serious crimes committed during the decade-long conflict are held to account.
The Economic and Social Council, acting without a vote, adopted three decisions today, including one setting out the theme of its upcoming humanitarian affairs segment, while also electing members to 15 subsidiary bodies.
As COVID-19 continues to expose links between gender inequality, food insecurity and poor access to health care and reproductive rights, the global community has an obligation to build back better, fairer and more sustainably for the estimated 10 billion people who will inhabit the planet by 2050, the Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Population and Development heard today, as members opened their fifty-fourth session.
Indigenous peoples have time and again shown themselves to be constructive partners with Member States and enrich the work of the United Nations, the Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stressed today, as she opened the body’s 2021 session.
The General Assembly adopted five resolutions and five decisions today, all without a vote, including four texts referred to it by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), as its President, the Secretary-General and representatives of regional groups paid tribute to John Pombe Joseph Magufuli, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, who passed away on 17 March at the age of 61.
Ministers and other high-level officials concluded the 2021 Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up today, reaffirming their commitment to strengthen multilateral cooperation and solidarity to combat COVID-19’s frustration of global implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, tenuous even before the unprecedented crisis exacerbated existing ones.
The Economic and Social Council opened its annual financing for development forum today amid warnings that, with more than 3 million lives lost to COVID-19 and infections still on the rise, Governments must urgently heed the lessons learned thus far if they are to avoid a lengthy global recession.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concluded the first part of its resumed seventy-fifth session today, sending — without a vote — three draft resolutions and one draft decision to the General Assembly for adoption, but failing to reach agreement on the longstanding issue of human resources management.
The Commission on the Status of Women concluded its sixty-fifth session today, approving a wide-ranging set of agreed conclusions that broadly reaffirm the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action — adopted at the landmark fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 — as “crucial” to fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as the world slowly emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Delegates urged a reckoning today with how the past injustices of the transatlantic slave trade perpetuate present racial discrimination and inequality around the world, as the General Assembly held a meeting to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Noting with concern the situation regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID‑19) pandemic, the General Assembly adopted a decision today outlining protocols for delivering statements and presenting reports during plenary meetings in the remainder of its seventy-fifth session.
The global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economic health of Member States is driving home the critical importance of a robust culture of accountability within the United Nations, delegates said today as the resumed session of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up the latest reports on the subject against the backdrop of the Secretary-General’s ongoing efforts to reform the Organization.
Already rampant around the globe, gender inequality has only worsened amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with women hard hit by job losses, school closures, rising poverty and spiking rates of domestic violence, speakers told the opening session of the Commission on the Status of Women today, describing equal representation as the “game-changer we need” in addressing the world’s toughest challenges.
The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations today approved a draft report on its 2021 substantive session, concluding its work.
The General Assembly adopted six draft resolutions today, including one — by a recorded vote — that underscored cooperation between the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today opened the first part of its resumed seventy-fifth session, with a view to ending the ongoing deadlock in negotiations on aspects of the United Nations human resources management reform, such as greater recruitment of staff members from unrepresented or underrepresented countries and the removal of career advancement barriers for General Service staff.
The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization adopted its 2021 draft report today, concluding its annual session and sending a package of recommendations to the General Assembly.
The Economic and Social Council, holding its first in-person meeting in 2021, adopted a range of decisions today, extending COVID-19-related procedures, rescheduling delayed meetings and filling several vacancies, including on the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).
The General Assembly decided today to convene a high-level meeting from 8 to 10 June to take stock of global efforts to end the HIV/AIDS crisis by 2030, adopting a draft resolution to that effect after a lengthy debate on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Expediting the decolonization process must be seen as an imperative, United Nations Secretary-General Antônio Guterres told the Special Committee on Decolonization today, emphasizing that a constructive relationship with administrating Powers and all involved is indispensable for progress on a case-by-case basis.
