The scourge of slavery has left a painful legacy through persisting inequities, as well as marginalization, dehumanization and brutality, speakers in the General Assembly emphasized today, underscoring the need for education about its causes and consequences, as well as for meaningful collective action to end its modern-day forms and build a more just world.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today emphasized the vital role of the United Nations resident coordinator system in meeting development needs around the world, but disagreed on how best to ensure it is adequately paid for as they reviewed the Secretary-General’s proposed 2024 funding arrangements.
After 171 days of war in Gaza, the Security Council today adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties, leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, while many speakers underscored that this is only the first step towards a permanent ceasefire.
The Security Council today did not hold a meeting, requested by the Russian Federation, to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1999 aerial bombing campaign carried out by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) against the former Yugoslavia, having failed to adopt the provisional agenda to do so after a procedural vote was requested by France.
The Commission on the Status of Women met this afternoon to conclude its sixty-eighth session. The Commission adopted its report on the work of the session, then suspended the meeting to resume at a later date.
The Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have determined the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza due to a veto cast by two permanent members of the Council — China and the Russian Federation — while some speakers criticized the text for being ambiguous and lacking attribution to the Israeli authorities in several key areas.
The spread and proliferation of weapons — including in the Ukraine conflict — always spurs the danger of escalation, briefers warned the Security Council today, while its members sparred over the transparency and source of the threat of arms transfers in that ongoing regional crisis.
The Commission on the Status of Women met this morning to continue its sixty-eighth session, holding an interactive dialogue on the emerging issue “Artificial intelligence to advance gender equality: challenges and opportunities”.
As the conflict in Syria entered its fourteenth year, the “tragic reality” was that developments are going in the wrong direction across all fronts, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the country warned the Security Council today, as members echoed his urgent calls on Damascus and other actors to unblock the persisting political impasse.
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.
