General Assembly Adopts 47 Third Committee Resolutions, including Texts on Nazi Glorification, Children's Rights, Palestine Statehood
World Body Proclaims 2025-2034 as Second International Decade for People of African Descent
The General Assembly adopted 47 draft resolutions and one decision recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, covering a wide range of issues, from countering violence against children and combating the glorification of Nazism to protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensuring the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
The draft on combating the glorification of Nazism contained in report A/79/456 elicited debate, however. Adopted by a recorded vote, the Assembly expressed concern about the glorification of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism and former members of the Waffen SS organization, including by erecting monuments and memorials and holding public demonstrations in the name of the glorification of the Nazi past.
Prior to that, an amendment to the text was adopted by a recorded vote, adding an operative paragraph that raised alarm over the Russian Federation’s use of the pretext of eliminating neo-Nazism to justify its territorial aggression against Ukraine. Speaking after the vote, the representative of the Russian Federation said that the amendment politicizes the thematic resolution. It is moreover an attempt by Western countries to stymy international cooperation to combat racism — one of the main objectives of the United Nations, created in response to the horrors of Nazism and fascism, she added. She disassociated from that operative paragraph.
Countering, the representative of Ukraine said that the resolution, tabled by the Russian Federation, is “the height of hypocrisy,” adding “Russia has completely forfeited any moral right to present itself as a global advocate against Nazism and neo-Nazism while committing horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity in its invasion of [her country]”. The years-long aggression was carried out through weaponizing the pretext of fighting Nazism, she reiterated.
The resolution on the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, contained in the report A/79/458/Add.3, was also adopted by a recorded vote. By its terms, the Assembly condemned the systematic, widespread and gross violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed in Syria, and the indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against the civilian population and infrastructure.
Several delegates reiterated their strong rejections of all country-specific resolutions as political in nature. To contrast, the representative of the United States said that “days after [President Bashar al-] Assad fled Syria, this resolution presents all delegations with an opportunity to stand with the Syrian people”. Stressing only 31,000 of 136,000 persons arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared by the Assad regime are accounted for, she urged the quick deployment of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons to Syria and highlighted the importance of accountability in this “transcendent moment” of political transition.
The Assembly deferred action on two draft resolutions, “United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders” and “Countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes”, to allow time for the review of their programme budget implications by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).
The status of all Third Committee proposals can be viewed on the portal for intergovernmental bodies.
In a separate action, Member States decided to take up a draft resolution (document A/79/L.25) in today’s plenary meeting, adopting it without a vote. By the text, the Assembly proclaimed 2025-2034 as the Second International Decade for People of African Descent.
Third Committee Round-Up
Tensions ran high through the eight-week session of the Third Committee from 3 October to 21 November, as delegates navigated a packed agenda and heavy workload, hearing from 77 special procedure mandate holders and other experts while addressing escalating conflicts, widespread human rights violations, relentless humanitarian crises and the staggering displacement of 123 million people worldwide, with particular attention given to the rights of vulnerable groups, such as women, children, Indigenous Peoples and refugees.
Armed conflict invariably trampled human rights. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that “warfare — if its causes are not addressed — will metastasize into new battle zones”. The prolonged oppression of the Palestinian people and repeating cycles of hatred, death and destruction in the Middle East are a tragic demonstration of this fact. “I cannot underscore enough the desperate survival conditions of Palestinians in Gaza,” he said, noting the systematic denial of humanitarian aid. Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, asserted that major world Powers tacitly allow starvation to be used as a geopolitical weapon. “What the world has learned is that no number of facts, no degree of horror, no amount of death and pain is enough to trigger a global response to starvation or genocide,” he said, characterizing Israel’s actions as a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people.
Francesca P. Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, observed that the brutal 7 October 2023 events created a “vengeful atmosphere,” preparing Israeli soldiers to become “willing executioners” in annihilating the Palestinian people. Navi Pillay, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, added that actions by both Israel forces and Palestine armed groups constitute war crimes. Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on hospitals and deliberately killed or wounded hundreds of medical personnel, including by “sniper fire”. The Commission also documented attacks by Palestinian armed groups on medical staff, facilities and ambulances in Israel on and after 7 October 2023, she said.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grande detailed how conflicts — including in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza — triggered crises that cannot be contained and isolated within national borders. “Left unresolved … these conflicts will continue to spread uncontrollably,” he warned, underlining that Governments seeking to curb migrant and refugee flows through restrictive measures risk violating their international legal obligations. “Building walls and stopping boats does not work,” he stressed, adding that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will help Member States develop legal paths for refugees and migrants. Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, said that at the start of 2024, 76 million people globally were living in internal displacement, with nearly 90 per cent — around 68 million individuals — displaced due to conflict and violence. Accordingly, she underscored that it is “more urgent than ever” to work towards sustainable peace and address the global internal displacement crisis.
The session also featured experts on the rights of women and girls. Ana Peláez Narváez, Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, highlighted the use of gender-based sexual violence as a war tactic to humiliate and relocate communities. She also noted that the treaty body responded to the high toll of women and children killed, wounded and displaced by the ongoing war in the Middle East by adopting statements calling for a ceasefire and including women in peace talks. Laura Nyirinkindi, Chair of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, cited Afghanistan as an example of backsliding on gender equality in its most extreme form, describing the Taliban’s policies and enforcement methods as “gender apartheid”.
Human rights experts also spotlighted increasing violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people globally. Graeme Reid, Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, voiced alarm that violence based on individual’s gender identity or sexual orientation hinders their participation in elections. Similarly, the annual report of Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, gave focus to killings based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Describing the violence as an unacceptable and scandalous “global tragedy”, both he and Reid called on all States to repeal all laws criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct. Speakers for Iraq and Iran rejected the focus of Tidball-Binz’ report as an attempt to legitimize concepts that are not agreed upon within the UN while their Canadian and Finnish counterparts welcomed the report, with the former highlighting the link between harmful conversion therapies and extrajudicial killings.
Turning to new technologies, Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur called on States to establish robust legal and ethical frameworks regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. While AI can make education more inclusive — for persons with disabilities for example — and can help address teacher shortages, it must not replace teachers or hinder the development of social skills. Moreover, without equal access to technology, AI can exacerbate the digital divide, she warned, also cautioning against the commercialization of education by private tech companies. Many delegates echoed her concerns, calling for the digital gap to be closed through international cooperation and aid to the Global South.
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