The General Assembly today adopted several resolutions on a variety of topics, including one stressing the need to return cultural property to countries of origin, with Member States emphasizing the importance of adhering to regulations safeguarding such artefacts, amid an unprecedented increase in trafficking and attacks against them during armed conflict.
While supporting the Secretariat’s request for $62.3 million to keep the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals running smoothly in 2025, some delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today voiced concerns with the uneven impact upcoming cutbacks would have on the Mechanism’s operations in Arusha.
Highlighting the dire humanitarian condition in the Gaza Strip, delegates underscored the urgent need to put an end to the conflict and for measures to contain the civilian population’s suffering, as the General Assembly today resumed its tenth emergency special session on illegal Israeli actions in Occupied Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. (For background, see Press Release GA/12625.)
Acting today on the recommendations of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) and Sixth Committee (Legal), the General Assembly today adopted a total of 65 texts, including 49 resolutions and 16 decisions addressing a wide range of international concerns tackling, among others, the effects of atomic radiation and support for the Palestinian refugee agency, as well as the codification of two international binding treaties on crimes against humanity and the protection of persons in disasters.
The General Assembly today emphasized that a two-State solution remains the “only path to lasting peace” in the Middle East, adopting three resolutions to advance this goal, with speakers overwhelmingly urging a Gaza ceasefire and pressing Israel to permit food and aid deliveries into the enclave ahead of the cold winter months.
Delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today threw their support behind the Secretariat’s request for $4.98 million in additional funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in 2025 and called on Member States to step up their voluntary contributions.
Delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged the Secretariat to bolster its budget and financial management activities after considering 18 reports issued by the United Nations top auditing watchdog as part of its annual review of the Organization’s finances.
The General Assembly, in two meetings today, acted on the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), adopting 72 texts requiring nearly 200 separate recorded votes.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded its seventy-ninth session today, approving four draft resolutions and two draft decisions on a range of topics, with a vote on a text taking up international tax cooperation.
Delegates in the General Assembly took turns today to express their regret over the Russian Federation’s recent vetoing of a Security Council resolution concerning the situation in Sudan, stressing that such action translates to immense and continued suffering in that strife-torn country.
