The General Assembly today took an important step towards correcting distortions in commonly used world maps, particularly the Mercator projection, which are seen misrepresenting the relative size of continents and contribute to a diminished perception of Africa and other equatorial regions.
Despite concerns from several delegations that the process was rushed, the General Assembly decided this morning to merge the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
The General Assembly took stock of the activities of the United Nations Youth Office today, including the implementation of its 2025–2028 strategic plan, with delegates using the opportunity to discuss youth participation in multilateral processes, their economic inclusion and their access to education and skills.
Desperate conditions prevail throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People heard today, as humanitarian actors detailed inadequate funding to address dire need as another winter threatens to make things even worse.
There is “no safe space left” in Ukraine as every part of the country “has been a target”, the General Assembly heard today, as Member States expressed alarm over reports that Kyiv had come under attack for the sixth consecutive day.
Meeting to commemorate the International Day against Nuclear Tests 35 years after the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site, speakers in the General Assembly today used the occasion to reflect on why testing moratoria must be upheld, as they also adopted resolutions related to greening the planet, missing persons, safe artificial intelligence (AI) and the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the work of the United Nations.
After taking stock of progress towards Security Council reform and looking ahead to future negotiations on that topic, the General Assembly today adopted several texts relating to upcoming reviews and meetings, as well as to its Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).
Following fraught deliberations on its reappointment of the standing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for another four-year term, the General Assembly today also adopted several draft texts concerning sustainable development, peace and international law.
As experts warned that road traffic crashes have become a silent pandemic and called on the international community to build transport systems that put people first, a text in which Governments around the world committed to improve road safety was put to a vote in the General Assembly today.
In a high-level meeting to review implementation of the New Urban Agenda 10 years after its adoption, speakers in the General Assembly today both underscored the connection between urban policy and sustainable development and urged renewed action towards both given flagging global progress.
