General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

CARACAS, 14 May — “Our work is unfinished” declared Menissa Rambally of Saint Lucia, Chair of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (also known as the Special Committee of 24 or as “C-24”), during the first day of the 2024 Caribbean regional seminar of the Special Committee on Decolonization. She noted that Venezuela’s hosting of the seminar “is indicative of its robust dedication to the decolonization agenda”.

The General Assembly resumed its tenth emergency special session today to continue its debate on the admission of new Members of the United Nations.

During its resumed tenth emergency special session, the General Assembly adopted a resolution that — as of 10 September 2024 — upgrades Palestine’s rights at the United Nations as an observer State, urging the Security Council to favourably consider its full membership.

The United Nations senior management official told delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today that the United Nations 2024 regular budget has the potential to be “as bad or worse” than year-end 2023 unless collections significantly exceed the average of the last five years.

The representative of Mali called for the necessary resources to ensure the stabilization mission in his country can liquidate its operations on schedule by year’s end, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined the proposed 2024/25 budgets for that mission as well as two other peacekeeping operations and their logistics and support entities.

In a world racked by increasing conflict and distrust among nations, three world leaders told the General Assembly today that a robust multilateralism system led by the United Nations is more needed than ever.

With the sharp escalation of threats to security in and from outer space, a legally binding agreement to preserve its peaceful nature is pivotal, speakers told the General Assembly today, in a meeting sparked by a veto cast by the Russian Federation, blocking a draft resolution on 24 April that aimed to prevent an arms race in outer space in all its aspects, including through the obligation not to place in Earth’s orbit any objects carrying weapons of mass destruction.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) began the second part of its resume session today to consider a proposed $5.7 billion budget for nearly a dozen peacekeeping missions around the globe from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, delegates stressed the need for careful management of the Organization’s resources during a period of ongoing financial constraint.

As speakers discussed the importance of collective efforts to promote a culture of peace in a world torn by conflict and crisis, the General Assembly today adopted a draft resolution in pursuit of that goal, in addition to draft texts on a variety of other topics.

The Security Council has once again failed to act in the face of the crisis that has escalated for six months in Gaza, imperiling peace and security and causing unchecked suffering and devastation, speakers told the General Assembly today, in a meeting sparked by a veto cast by the United States, blocking a draft resolution on 18 April that would have granted the State of Palestine full membership in the United Nations