As of 30 April, the United Nations’ regular budget collections have trailed estimates and fallen significantly below last year’s levels, the Organization’s top finance official reported to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, urging Member States to expedite their payments and communicate their payment plans promptly.
Approving two resolutions regarding the work of the Department of Global Communications as well as on ensuring equity in access to information, the United Nations Committee on Information concluded its forty-seventh session today.
Marking the eightieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, speakers in the General Assembly today paid solemn tribute to the millions who gave their lives in defense of “freedoms too often taken for granted” and underscored the urgent need to recommit to multilateralism, as conflicts continue to rage from the Middle East to Ukraine.
As peacekeeping missions continue to evolve in complexity and size and mandates, the Fifth Committee began its consideration of the budget for the support account for those operations during the upcoming fiscal cycle and listened to the findings of a comprehensive review of that account.
As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened the second part of its resumed session today, delegates began consideration of the proposed $5.5 billion budget for United Nations peacekeeping operations for the period from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, emphasizing the need for stringent oversight of the Organization’s resources amid a deepening cash crisis.
Four and half months after the fall of the Assad regime, the recently appointed head of the entity investigating violent crimes committed in Syria since the start of its civil war highlighted new hope that justice will be served.
"In the digital age, access to information has expanded, but the threat of disinformation and hate speech has become more precise." This was the clear conclusion of the Israeli delegation on the second day of the general debate of the Committee on Information, which is holding its forty-seventh session until 9 May.
At a time when it is engaged, with the UN80 Initiative, in a transformation aimed at making it more effective, the United Nations must more than ever demonstrate its relevance, an effort to which the Department of Global Communications is contributing by shaping a healthy “information ecosystem”, said Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for the Department, as she opened the forty-seventh session of the Committee on Information today.
The commission tasked with preparing for the entry into force of a new treaty on marine biodiversity concluded its first session today, completing its deliberations on issues including governance, the instrument’s Clearing-House Mechanism, financial and procedural rules, subsidiary bodies established by the accord and arrangements to enhance cooperation with other bodies.
After three weeks of discussions, the Disarmament Commission concluded its 2025 substantive session today, with the approval of its draft report to the General Assembly, as well as the reports of its two working groups — all by consensus.
