A team handling the liquidation of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS) could be smaller, the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as he recommended that the Mission’s proposed budget for 2024 be reduced accordingly.
General Assembly: Meetings Coverage
Managers who don’t implement the recommendations of oversight bodies — including on staff recruitment from unrepresented and underrepresented countries — should be held accountable, speakers told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today during a discussion on strengthening the United Nations culture of accountability.
The use of the Security Council veto by the United States to block an Algerian draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza only emboldens Israel to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people, speakers warned the General Assembly today, stressing that the humanitarian situation in the enclave is catastrophic and worsening as a result.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined the resources required to operationalize a new institution tasked with finding the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons in Syria, as several delegates raised objections to establishing and funding the mechanism approved by the General Assembly in 2023.
Lamenting the Security Council’s inability to call for a ceasefire while the entire world demands one, speakers in the General Assembly today drew attention to the mounting death toll and famine in Gaza, while Israel condemned the United Nations for collaborating with terrorists.
The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization concluded its annual session today without the adoption of a full draft report due to disagreements on language concerning the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The Committee approved Chapter I of the report and forwarded it to the General Assembly.
The General Assembly adopted four resolutions today on issues ranging from sustainable tourism to durable peace in Africa to the World Social Summit in 2025, as it also concluded its general debate on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) resumed its seventy-eighth session amid the cash crunch confronting the Organization, delegates pressed all States to pay their assessed contributions and ensure that the Organization’s staff represents the world it serves, in terms of geographical representation and gender parity.
In a meeting held to mark the two-year anniversary of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, many speakers stressed the continued need for a united front against a war whose inimical impacts extended far beyond the borders of Ukraine, emphasizing its repercussions on food and energy insecurity, as well as its erosion of the principles of the United Nations Charter and undermining of international law.
On a complex global landscape marred by conflict, United Nations peacekeeping remains vital for protecting civilian populations, averting festering hostilities and preventing violence, speakers stressed today as the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations held the first meeting of its 2024 session, further underscoring the need for missions to adapt to evolving threats.