Just over a decade is all that remains to stop irreversible damage from climate change, world leaders heard today as the General Assembly opened a high‑level meeting on the relationship between the phenomenon and sustainable development.
Discussions on a new high seas treaty centred today on which stakeholders — from civil society and indigenous peoples to coastal States and the private sector — should be invited to decide how to protect the biological diversity of the world’s oceans.
Updating the Palestinian Rights Committee on recent developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the observer for the State of Palestine today cautioned that the international community’s inaction, blanket support from the United States President and hate speech by Israeli politicians in the run‑up to Israel’s presidential elections in April has emboldened the occupying Power.
Delegates underlined a need to clarify how a new high seas treaty will interact with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea today as the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity entered its third day.
The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations concluded its 2019 session today with the approval of a report containing a technical summary of its work, even as members were unable to reach consensus on the report’s substantive elements.
With the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime diversity treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea continuing its second substantive session today, delegates debated how best to share the benefits of marine genetic resources and how to monitor their use in areas beyond national jurisdictions.
Increased cooperation and recognizing the needs of developing States must lead discussions towards a legally binding convention to govern the high seas, delegates said, as an intergovernmental conference to draft the first‑ever treaty addressing the ocean’s biological diversity opened its second substantive session.
Speakers sounded the alarm over the rise of nationalist populism and supremacist ideologies around the world today as the General Assembly commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
United Nations entities and their senior managers have been given delegated authority to make decisions, but they are also held accountable for results, speakers said today, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) examined ways to improve the Organization’s accountability.
Speakers considered the impact on staff and spending, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today reviewed some key proposals to better serve United Nations Secretariat staff worldwide and achieve greater efficiency in the procurement of goods and services annually costing the Organization $3 billion.
