General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly today elected Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Latvia and Liberia as non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two-year term beginning on 1 January 2026.

Pledging to serve the international community as “an honest broker and unifier”, Annalena Baerbock of Germany was elected as President of the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly — the fifth woman to serve in that post in 80 years.

The Security Council today adopted the draft of its annual report to the General Assembly, which covers the 15-nation organ’s work from 1 January to 31 December 2024.

Switzerland’s representative today urged the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) to stay the course on the United Nations’ nearly decade-long project to renovate its historic Geneva headquarters — a call that comes as those offices, along with UN Headquarters in New York, face the prospect of relocating staff to less expensive duty stations.

Member States clashed over how to manage civil society participation in the upcoming high-level meeting on the thirtieth anniversary of the World Programme of Action for Youth, as the General Assembly convened today to take action on a range of matters.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) continues its second resumed session today, delegates will consider cross-cutting issues under their agenda item “administrative and budgetary aspects of financing UN peacekeeping operations”.

A severe cash shortfall is forcing the United Nations to slash spending and freeze hiring, jeopardizing its ability to deliver on mandated programmes and exposing the Organization to growing reputational risk, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today, as Member States explored potential solutions to the liquidity crisis.

“We are doing this work because States are not,” civil society activists told the United Nations today at a special consultation on their initiatives to ensure accountability for Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Palestinians are racialized as a security threat, because they — we — refuse to disappear,” the Palestinian Rights Committee heard today from a scholar who spoke at a special event remembering the seventy-seventh anniversary of the Nakba.

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.