During a “once-in-a-generation” year which would see the adoption of the new post-2015 development agenda, the United Nations Department of Public Information had a critical role to play in supporting the ever-expanding activities of the Organization, the Committee on Information was told as it opened its thirty‑seventh session today.
Although the global disarmament and non-proliferation regime had faced a “plethora of obstacles” over a number of years, there was no reason to lose faith, the Chair of the Disarmament Commission told members today, stressing that progress was possible if each State demonstrated the requisite political will.
Acclaiming peacebuilding as central to the international community’s collective efforts to build sustained international stability, speakers at the General Assembly today urged the ongoing review of the topic to explore ways of maximizing the potential of the Peacebuilding Commission.
Nuclear disarmament was at a crossroads, with the Korean peninsula a “touch-and-go powder keg” and the oldest and newest nuclear-weapon States in sharp confrontation with each other, the representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea told the Disarmament Commission today, as Member States concluded the general debate of their annual substantive session.
The United Nations Disarmament Commission’s significance as a platform for dialogue and cooperation had only been heightened in light of current rising global tensions and mistrust, the 193-member subsidiary body heard today during its general debate, moving into the second day of its 2015 session.
With armed violence killing more than 740,000 people each year and the prospects of deeper nuclear arms cuts slim, the United Nations disarmament machinery must end its 15 year-long stalemate so it could tackle those twenty-first century security threats, the Disarmament Commission heard today, although it proved unable to agree on a work programme and begin its substantive debate.
The General Assembly today adopted without a vote eight resolutions and one decision, including one establishing the statute of the United Nations Nelson Mandela Prize and two on promoting cooperation with regional organizations.
Taking action without a vote, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved seven draft texts relating to, among other things, oversight, accountability, procurement, and nine items from the programme budget for the current biennium, as it concluded the first part of its resumed sixty-ninth session.
The rich contributions of women enslaved during the era of the transatlantic slave trade — who suffered dual forms of oppression due to their race and gender — were too often forgotten, said high-level speakers as they addressed the General Assembly’s annual event commemorating the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today rejected a draft decision that would have had the Secretary-General withdraw his bulletin laying out the United Nations current rules for the personal status of staff members used to determine their benefits and entitlements.
