Twenty six donors today announced contributions, or their intention to contribute, to the 2015 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as officials estimated that the chronically underfunded Agency would begin the year facing a $35 million deficit.
In a meeting held today to observe the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, representatives of the General Assembly said the role of the family was essential in promoting social stability and economic development and that families should be afforded the same rights, importance, and dignity as individuals.
The General Assembly would urge parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to facilitate the transfer of technology for the effective implementation of the Convention in accordance with its provisions, according to one of four draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).
The General Assembly today, closely following the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), where delegates had record-breaking participation and, as in past sessions, accorded priority attention to nuclear weapons, adopted 57 resolutions and six decisions, requiring 47 recorded votes in all, including on separate provisions of texts.
The General Assembly would call upon the United Nations system and the international community to assist Caribbean countries in their efforts to ensure the protection of the Caribbean Sea from degradation, according to one of four draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today discussed the Organization’s efforts to develop a contemporary information and communications technology system that will ramp up the system’s security, reduce its severe fragmentation and finally envelope peacekeeping operations.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded its work today, approving a total of 62 draft resolutions, which were expected to be taken up by the General Assembly the following month.
By the terms of one of six draft resolutions that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved this afternoon, the General Assembly would express serious concern at the lack of progress in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations and would reiterate the call for the necessary flexibility and political will needed to break the current impasse in the negotiations.
As the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 18 draft resolutions, with 14 without a vote, delegations voiced concerns regarding four texts including one on the report of the Human Rights Council, debating whether that body had been politicized, thus undermining its legitimacy and credibility.
Offering a range of solutions for moving the Middle East peace process forward, while regretting the steps backward due to escalation of violence in recent months, the General Assembly adopted six draft resolutions today by recorded vote on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East overall.
