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.
Speakers disagreed on sanctions, the rules governing self-defence, the role of the International Court of Justice and the work of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization as that Committee opened its 2024 session with a spirited debate on how to best implement the Organization’s founding document.
As the 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories continue to face current and future challenges — including the existential threat of climate change — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed today that the Special Committee on Decolonization remains crucial to their successful evolution.
Although peace is the “raison d’être” of the United Nations, it is the one thing missing most dramatically from the world, Secretary-General António Guterres warned the General Assembly today as he laid out his critical priorities for 2024 amid a global landscape roiled by conflict, inequity and intensifying interlocking crises.
