General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today threw their support behind the Secretariat’s request for nearly $21 million to let special political missions in Haiti and Colombia carry out expanded mandates in 2024. Representatives also backed $3.67 million in additional funding to support two General Assembly resolutions approved during its seventy-seventh session to help revitalize the Assembly’s work and to turn a global marine biodiversity pact into a reality.

With the sustainability of the non-proliferation regime under strain, the geopolitical context unpredictable, and perils to peace capricious and complex, the General Assembly today adopted 55 resolutions and 1 decision on the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) with most failing to achieve consensus.

The General Assembly today designated 7 September as World Duchenne Awareness Day, to be observed as a United Nations day every year, beginning in 2024, as it held its annual debate on global health, with speakers expressing deep alarm over the persistent and deadly spread of tuberculosis.

Optimistic that interlinked reform processes juxtaposed with improved service delivery within the United Nations will reinvigorate the Sustainable Development Goals at all levels and redirect savings towards development and carrying out the UN’s mandate, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today called for more detailed information and data on the concept.

Peace and security can never be achieved by “wiping out Gaza” or by crushing the skulls of infants and shedding the blood of children, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine told a special meeting of the Palestinian Rights Committee today to observe the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Opening a day-long meeting on the question of Palestine, the General Assembly President warned that the longer the fear, distrust, appetite for revenge, hatred and anxiety fester and further deepen, the more lethal the psychological chasm grows, and the darker the shadow it will cast over generations to come.

Speakers requested more details as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the Secretariat’s request for a $2.56 million infusion of capital to establish 19 new posts in the Department of Safety and Security in 2024, while also supporting proposed funding to keep the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia running smoothly next year.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today concluded its seventy-eighth session, approving nine draft resolutions and two draft decisions on a range of topics, voting on a draft addressing international tax cooperation.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved 16 resolutions on a range of topics, from information and communications technologies for sustainable development to agriculture development, food security and nutrition, with 14 of the texts approved by consensus.

Recognizing and advocating the importance of a rancour-free and non-retaliatory work environment made possible by amicably mediated disputes, delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today called for sustained efforts in entrenching the principles of accountability, due process and the rule of law at the United Nations, at the same time strengthening these processes to also accommodate non-staff personnel.