Delegates of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged each other to build on their momentum as they consider the Secretariat’s $6.8 billion budget for 11 peacekeeping operations and agree on a financing device for peacebuilding activities.
Prior to adopting three draft resolutions tackling infrastructure connectivity, voluntary national reviews and cooperation with the Council of Europe, the General Assembly held its first ever formal debate on the use of the veto in the Security Council, with speakers deliberating the impact of the new transparency and accountability mechanism — enabled by resolution 76/262 — and its role in enhancing the General Assembly’s functions while achieving legitimacy in the use of the veto.
Concerned by a tidal wave of pressing global challenges from the spike in misinformation and disinformation to widening digital gaps, delegates today underscored the essentiality of multilingualism while outlining several concrete recommendations for the United Nations Department of Global Communications, as the Committee on Information concluded the general debate of its forty-fifth session.
Emphasizing the importance of trustworthy, verifiable information in a world beset with crises and in an environment rife with inaccurate reports, delegates today commended an ongoing initiative by the Department of Global Communications to draft a code of conduct to promote integrity in public information, while urging it to mainstream multilingualism and redouble efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation.
Briefing the General Assembly today, the Head of the Mechanism established to advance justice in Syria reported on that body’s continuing efforts over the past year, detailing its work with jurisdictions and investigations, but noting in light of increasing demand for its services that predictable financing through the regular budget and voluntary contributions by Member States are essential for it to continue serving the interests of victims, survivors and their families.
Amid a plethora of global, overlapping crises on the United Nations agenda, the Department of Global Communications remains guided by a systematic, data‑driven approach focused on audiences and impact as it communicates facts, captures imaginations and conveys hope, its top official told the Committee on Information during the opening of the forty-fifth session today.
After three weeks of discussions, the Disarmament Commission concluded its 2023 substantive session today, with the approval by consensus of its draft report to the General Assembly, as well as the reports of its subsidiary bodies.
The General Assembly adopted today by consensus three decisions and five resolutions, including resolution the Fifth Committee’s (Administrative and Budgetary) first comprehensive resolution on human resources management in more than six years.
Concluding its resumed session today debating on whether to codify the International Law Commission’s draft articles on crimes against humanity into a convention, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard oral reports from co-facilitators on the draft articles’ five Thematic Clusters, as speakers emphasized the need to end such crimes, with some expressing readiness to negotiate a new international instrument.
Recommendations by the International Law Commission are not binding and accepting them is “entirely in the hands of Member States”, a United Nations senior principal legal officer told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today during its resumed session, as he briefed delegates on the Commission’s procedure with the General Assembly and its process in drafting the articles on prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.