During the International Court of Justice’s annual visit to the Sixth Committee (Legal), its President emphasized that people’s rights are the ultimate concern of international law, as he spoke about the place of the individual in the Court’s jurisprudence and highlighted the significant increase involving human rights aspects.
Sexual violence in conflict includes acts such as “shooting at genitalia”, “inserting foreign objects” into reproductive and sexual organs or “mutilating or electrocuting genitals”, an expert on torture told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, proposing more robust legal frameworks to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable.
The world is facing new and emerging technological threats, coupled with an increasingly unstable international environment and a blatant disregard by some States for international law, Ireland’s delegate today told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), which concluded its thematic debate on other disarmament measures and international security.
The Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its discussion of the first cluster of topics from the International Law Commission’s annual report today, with statements centring on the nature of States as legal entities — be that in the context of their continuity amidst rising seas, or their ability to effectively conduct their affairs by guaranteeing certain immunities to officials acting on their behalf.
The inherent right to self-defence should “never be misconstrued as a free pass to commit atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity”, the representative of Myanmar told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today in its thematic debate on conventional weapons.
“The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) must not blind us to its limitations and potential risks,” an educational rights expert warned the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it also heard reports on cultural rights, freedom of religion, extreme poverty and other topics.
The General Assembly today, amidst several demands, called for increased funding for the operations of the International Court of Justice, as it debated pressing legal issues worldwide.
Highlighting a sharp rise in the proliferation and use of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on behalf of the Core Group of countries, the delegate for Portugal told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) that recent developments regarding their manufacturing with commercial parts and components pose several ethical, humanitarian and legal challenges related to responsibility and accountability.
Troubled by the ongoing liquidity crisis impeding the United Nations’ ability to deliver on its mandates, delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today emphasized that Member States’ timely payments of assessed contributions to the regular budget is crucial. Delegates voiced their displeasure that Member States with the highest arrears have aggravated the Organization’s financial situation, noting that there are about $1.5 billion in unpaid regular budget assessments at the end of the third quarter, the highest amount in four years.
Continuing their debate on the first cluster of topics from the International Law Commission’s annual report, speakers in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today weighed in on how international law should address novel topics — such as how rising sea levels will affect the rights of States submerged — and complex ones, such as how to uphold immunity while avoiding impunity.
