General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

The Special Committee on Decolonization met today to approve the guidelines and rules of procedure for its 2023 Pacific Regional Seminar, which will be held in Bali, Indonesia, from 24 to 26 May.

The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations today approved without a vote a substantive report on its 2023 session as orally amended, concluding its work, which was held at United Nations Headquarters from 21 February to 15 March.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting today urged the Secretariat to uphold its commitment to a strong accountability system, a core component of the Organization’s effective management reform.

The General Assembly today adopted by consensus two decisions, one on the 2024 session of the Economic and Social Council and its high-level political forum on sustainable development and the other on the upcoming 2023 United Nations Water Conference.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) resumed its seventy-seventh session, speakers today called on colleagues to help the Secretariat rejuvenate the Organization by creating a more efficient, agile and dynamic system for managing thousands of employees around the globe, while chiding each other for failing to agree in the past five years on ways to overhaul the human resources system.

Following nearly 36 hours of non-stop negotiations, the Intergovernmental Conference today reached agreement on the text for a historic new maritime biodiversity treaty, as it adjourned its fifth resumed session.

As the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime biodiversity treaty convened on the eve of the closure of its resumed fifth session, some delegations expressed concern that discussions have gone beyond the Conference’s scope or are not adequately addressing the needs of geographically and economically vulnerable groups of countries, underscoring that the Conference’s outcome must align with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

As the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime biodiversity treaty continued its resumed fifth session, the Secretary-General sent a message to delegations, urging them to adopt a robust and ambitious agreement that advances ocean health for future generations.

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization today failed to approve its annual draft report as a whole, approving instead one section of the text to forward to the General Assembly, as members concluded their 2023 session without consensus on several elements.

The Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime biodiversity treaty continued its resumed fifth session today, as the President of the Conference, underscoring that “the time is ticking”, urged delegations to focus on the “must-dos” and “must-haves” to close on the text.