Continuing its emergency special session today, the General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing that the Russian Federation’s military offensive inside Ukraine — and its humanitarian consequences — are on a scale that the international community has not seen in Europe in many decades.
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General Assembly: Meetings Coverage
The General Assembly resumed its emergency special session today to discuss two competing draft resolutions on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine — one that implicates the Russian Federation’s military offensive in the unfolding humanitarian crisis and the other that makes no mention of Moscow’s aggression against its neighbour.
The Special Committee on Decolonization decided today to hold the 2022 Pacific Regional Seminar in Castries, Saint Lucia, from 11 to 13 May, with a view to evaluating the colonial status of the 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories that remain under its purview.
As the Intergovernmental Conference, tasked with drafting a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity, concluded its fourth session today, delegates decided to hold a fifth session with the goal of finalizing a new treaty and stressed the need to facilitate greater participation to allow all countries and communities to have a say in how marine resources existing outside of national jurisdiction should be shared.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated rising, pervasive and deeply rooted systemic racism around the world that must be dismantled and exorcised — including through reparations — speakers said today as the General Assembly commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, observed annually on 21 March, date of the 1960 massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa.
A resolution proclaiming 15 March as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly today, along with three other texts addressing the difficulties facing widows, the preservation of rangelands and a call to integrate bicycles into public transportation methods.
The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations approved today a procedural report on its 2022 session after failing to win approval of substantive updates.
Amid praise for efforts to strengthen the United Nations internal anti-corruption measures, ensure gender parity and promote high standards of competence among its staff, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today pointed to continued imbalances in the equitable geographic representation among Secretariat employees and limited career prospects for existing personnel as major sources of concern.
While relieved that the United Nations liquidity crisis has eased for now, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today voiced their concerns for the long-term financial health of the Organization and its ability to keep delivering on the mandates set forth by the General Assembly, as the United Nations Controller provided an update on the financial situation.
The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization approved its 2022 draft report today, as it concluded its annual session following a heated debate on the principles of the maintenance of international peace and security amid the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine.