Poorer nations will feel the full brunt of COVID‑19 as the crisis continues, suffering from rising hunger, poverty and heightened inequities, a United Nations official said today at a joint meeting of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and the Economic and Social Council on productive capacities and the post-pandemic world.
Delegates touched on a range of topics as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its general debate today, with some calling for collective action to end Israel’s impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and others urging the United Nations to redouble its efforts to achieve true multilingualism, especially in the wake of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) continued its debate on human rights today, holding a series of dialogues with United Nations experts who called for a definitive break with exploitative systems that have left the world’s poorest without safe drinking water and healthy food, and struggling to avoid hazardous waste discharged by companies unconcerned by the planetary impact of their operations.
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, set up to continue the vital legal work of bringing to justice the perpetrators of atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, made significant progress over the past year, despite obstacles due to the global health crisis, its President said today as he briefed the General Assembly on developments during the residual courts’ fourth year of functioning.
The United Nations senior management official told members of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today that the Organization’s budget process is locked in a vicious circle of annual liquidity shortages that are hampering the delivery of mandates.
Against the backdrop of profound anxiety wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic and escalating global challenges, the President of the General Assembly today urged Member States to “leave behind the uglier aspects of our history, from conflict to colonialism” and unite around a better future, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) began its annual general debate.
Scholars and human rights defenders warn that technology advances in neuroscience and cognitive psychology may enable access to the very content of human thought, affecting how people think, feel and behave, experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates discussed freedom of thought and religion, and the right to privacy.
Tackling cybersecurity threats that continue to destabilize Governments, infrastructure and regions requires a new programme of action and the collective will to implement it, delegates said today, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) held a daylong thematic debate on several agenda items.
Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan, colliding with the impacts of the COVID‑19 pandemic, have turned into a crisis within a crisis for the millions of people living there, delegates heard today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up the issue of those lands.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) today took up the report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and then commenced the debate on the protection of persons in the event of disasters, speakers highlighted the need for the legal architecture governing both international trade and disaster relief to evolve alongside a rapidly changing world still wrestling with the fallout of COVID‑19.
