The General Assembly, acting without a vote, adopted three resolutions and one decision today, including one calling for a further comprehensive review of United Nations peacebuilding in 2025 and another proclaiming 4 February as the International Day of Human Fraternity.
The General Assembly proclaimed 31 August as the International Day for People of African Descent today, seeking to promote greater recognition and respect for the diverse heritage, culture and contribution of people of African descent to the development of societies, as it adopted 48 resolutions and one decision recommended by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).
The General Assembly today reaffirmed the vital role of the Sixth Committee (Legal) as its primary forum for considering legal questions, adopting without a vote 19 draft resolutions and 10 draft decisions recommended by the Committee, including four new requests for observer status.
Delegates struck a cautiously hopeful note as the General Assembly completed its special session dedicated to the COVID‑19 pandemic, while stressing the need for multilateral approaches to distributing vaccines and mitigating the pandemic’s wide-ranging fallout.
Against the backdrop of the COVID‑19 pandemic, the General Assembly adopted two health‑related resolutions this morning — one, by recorded vote, underscoring the importance of affordable health care for all and of monitoring the unfolding impact of the novel coronavirus, and another, by consensus, declaring 2021 to 2030 as the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing.
The General Assembly adopted four humanitarian-focused resolutions today, with delegates warning of ever-growing challenges in 2021 as the broader effects of the COVID‑19 pandemic — including prolonged economic hardship and threat of major famine — begin to take hold.
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the Virtual Peacebuilding Commission Meeting on Sierra Leone, today:
Upon the recommendation of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the General Assembly adopted 34 draft resolutions and 3 draft decisions today, on questions ranging from the Israeli‑Palestinian conflict and decolonization to the effects of atomic radiation and the peaceful uses of outer space.
Citing the threat posed by chronic terrorist violence in Afghanistan, delegates commended fresh progress in peace talks and exchanged views on the best way to help the nation move into a new era of stability and prosperity, as the General Assembly adopted, by a recorded vote, its annual resolution on the situation in the country.
In a contentious debate, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) rejected two amendments to its draft resolution on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review by recorded vote, later approving that text as a whole by another vote.
