Acting unanimously today, the General Assembly decided on an exceptional basis to provide Angola — which had stood poised to graduate from the United Nations list of least developed countries — with an additional preparatory period of three years, in light of socioeconomic vulnerabilities exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The unresolved question of Palestine underlines the continuing importance of the Palestinian Rights Committee, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said today, during that body’s first formal meeting of 2021, warning that unliteral actions jeopardize the possibility of restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening meeting of the 2021 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, held today:
The Peacebuilding Commission will seek to strengthen its advisory, bridging and convening roles, with a focus on engaging all actors to prioritize “impact” in support of national peacebuilding objectives, its new Chair said today, outlining the body’s work plan for 2021.
The General Assembly concluded its discussion of the Secretary-General’s report on the work of the United Nations today, taking note of his report (document A/75/1), as delegates resoundingly called for a renewed multilateralism that prioritizes the needs of countries in varying degrees of distress as they struggle to emerge stronger than ever from the onslaught of COVID-19.
Following a year of devastating economic, social and development setbacks, Secretary-General António Guterres briefed the General Assembly today on his urgent priorities for 2021, calling upon nations to embrace bold, green and equitable shifts “or risk locking the world into harmful practices for decades to come”.
Calling for greater efforts to promote a culture of tolerance and peace at all levels, the General Assembly adopted a resolution today inviting the Secretary‑General to convene a global conference aimed at advancing the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites, involving Governments, political figures, religious leaders, civil society and the media, among other stakeholders.
Citing concerns over COVID-19, the General Assembly decided today to postpone, until 10-12 May 2021, the organizational session of the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the virtual commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York today:
The COVID-19 pandemic cast a long shadow over what should have been a celebratory seventy-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly, forcing Member States to adopt unprecedented working methods as world leaders grappled with the far-reaching consequences of the worst global health crisis in a century on top of long-standing issues ranging from climate change and poverty eradication to human rights and arms control.
