The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sent the General Assembly 10 nominations to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) — which plays a crucial role in helping the Fifth Committee examine the Organization’s budget and manage its employees — while delivering 27 additional recommendations to the Assembly for four other of its subsidiary bodies and the International Civil Service Commission.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) took up the Secretary‑General’s report on the Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law (document A/75/389), delegates praised its unique contribution to promoting the rule of law by providing high quality, accessible training in international law education, even during an unprecedented pandemic.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved 22 draft resolutions and one draft decision concerning decolonization today, as it completed its work for the main part of the General Assembly’s seventy-fifth session.
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today approved 14 drafts, among them several aimed at stemming the spread of illicit weapons on Earth and at preventing a celestial arms race, and also defeated a motion questioning its competence to approve a text on reducing threats in outer space.
The General Assembly decided today that Headquarters will host a special session at the level of Heads of State and Government on 3 and 4 December in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic. It also debated the annual report of the Human Rights Council and earmarked 1 December for a special solemn meeting in memory of the victims of the Second World War.
In lieu of International Law Week - rendered impossible due to COVID‑19 - the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard oral reports from the Chair‑Designate and the Secretary of the International Law Commission today, as delegates, praising the Commission’s adaptation of work methods around the pandemic’s limitations, spotlighted the importance of its recent issuance of the first issues paper on sea‑level rise in relation to international law.
Continuing its joint general debate today, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved seven draft resolutions concerning Israeli practices in occupied Arab lands and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as well as five additional texts on various subjects.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) took up the Secretary‑General’s annual report on the Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts (document A/75/263), some speakers highlighted the importance of ratifying the Protocols universally, while others voiced reservations based on their national experience.
Approving five draft resolutions aimed at curbing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) rejected one that would have had the Security Council consider complaints of incidents involving biological and chemical weapon use, as delegates expressed divergent views on ways to hold perpetrators accountable, with some cautioning against politically driven proposals.
The General Assembly concluded its debate on the report of the International Court of Justice today, with speakers describing the growing docket of the principal United Nations judicial organ as a sign of rising confidence among Member States in the authority and legitimacy of its judgements and advisory opinions.
