A new arms race and emerging bioterror threats are unfolding as the world tackles the COVID‑19 pandemic and a global economic downturn, the Chair of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) warned today at the start of its annual general debate.
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to wipe out a generation of progress in gender equality, United Nations experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as they led a series of interactive dialogues that explored how best to uphold the rights of women and children amid increases in violence and suffering brought on by new virus-induced realities.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its consideration of measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates held a heated debate, describing the challenges to their countries and their efforts to address and combat the global threat inside and outside their national borders.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to expose glaring weaknesses in the economies of vulnerable States, battering their recovery and requiring assistance from the international community, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as it continued its general debate today.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded its debate on social development today, with delegates drawing attention to the world’s lack of preparedness for COVID-19, a challenge that has exacerbated inequalities between and within countries, raising human rights concerns.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved today its work programme for the seventy‑fifth session of the General Assembly, covering the decolonization of the 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, peacekeeping operations, the plight of Palestine refugees and Israel’s practices affecting the human rights of Palestinians and other Arabs in the occupied territories, among several agenda items.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved a draft resolution that would let three of the four Member States now behind in their contributions to the United Nations budget keep voting in the General Assembly until the end of its seventy-fifth session.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) continued its debate on social development today, with delegates highlighting the ways in which COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated entrenched inequalities and calling for universal distribution of a vaccine, once available, at affordable prices.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its debate on measures to eliminate international terrorism, speakers grappled with the amorphous nature of the global threat, highlighting how — absent a comprehensive international convention — defining and then taking appropriate measures to combat the phenomenon, which continues to defy categorization, remained challenging.
The COVID‑19 pandemic has aggravated the challenges of fighting international terrorism, exacerbating conditions conducive to the threat and increasing the climate of misinformation and distrust, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard today as it took up the Secretary‑General’s report on the subject and approved its work programme for the seventy‑fifth General Assembly session.
