With COVID‑19 becoming the biggest challenge the global community has faced since the Second World War and the founding of the United Nations 75 years ago, delegates stressed the need to bolster international cooperation in combating its devastating effects, as the Second Committee continued its general debate today.
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), opening its seventy-fifth session today, approved a programme of work, timetable and plans for virtual meetings, given current restrictions at Headquarters related to the COVID‑19 pandemic.
Beyond a global health crisis, COVID-19 has created an economic and humanitarian emergency, pushing those least able to adapt into even more vulnerable positions, the President of the General Assembly told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as he laid out what is at stake after years of gains made in social development.
The devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to hamper vulnerable States, slowing or reversing economic growth and sustainable development, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as it began its general debate today with a keynote address by Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics and University Professor at Columbia University.
Following are UN Deputy Secretary‑General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the briefing on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of the United Nations operational system to the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), today:
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) opened its seventy-fifth session today, with the epic impact of COVID-19 dominating its general debate on social development, as Governments called for solidarity in rebuilding national health, judicial and social protection systems that serve everyone equally, without exception.
Before approving a programme of work for their seventy‑fifth session, delegates of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today vowed to work together as they tackle an ambitious agenda that embraces the Organization’s second annual budget and crucial reforms meant to expand efficiency and transparency.
The world must return to the path of nuclear disarmament towards strengthening global security and diffuse a looming arms race among nations with atomic arsenals, the Secretary‑General told the General Assembly at a high‑level meeting commemorating and promoting the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations General Assembly held its first meeting of the seventy‑fifth session today, introducing its new Bureau and approving its organization of work in a virtual format.
The United Nations human rights office called today for urgent action to address the dire situation of migrants attempting to cross the central Mediterranean Sea in search of safety in Europe, and to tackle the shocking conditions they face in Libya, at sea, and frequently, upon their reception in Europe.
