General Assembly

The General Assembly adopted two resolutions in support of Africa’s development today, despite some disagreement among Member States over the inclusion in the texts of language referring to “win-win cooperation”.

The General Assembly commemorated the International Day against Nuclear Weapons Tests today, with delegates deploring the heated tensions between nuclear-armed States — and their diverging views on disarmament — almost 75 years after the first use of atomic bombs.

There is urgent need to safeguard the global consensus on the Palestinian question, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine said today, expressing hope that forthcoming elections in both Israel and the United States will offer a path towards shifting the political dynamics around the two-State formula.

Delegates elaborating the terms of a new treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea pledged to continue negotiating in the spirit of cooperation and good faith, as the Intergovernmental Conference tasked with drafting a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity concluded its third session today.

The General Assembly, acting without a vote, adopted resolutions today on cooperation between the United Nations system and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and on strengthening the implementation of international environmental law in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, while also completing the election of Vice-Presidents for its seventy-fourth session.

Experts drafting a new global instrument on biodiversity in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction today deliberated which stakeholders — ranging from adjacent coastal States to indigenous peoples to the general public — should be consulted about planned activities under the treaty, as well as their potential role in environmental impact assessments.

Experts working to draft a new treaty on biodiversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction today weighed provisions aimed at prohibiting States from claiming sovereignty over marine genetic resources in those areas, with speakers diverging on the question of whether their use is the “common heritage of mankind”.

Continuing negotiations to draft a new treaty on biodiversity in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction, delegates today deliberated who should be entitled to make proposals related to area-based management tools under the auspices of the new instrument, as well as which broader principles should underpin them.

Delegates working to draft a new treaty on biodiversity in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction today continued to tackle issues related to capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology — widely viewed as crucial to help developing countries implement the new instrument — as negotiations entered their second week.

Experts working to negotiate a new treaty on biodiversity in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction today deliberated ways to govern marine genetic resources — namely, materials of real or potential value — as well as the specific types of resources to be regulated and the sharing of benefits arising from them.