The General Assembly today commemorated anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, with high-level plenary meetings that included a dedicated award ceremony honouring the 2018 recipients of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.
The General Assembly endorsed the Global Compact on Refugees today — an historic agreement aiming to forge a stronger and fairer response to refugee movements — as it adopted 53 resolutions and 6 decisions recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).
The General Assembly today adopted a resolution urging the Russian Federation to withdraw its military forces from Crimea and end its temporary occupation of Ukraine’s territory without delay, but rejected an amendment that would have called on both sides to investigate an incident in November involving the seizure of three Ukrainian vessels and crew.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up a raft of reports from the Secretary-General today on topics as varied as the revised budget for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to the ongoing deployment of flexible workspace at Headquarters, in addition to the programme budget implications of several draft resolutions going before the General Assembly.
The General Assembly today adopted four resolutions on coordinating humanitarian and disaster relief aid, as Member States echoed concerns that global crises and attacks on humanitarian personnel continue to increase as millions of people are forcibly displaced worldwide.
As the General Assembly considered seven draft resolutions today on issues ranging from the return of cultural property to education for democracy, speakers held a contentious debate, resulting in a recorded vote on two texts tackling global health, as well as one on the fortifying of ties between the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Speakers at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today reviewed the performance report for the first year of the Organization’s 2018‑2019 budget cycle, while deliberating on the financial resources for about three dozen special political missions, as well as the new Mission in Iraq tasked with investigating crimes committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh).
The General Assembly today adopted four resolutions which promote a culture of peace, tolerance, diplomacy and multilateralism, before filling vacancies in the Committee for Programme and Coordination, as well as in the Committee on Conferences.
The General Assembly today adopted two texts on the oceans and seas linked to the implementation of the landmark 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with speakers asserting during the annual debate on the matter that healthy, productive, resilient oceans and seas are central to sustainable development.
Speakers at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged the Secretary-General to move on filling a director’s post at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in Arusha while supporting a $303,500 revision in the nearly $200 million appropriation that is keeping the crucial legal mechanism running smoothly during the 2018-2019 budget cycle.
