Reform efforts currently under way are designed to help the Department of Public Information become more agile in operation and have a greater impact on communications, both within the United Nations and in relation to external stakeholders and the public, the Organization’s head of public information told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) as it began its consideration of questions relating to information today.
Exchanging views on ways to break a languishing disarmament impasse, including by assuring all non‑nuclear‑weapon States against the use or threat of atomic bombs, delegates of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today began a thematic discussion on nuclear weapons.
Millions of people risk being left behind due to the impact of rapid technological change, the General Assembly heard today as speakers called for increased cooperation to harness the positive and transformative power of technology to improve the livelihood of people around the world.
The recent “shocking” case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is only one of thousands of enforced disappearances and the international community must stand firm in denouncing such crimes, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it continued its debate on human rights.
Speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today welcomed a 5.2 per cent reduction in the projected cost of replacing semi‑permanent office blocks at the United Nations Office at Nairobi that date back to the 1970s, but expressed concern that a seismic mitigation retrofit and life‑cycle replacements project at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) premises in Bangkok is running the risk of going over budget.
Protection of diplomatic and consular representatives — as well as the security and inviolability of diplomatic and consular missions, their archives, documents and communications — is one of the pillars upon which international relations rests, speakers stressed while voicing concern at rising attacks on missions and personnel around the world, as the Sixth Committee (Legal) took up the matter today.
Marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty today, delegates noted the persistent scourge of extreme global poverty and called for increased aid and development to tackle it as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up the issue.
A shift in States’ legal obligations when countering terrorism, the negative impacts of unilateral coercive measures and the right to development were among the many topics experts covered in briefings to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates engaged with them in lively interactive dialogues.
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is essential to ensuring that the legacies of the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals endure, the General Assembly heard today, as speakers considered the Mechanism’s first year as a “stand‑alone institution”.
Casting a spotlight on regional efforts to advance common disarmament goals, delegates in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) addressed the current and potential contribution of nuclear‑weapon‑free zones to global peace and security, as the Committee concluded its general debate and began its thematic segment.
