Acting on the recommendations of its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), the General Assembly adopted 59 resolutions and six decisions today on a range of issues, from women’s rights, terrorism and refugees, to self‑determination and the human rights situations in individual countries.
In progress at UNHQ
General Assembly
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the ongoing implementation of the Umoja enterprise resource planning project throughout the Organization, with delegates calling for greater transparency about the real cost of an ambitious initiative that had slipped behind schedule and surpassed its original cost estimates.
Arbitrary reductions in the resources allocated to the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH) should be avoided, particularly as the country faced continued humanitarian, health and social challenges, delegates told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today as it took up a range of reports, including one related to the human rights situation in Myanmar.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up the Secretary-General’s request today to the General Assembly for $636.6 million to support 34 special political missions during the biennium 2018-2019, with delegates seizing the opportunity to press for substantial changes to the way those missions — almost all of them the creation of the Security Council — were funded.
A draft Security Council resolution reiterating the special status of Jerusalem — and rejecting any attempts to declare Israel’s capital or to establish an embassy there — would likely be submitted as early as Monday, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine told the Palestinian Rights Committee today.
With the second stage of the drawdown of the African Union‑United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) set to begin in February 2018, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the revised budget proposal for that Operation, stressing the importance of prioritizing post‑conflict reconstruction.
The new Mission to monitor Colombia’s historic peace agreement needed adequate funding to ensure it was as effective as the first operation in the country, delegates said as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up the funding of special political missions in 2018.
The General Assembly, acting without a vote, today adopted two resolutions related to the nexus of global health and foreign policy, with one designating 12 December as the annual “International Universal Health Coverage Day” and the other calling for a major summit to be held on the issue in 2019.
Putting into place the flexible working space project at Headquarters should itself be flexible and adaptable in responding to staff needs, speakers told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today as it took up the Secretary‑General’s report on its ongoing implementation.
The General Assembly today adopted seven draft resolutions, among them texts on credentials, the culture of peace and on strengthening the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance.