While welcoming the overall sound financial health of the United Nations, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting today expressed concern about the potential of the employee benefits liabilities decimating the regular budget over time should it remain unfunded.
In progress at UNHQ
General Assembly
Israeli occupation and natural resource exploitation continued to hamper social and economic development in the occupied State of Palestine and the Syrian Golan, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as it discussed those territories today.
Millions of people across the world were without access to food, education and housing, with poverty the main obstacle to realizing their basic human rights, special mandate‑holders told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.
The interaction between the Sixth Committee (Legal) and the International Law Commission was central to the codification and progressive development of international law, the Committee heard today as it began its comprehensive consideration of the Commission’s report on its sixty‑ninth session.
States must join forces to combat the rising threat of non-State actors maliciously using information and communications technology to destabilize socioeconomic development, delegates told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today as they discussed ways to prevent cyberattacks.
With the capital master plan in its final phase after nearly 15 years and an investment of $2.31 billion, the United Nations must take stock of lessons learned and best practices from the ambitious Headquarters renovation effort to guide the implementation plans of other capital projects and avoid losses, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today.
Taking up the topic of the effects of armed conflicts on treaties, Sixth Committee (Legal) delegates today revisited the International Law Commission’s draft articles and tackled the question of whether domestic conflict should be treated differently than international conflict in the context of treaties.
Agreeing that strategic partnerships were vital in financing development goals, speakers also highlighted the need for transparent business principles and respect for national priorities, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up global partnerships today.
Many delegates expressed concern about the digital divide between developed and developing countries, calling for balanced use of both new and traditional media to ensure democratic engagement with the United Nations, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its general debate on questions relating to information.
The number of internally displaced persons had doubled to 40.3 million since 2000, and in many cases they had been forced to flee their homes by conflict and violence, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.