The financial situation of the United Nations was “generally sound and positive”, the Organization’s senior management official told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, stressing the importance of Member States making timely payments in order to meet their obligations.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today opened the second part of its resumed seventy-first session, when it was expected to focus on $7.97 billion in budget requirements requested for United Nations peacekeeping operations for the 2017/18 fiscal period.
The General Assembly today adopted the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030, a wide-reaching six-point framework aimed at halting deforestation and forest degradation, while also designating 21 April “World Creativity and Innovation Day”.
Against a backdrop of spiking extremism, proliferating “fake news” and an increasingly fragmented global media space, the Department of Public Information must continue to disseminate factual, impartial information, in accordance with the United Nations Charter principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, speakers stressed today, as the Committee on Public Information continued its annual session.
Senior United Nations officials joined representatives of the world’s indigenous communities and Member States today as the General Assembly marked the tenth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and explored ways to further its implementation.
The Department of Public Information was harnessing its multilingual news platforms, worldwide network of information centres and outreach efforts to communicate compelling United Nations stories to a global public increasingly accessing news through tablets and mobile platforms, its Acting Head told the Committee on Information today.
Despite progress by a growing number of countries towards striking the balance between growth and respect for the planet, more concrete, holistic and law-based approaches would be needed for the drive to true sustainable development, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs told the General Assembly today.
Following three weeks of deliberations, the Disarmament Commission reached consensus today on the draft report it would send to the General Assembly and on the reports of its subsidiary bodies, as it concluded its 2017 substantive session.
The Peacebuilding Commission was rapidly becoming a “lynchpin” body that brought together the diverse activities of the United Nations in support of peace, speakers in the General Assembly stressed today, as they also adopted a draft decision accrediting intergovernmental groups to a conference on ocean conservation.
The General Assembly this morning confirmed the appointment of Achim Steiner of Germany as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a four-year term of office beginning 20 April.
