Obscene amounts were being spent on military budgets and to maintain and modernize nuclear weapons at the expense of such pressing global issues as sustainable development, climate change and the refugee crisis, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today.
Implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Addis Ababa Action Plan and the Paris Agreement were the “moral imperatives of our time”, said General Assembly President Peter Thomson (Fiji) as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up the topic of sustainable development.
The Economic and Social Council, over the course of 2016, had focused on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s early implementation while also tackling emerging threats such as the Zika virus, El Niño and widening global inequality, the General Assembly heard today as it took note of the 54-member organ’s latest annual report.
Concluding its consideration of decolonization questions today, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved 20 draft resolutions for adoption by the General Assembly, four of them by recorded vote.
Femicide — the killing of women because of their gender — and other human rights violations targeting them were hotly debated today as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) began its consideration of the advancement of women.
Considering that the peoples of the world’s 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories were still voiceless in terms of deciding their own future, the task of decolonization remained urgent but incomplete, many speakers noted today, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its general debate on that issue.
The Organization and Member States must work together to ensure accountability for crimes committed by United Nations officials and experts on missions, Sixth Committee (Legal) delegates stressed today during a far-ranging meeting that also included deliberations on the responsibility of States for internationally wrong acts and diplomatic protection.
The failure of globalization to benefit all, the growth of inequalities in international trade and the negative effects of climate change were the focus this morning of a joint meeting of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and Economic and Social Council.
For the sake of humanity and the planet, Member States must ensure that disarmament efforts supported, rather than thwarted, global economic and social development, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as its general debate continued.
In a meeting on revitalizing the work of the General Assembly, representatives of the 193-member body this morning debated various ways to make the United Nations system more efficient, inclusive and accountable.
