Approving a draft resolution stressing the need for the United Nations internal oversight body to focus more on investigating fraud, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today also took stock of progress in completing the United Nations multi-billion dollar Headquarters renovation project known as the Capital Master Plan.
Speakers in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today called for concrete steps to protect indigenous peoples’ rights, including through obtaining free, prior and informed consent and enhancing their participation in both national policy design and at the United Nations.
Progress had been made to eradicate poverty, but hindrances like climate change, the technology gap, non-inclusive financial policies and geography continued to stifle development, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it took up that topic.
Pointing to past and potential nuclear catastrophes, several non-nuclear States expressed alarm that the fate of global security remained in the hands of just a clutch of nuclear-weapon and nuclear-armed States, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) concluded its debate on nuclear weapons.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) began its deliberations on the Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law today, speakers noted that the 2016 budgetary commitments enacted by the General Assembly during its seventieth session had enabled the Programme to continue and expand its work, most notably with regard to its Regional Courses.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded its general discussion on the rights of children today, with delegates describing progress and challenges on a range of issues pertaining to child health, education and protection.
Several nuclear-weapon States reiterated their opposition to a proposed legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons leading to their elimination, saying that such an instrument would not contribute to enhancing global peace and security, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its thematic debate on those arms this afternoon and heard the introduction of two draft resolutions.
Amidst calls for reforming the Security Council and other organs of the United Nations, delegates in the Sixth Committee (Legal) reaffirmed the importance of the work of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the United Nations.
While the United Nations Department of Public Information had made great strides in new media and in promoting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, challenges remained in terms of language parity and maintaining traditional communications platforms, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it began its consideration of questions relating to information.
Pledging to support an Africa that was stable, prosperous and at peace with itself, speakers today warned the General Assembly that poor infrastructure and trade barriers still hampered the continent’s development, while challenges such as “brain drain” and terrorism threatened to reverse significant gains made since the turn of the millennium.
