General Assembly

Delegates mixed respect for the principle of universal jurisdiction with concern about its scope and application today, as the Sixth Committee (Legal) began its consideration of that subject.

Among the gravest threats today, the widespread circulation of conventional weapons, including shipments reaching terrorist groups operating in vulnerable regions, was killing thousands of people and affecting millions more, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its general debate.

Before it began its general debate on outer space issues today, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) concluded its consideration of decolonization questions by approving a draft resolution on implementing the Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

Droughts and floods in Mozambique were causing displacement and having disastrous effects on its gross domestic product, agriculture and food security, that country’s representative told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it concluded its debate on sustainable development.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budget) today voiced their concerns with a Secretariat appeal to delay the start-up dates of several crucial elements of the recent overhaul of the ways in which thousands of staff are compensated for their work.

During its forty-ninth session, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) had made great strides in its programme of work, including the finalization and adoption of three texts on secured transactions, arbitration and online dispute resolution, the Chair of the forty-ninth session told the Sixth Committee (Legal), as they took up that body’s report.

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.