General Assembly

The Peacebuilding Commission held its annual session today with a theme on partnerships and a special focus on regional development banks.

The General Assembly adopted 11 resolutions today promoting cooperation between the United Nations and a host of regional and international organizations and appointed a member to its Independent Audit Advisory Committee.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved 14 resolutions, voting on two of them, including a text calling upon States to strengthen cooperation, including through relevant organizations of the United Nations system and other relevant regional or international forums, to combat illicit financial flows in all their forms.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) called for affordable visitor fees for the historic Africa Hall at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa and for effective oversight of the Hall’s renovation as well as that of the conference services facilities at the United Nations office at Nairobi, stressing the need to push forward both projects in a timely manner.

​​​​​​​Concluding its seventy-seventh session today, the Sixth Committee (Legal) upheld its tradition of consensus and approved without a vote 12 draft resolutions, a draft decision and a draft letter, even as some delegates spotlighted the emerging trend of that mechanism’s failure to adequately represent substantive — albeit diverging — discussions in the Committee concerning the future of international law.

The third session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction concluded today at the New York Headquarters of the United Nations, with its Chair expressing confidence that sustained efforts towards its objective will ultimately bear fruit.

​​​​​​​As the General Assembly today concluded its discussion on Security Council reform, Member States once again broadly agreed on the need to modernize the 15-member body to maintain the relevance of the United Nations in the twenty-first century but diverged over the appropriate use of the Council’s veto authority, especially in instances of mass atrocities. 

The General Assembly opened its annual debate on Security Council reform today, with speakers once again renewing their appeals for enlarging the 15-member organ and updating its working methods to make it more transparent, inclusive, representative, accountable and effective in a world gripped by a cascade of interlocking crises.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 12 draft resolutions as it concluded its work today, including texts addressing the right of peoples to self-determination, racism, xenophobia and related intolerance, and the world drug problem.

Troubled by repeated concerns raised by the Board of Auditors, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged Secretariat officials to better manage the Organization’s financial resources while efficiently and quickly carrying out all recommendations of the United Nations top auditing watchdog.