General Assembly

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded its work today, having approved 72 draft resolutions that are expected to be taken up by the General Assembly plenary next month.

The General Assembly would stress the need to increase investment in agriculture and rural development, including by giving technical and financial aid to least developed and net food-importing developing countries, with a view to increasing their agricultural productivity and infrastructure, according to one of two draft resolutions the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved by consensus today.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 18 draft resolutions today, including one on “The right to privacy in the digital age”.

Sending a strong message of support for the Middle East peace process, albeit with the traditionally divergent views on how to achieve its aims, the General Assembly today adopted six draft resolutions on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East overall.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved three draft resolutions today, including a text on “policies and programmes involving youth”, as it entered the final week of its session.

Meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, speakers said today that with new direct negotiations under way, the time had come to end the suffering of the Palestinians and create an independent State for them.

The unknown financial consequences of the Secretary-General’s proposed mobility framework for moving hundreds of staff around the globe each year evoked apprehension from many delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this afternoon.

Opening a two-day debate on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East, General Assembly delegates heard today the introduction of four draft resolutions that ranged from the declaration of 2014 as the Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to efforts on moving forward towards a two‑State solution in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

NEW YORK, 22 November (Division for Palestinian Rights) — The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold a special meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in the Economic and Social Council Chamber at 10 a.m. on Monday, 25 November, in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 32/40 B of 2 December 1977 and 67/21 of 30 November 2012.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took stock of progress in the planned refurbishment of the United Nations Geneva headquarters, delegates raised concerns over the project’s growing cost estimates and potential delays in implementation.