General Assembly

The 2016 habitat world summit — Habitat III — should reinvigorate, at the highest political level, the global commitment to sustainable urban development through the accelerated implementation of a new “Urban Agenda for the 21st Century”, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was told today.

The First Committee today, seeking to catch up in the wake of the hurricane that paralysed the host city and shut down the United Nations for three days, agreed to streamline debate by limiting statements to just a few minutes and encouraging delegations to have the full text posted on its “Quick First” website, in line with a proposal by the Chair — the so-called “Sandy formula”.

With an outpouring of praise for the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, delegates gathered today in the General Assembly to assess the work of that body and to hear the introduction of the report on the work of the International Criminal Court.

More than any other institution, the Department of Public Information understood that the media could either be the messenger of peace and tolerance or of misunderstanding and hatred, the Fourth Committee was told today as it concluded its consideration of questions relating to information, with the approval of two draft resolutions and one draft decision.

A United Nations expert today called for boycotting businesses that were profiting from Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands until they brought their operations in line with international human rights and humanitarian law, as he presented his annual report to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).

Any international plan to combat the risks of sovereign debt default must be capable of handling a potential crisis in one of the world’s largest economies, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

In a long-awaited address, the President of the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament shared with the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) his insights about the 16-year impasse in that treaty negotiating body and, summing it up this way, said, “Do not ask what the CD can do for your country, ask what your country can do for the CD”.

Despite the formidable communications and information demands of today’s world, the international community had a United Nations that could be accessed in a multitude of ways, as it broadened its reach to tell its story in step with the revolutionary technological trends, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it continued its consideration of the topic.

The recent protracted violence in a number of sensitive areas around the world was a reminder that the prevention of conflict and protection of human rights in times of conflict remained among the world’s most daunting challenges, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

Calling attention to the surge of attacks on diplomatic and consular officials in recent years, Sixth Committee (Legal) delegates called on States to preserve diplomacy and friendly State relations by fulfilling their legal obligations to protect such officials.