The work of the Department of Global Communications is as critical as ever as the international community grapples with the manifold challenges of a global pandemic, the negative impacts of climate change and a resurgence of conflict, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it took up questions relating to information.
Nearly a dozen years after its creation by the Security Council, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is ready to transition from a fully operational court to a truly residual institution, its President said today as she briefed the General Assembly on its work over the past year.
No United Nations Member State was too big to disarm on its own and none too small to make a contribution, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today as it concluded its thematic debate on nuclear weapons and began consideration of other weapons of mass destruction.
Climate change as a driver of migration, an increase in enforced disappearances, the misuse of digital technologies violating the right to privacy and educational disparities worldwide were among concerns addressed by human rights experts in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today. With delegates raising questions on how to effectively protect affected populations during interactive dialogues.
Ensuring the safety and security of diplomatic and consular missions and representatives is crucial for international relations to function, speakers stressed today in the Sixth Committee (Legal), as they contrasted national endeavours with examples of inadequate responses to violations committed against such personnel in receiving States.
It was essential to step back from the “brink of nuclear madness”, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its thematic segment on nuclear weapons.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) today took up the annual report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), speakers highlighted progress made in the development of trade law, including a draft convention on the judicial sale of ships, a model law on identity management and work on the reform of investor-State dispute settlement.
Concluding its consideration of decolonization, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today approved 16 resolutions on that matter, including two by recorded votes, while also approving one resolution on atomic radiation.
The Sustainable Development Goals will be meaningless if people in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan are left behind, delegates warned the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it took up the issue of those lands.
Violent conflict, climate change, development-induced displacement and exacerbated inequity between the Global North and Global South render the right to development almost impossible to attain, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as delegates also expressed concern over the vulnerability of displaced persons in Ukraine, Syria, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Mexico.
