Finally achieving a Middle East unencumbered by any nuclear threat will go a long way to reducing heightened international risks in the region and beyond, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs affirmed today as she addressed the opening today of the third session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction.
As part of its ongoing emergency special session on Ukraine, the General Assembly today recommended Member States create an international register of damage to serve as a record of evidence and claims information.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved six draft resolutions today addressing human rights questions on missing persons, extrajudicial executions, escalating refugees situations and moratorium of the death penalty.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), completing its work for the main part of the General Assembly’s seventy-seventh session, approved six draft resolutions plus one draft decision today, including texts that would renew the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved nine draft resolutions today covering human rights issues ranging from mercenaries to the right to food, as well as the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.
Several delegates voiced support today for the General Assembly to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, as the as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) concluded its general debate on Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved two resolutions, voting on both, including one demanding that Israel cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment of the natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in the occupied Syrian Golan.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged Secretariat officials to manage the United Nations justice system in a transparent and efficient manner to ensure its thousands of employees are treated fairly.
After taking action on eight requests for observer status and one draft resolution, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard oral reports of four Working Groups and took up the “Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly”, with delegates underscoring the paramount importance of consensus in the Committee’s aims and presenting suggestions on improving its work during the upcoming sessions.
The General Assembly today expressed deep concern over the volatility in Afghanistan since the takeover of the Taliban in 2021, and the persistent violence and presence of terrorist groups as well as abuse of human rights, including those of women, girls and minorities.
