General Assembly

The General Assembly, acting without a vote, today took up the annual report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and adopted a related resolution.

Speakers today condemned unprecedented levels of violence by Israeli security forces and settlers against Palestinians, as well as attacks on human rights defenders and organizations, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) began its general debate on Israeli practices which impact the human rights of Palestinians and other Arabs living in occupied territories.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the progress and challenges facing the Secretariat as it manages the United Nations conference services at its four headquarter duty stations around the globe.

Along with taking action on several draft resolutions today, the Sixth Committee (Legal) also took up the report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country, as many speakers expressed concern that bilateral political considerations have impacted the host country’s discharge of its multilateral duties under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement.

With its mandate up for renewal by the General Assembly, and demands for its services growing, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) urgently requires a substantial capital injection to lift it out of a chronic budget deficit, its head told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today.

Revitalizing the work of the General Assembly is of crucial importance in the overall reform of the United Nations and strengthening of multilateralism, delegates stressed today, as the Assembly also proclaimed 18 November as World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence.

Delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged the Assembly to deliver on the Secretary-General’s proposal to keep the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone running in 2023 with a $2.9 million subvention.

The world is “on the brink of a third world war”, the Chairman of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) said today upon conclusion of the body’s work for the session, reminding diplomats that they are, first and foremost, men and women of peace and pleading with them to “reignite the torch”.

Meeting concurrently with the Security Council, the General Assembly today elected one judge out of a pool of three candidates for the International Court of Justice in The Hague to serve a term beginning today, 4 November 2022, and ending 5 February 2027.

Acting without a vote, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved today a draft resolution on the United Nations’ special political missions as it held its general debate on that topic, with several speakers calling for them to be accorded their own budget.